Egg #4, Church of the Sojourners or CotS

Our time with Church of the Sojourners started later than we planned because we grossly underestimated California traffic, complete with failing to realize that we would be driving in at one of the busiest times of the day. However, we successfully crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, navigated HUGE hills in a stick shift (Becca would like you to know that her stick shift skills are nearly unparalled—she only needed the e-brake once), and arrived just in time for birthday cake at the end of service.

The word that best describes Church of the Sojourners is family. When we arrived at the birthday celebration, it felt like we had joined a family gathering. They welcomed us in, offered cake and ice cream and gave us a tour of the house. Church of the Sojourners (CotS as used in the rest of this post) is a community of people that live in 4 houses within walking distance of each other who do all of life together—sharing cars, meals, activities, and living space. They are diverse—the birthday was for a charming 3 year old, (who was thrilled about his football birthday present) and there are people who have been part of the community since its inception 25 years ago.

We were struck by how seriously and genuinely these people take their family life. There is set apart space for individual families, but they are in it together. There is a deep loyalty—this really is a family…it just happens to be a nuclear family that consists of 35 people. They describe it like family: this is who the Lord has given me as family so I will love them with all that I am. Everyone wasn’t just friendly with each other: they were friends.

Although we were bummed to miss out on church, we were very glad to chat with Renata and then join in on a hilarious game of Telephone Pictionary. Troy (who spent time painting in France) and Lee were quite the artists…. Others of us… were not. Katie was a master with words and definitely used her creative powers to come up with sentences that were nearly impossible to draw in the space of 2 minutes required for the game. Bethany and Katie found a kindred spirit in each other: they both enjoy saving the hilarious sequences created in the game. Katie, however, takes it a step further: she files the sequences. All in all, we spent the evening laughing, welcomed and included in this family’s life together.

Thanks Lee, Jody, Troy, Katie, Renata, Sage, Ben, Dale, Tim and Suzie (and everyone else) for welcoming us and laughing with us!