All Are Welcome

Hello and welcome to an Easter Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac by way of Brainerd, Minnesota, and yes, I was just in Winnipeg last weekend. This bunny does quite a bit of hopping. Today is April 19th.

Easter is upon us and tonight Christ will be risen, if you’re of the Christian faith and path. Honestly, I’ve been pretty bummed this Lenten season. I haven’t done a great job preparing my heart so I don’t feel really deserving of the impending celebration of Christ’s resurrection. But beyond my spiritually, I’m finding the world to be a pretty crummy place. Next Thursday, for example, there are people across Wannaskaland who may be forced into deportation despite following  protocols, procedures, and every rule of the law. There are folks working doggedly and quietly behind the scene to put a human face on these very real, law-abiding people, but there’s been no communal rallying cry insisting that these neighbors not slip through the cracks of the blanket immigration reform covering the nation.

In Christian churches and circles, I hear a new school of thought: that what good Christians do is take care of their own and prepare for battle against the enemy which brings the Veggie Tales depiction of the story of Joshua to mind, when the vegetable people marched for seven days and then blew their trumpets bringing down the walls of Jericho. Jesus is seen as a warrior who tells us to fight! fight! fight! 

This is not the Jesus I know.

And lastly, I read an article last week, The Anti-Social Century, about the rending of community. In short, people are nesting more deeply in their innermost circles of real world family and friends, or in an idea logical world that is far more virtual, taking place in online spaces (reinforcing the self-imposed, and now increasingly more desirable isolation) and far less real world of in-person connection and conversation.

According to the article, the nest that’s being abandoned is that of community - the social gathering spaces of all types. The places where we bump into neighbors.

This morning, I took the Fourth Grader to the Easter egg hunt at Gregory Park in Brainerd. When we arrived, there was only a small gathering of 20-30 individuals. The glumness of my point of view cause my mind to leap to conclusions. SEE?! Evidence! The world is falling apart. Or, to quote Chicken Little, “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

It turns out, we were just early. 

“We give out 600 candy bags,” the Rotary volunteer told me. She went on to share that the local Rotary club has been hosting this event for 30 years. I asked if attendance has declined, and she said no. Yes, it bounces between 500 - 600 candy bags, but the people continue to come.

I looked around the park as the families trickled in. I noticed families came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Families with tattoos and face jewelry, and families with high-end puff jackets and insulated coffee thermoses. Kids in adorable bunny ears and green grass tutus, and kids tucked into wobbly strollers with ratty blankets - but all smiling and eager for the egg chase.

And my heart warmed in the chilly morning air.

Our small towns are the patchwork quilt of what I think of as Americana. It’s in Americana, not America at large - that vague “out there-ness” - where we have the greatest connection, the strongest compassion, and the greatest opportunity. In our small towns, we are still braiding firm strands of civic engagement, care for, and commitment to our neighbors in ways modeled and past down to us from past generations of kin.

Which reminds me…a former Brainerd mayor shared another beautiful story of community caring. A local knitting group knits winter gear and then hangs it out on a giving tree in front of the local police station, free for the taking. To date, 500 items have been harvested from the giving tree.

In the spirit of Easter - Christ is risen! - I hold on to the hope that Wannaska folk will shake hands and say “Peace be with you” while looking deeply into their neighbors’ eyes. I am trusting that our small town people will embrace their downtrodden, disparaged, and displaced neighbors and say, “Yes, you have a home here.”

Christ is risen. Peace be with you. All are welcome.