Living in the 'burbs

An interesting discussion is taking place over at Out of Ur, all about the suburbanization of America (Canada, too). David McCarthy, in his book, Sex and Love in the Home, talks about the isolation and fragmentation of society because the move to suburb living. He makes the case for the lack of hospitality and socialization in our churches because of the suburbanization phenomena that swept over us 40 or so years ago.

… evangelical Christians must consistently invite our neighbors into our homes for dinner, sitting around laughing, talking, listening and asking questions of each other. The home is where we live, where we converse and settle conflict, where we raise children. We arrange our furniture and set forth our priorities in the home. We pray for each other there. We share hospitality out of His blessings there. In our homes then, strangers get full view of the message of our life. Inviting someone into our home for dinner says “here, take a look, I am taking a risk and inviting you into my life.” By inviting strangers over for dinner, we resist the fragmenting isolating forces of late capitalism in America. It is so exceedingly rare, that just doing it speaks volumes as to what it means to be a Christian in a world of strangers.

That's why I love our porch and why we don't have a huge garage (OK, no garage at all!). I love to sit on our porch and chat with the neighbors in the summer time as they pass by. Our kids hang out on the porch with friends sitting on the railings. We often sit on the steps of our porch and, while consuming huge amounts of sunflower seeds, talk about a wide variety of things. Porches were important places in the past for connecting but then porches weren't cool anymore - maybe even a sign of poorness so we abandoned them for different designs. Now we drive into our attached garages and go into our homes and unless we make the effort, we don't ever need to connect with or meet a neighbor.