By Derek Collard
I recently attended the Faith in Detroit: Write In at Christ Church Cranbrook, which was hosted by the folks who are putting together the Faith in Detroit Journal, and it really got me thinking. Too often in our society we only value the person who has the most sensationalized tale of how they got here. The church can sometimes be the most guilty of this, with prizing the most fantastical salvation narratives to show the awe-inspiring power of God. But what about the rest of us? What does it look like to know that your story matters? In all the mundanity and seeming insignificance of day-to-day life, are we looking for ordinary miracles?
One of the things that I love about the church when it is at its best is that it does guide us to understand that every single breath is a gift. Every moment matters; every heartbeat is a miracle. No single person’s story is more worthy of being heard than the rest. This is the metaphor of the Body of Christ: the hand can’t say to the foot, “I don’t need you…” They are both integral parts of the body. Just because the kidneys can’t be seen doesn’t make them less important than the eyes.
Having a church that facilitates space for all of us to learn to share our stories, as un-fantastical as they may be, is such a gift. There is power in sharing your life with those around you and in understanding the gift that is your presence in this world. Too many people in this modern age have bought into the lie that their life is not significant because they aren’t making headlines in the news or trending on social media… but these external sources of validation are lies. Algorithms and AI bots can spike the most inane content on the internet, and the most genuine person sharing their life can get glossed over. So many metrics we use are manufactured to create discontent.
But what does it look like to exist in a space where those things don’t sit in the driver’s seat? Where every voice is heard, and every person seen. As the Welcome and Engagement Coordinator, I have been blessed with the opportunity to meet a lot of people who are new to Christ Church Cranbrook and hear about the ways they have felt seen and loved by our church body. What a gift we get to give the world: to hear other people’s stories and help them feel seen, but also to share our own stories to help foster the welcome we extend to our community.
If you are interested in practicing telling your story, keep an eye on https://faithindetroit.org/, and if you want to share your story, you can submit it to the Faith in Detroit Journal on that same page!