My People

I gaze out at a fire escape and rooftops. None of you hear the 7 trains rumbling or planes taking off from LaGuardia Airport. However, though we live in an alone place, we belong, and belonging is beautiful. It is safe.

Tomorrow I will take a bus and a shuttle (which is kind of a pain as the F train is not stopping at Roosevelt Island because of track work), and I will walk into the market. There, I will see brothers and sisters of the same faith, setting out mounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. I will belong, and the fellowship will be sweet (in between the busyness of waiting on customers).

I learned that we are not alone in Elmhurst after breaking my leg in January of 2021. I’m still awed by the fact that many made the trip to Queens to express their love to us and to make sure we had something to eat. One of the special memory pictures from that time shows my church sisters from different places and countries squished into our living room for a Christmas gift exchange. Bee was here with her teacher, Randalyn, and Abigail, Elizabeth, the moms, and mission staff wives…

Whenever I think of the beauty of being a part of the people of the Church, I remember the glory that shone in the chapel at Enfield Shaker Village in Vermont when we met there for a writer’s retreat. We ladies of different ages and places had never all met before. Our husbands were not all acquainted. Yet, we united as one while reciting the 23rd Psalm, while singing, visiting, and praying.

On vacation the next summer, Laurence and I stopped by the Shaker dwellings. Remembering the retreat, I had great expectations, but I was let down. The chapel held no Glory. Instead, it was dark and damp. My people were not there.

This past November, I lifted my voice with a “washed in the blood” throng of thousands to sing, “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it.” I did not want to leave the secure place that I felt at the Conference. I don’t need to. Though we live alone in Elmhurst, we belong to that brotherhood, and we are safe.

What do you find beautiful about belonging to God’s people? Berniece