Traveling with Ruth: Celebration

    I love the image in chapter 4 of the book of Ruth of the city gate - the gathering place where folks could meet, talk about life, discuss theology, and where justice is administered. The word most commonly used for such spaces today are third places - places that aren't the home and aren't work, but where we can meet and do life together.
    For years, the church was a third place. It seemed like it was more common to have  a church home than not, and we did everything at the church - learned, ate, had fun. That isn't true as much today. The church has spent years and a lot of time and energy, trying to make the church back into a third place, but what if the time has come for us to go out? To go out to the libraries, art studios, and coffee shops that people meet at and make that a place where folks can come to know us, come to hear our story and start to share their story with us? What if the church left the building in order to share the love of Christ? Where could you imagine a new city gate could be for you to share the light of Jesus?