Yonder Mennonite, Who is She?

I am the older woman on the Church Avenue-bound G train. I don’t fit in, but I feel at home. I know these trains because from the beginning, way back in 1988, my husband saw this city as The Great Adventure, so we tramped from one subway stop to another, from the ghettos of Brooklyn to the gleaming towers of Manhattan (the ones that crashed on 9/11).

I’m the woman at the Carrol Garden’s coffee shop in a vibrant, affluent, and family-oriented Brooklyn neighborhood. I’m the plain woman among the trendy young people walking here.

I’m the woman wearing a dress and a black prayer covering who walks along the East River to work at a farmer’s market on Roosevelt Island. This city is my home. I’m the woman you see shopping at the Asian market or at Trader Joe’s.

I am first of all a woman who follows Christ. You can ask me about Him. I worship with Christians at Sugar Hill Mennonite in Harlem. I’m a woman of prayer. I pray anywhere, but most of all in an apartment in Queens.

I’m a woman of Queens. It’s my borough. My favorite eating places are the ethnic restaurants of Queens. But right now, I’m in Brooklyn. I’m the woman contemplating going on to Red Hook, to where you can look out over the Bay and see the Statue of Liberty, or maybe sneak into a hole-in-the-wall place that only sells key lime pie.

I’m the Mennonite woman who wanders the city and feels very blessed to call it, “home”.

Berniece

PS Thanks, Jesse, for reminding me how fortunate I am to live here. Sometimes, I forget!