NEIGHBOURHOOD LIFE: Take One (cont'd by HL)

In his monumental book The City in History, the great urban historian Lewis Mumford traces the neighbourhood’s beginnings back to the ancient cities of Mesopotamia around 2000 BC, describing it as a natural dimension of urban life. Elsewhere he describes it as a ‘fact of nature’ existing anywhere that human beings congregate, indicating that the neighbourhood is an organic consequence of any human settlement, urban or otherwise.

Wherever it began, we can certainly assume that chats over the side fence go way back. All this to say that although the neighbourhood is a very personal experience, to think about it is very important. And as we will see, to thoughtfully explore this most ancient, common and formative contexts of daily life are crucial for a meaningful existence. In fact, unless we are prepared to intelligently engage with the neighbourhood as an important reality of daily life, we will miss participating in one of the primary arenas of God’s presence in the world.

Participation in neighbourhood is central to our lives, this is sure, but the way in which we participate as neighbours is up for grabs and will determine the quality of our lives, this is also sure. Our posture toward neighbourhood has the ability to enrich or impoverish our lives, and today this depends very much on how seriously we examine, engage with and invest in it.

How have the neighbourhoods that God has placed you, formed you and others?

Acts 17: 26-27
From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.

I recall a cold autumn morning last year when I was backing out of my driveway to begin the morning school run. As I did routinely, I waved to the neighbour directly across the street. He was dressed in a business suit and tie, carrying a brief case as he always did, and walking briskly toward his car parked on the curb. He nodded politely and lifted his free hand in greeting. In that ordinary moment, like so many before and after it, we were both in our usual hurry to be somewhere else.

In the five years I lived opposite him, we managed to speak briefly on only a handful of occasions. As I recall, he was a pleasant enough fellow though he always made it clear he had no desire to linger. The memory of trying to nurture a relationship with him remains a good reality check for a neighbourhood follower of Christ like me.

The neighbourhoods we live in today—no matter what their appearance, cost, location or vintage—are real places full of real people. This reality is what keeps us from the quagmires of nostalgia, romanticism and idealism. The neighbourhoods we live in, each one as unique as the next, embody aspects of life that are simply too drenched in the ordinariness and routine of the everyday to be hung out as decorative banners celebrating community.

How is it going in your neighbourhood and with your neighbours?