Cult-De-Sac

In previous posts I make reference to the area where I live as, the cult-de-sac.  This phrase, originally coined by Shaun in reference to a Green Machine race we had, describes several families that live near each other in or around my cul-de-sac.  These families and the community we share are a major part of who I am. We moved to the Nashville area (actually Spring Hill) in January of 2004 and I fully intended to stay a couple of years and move back to Texas.  The move was done to connect more deeply with Shaun’s ministry and for the health of my family when I traveled.  But I really had a great deal of skepticism about the move.  We were in central Austin planting a church and I had taught about developing community and living missionaly for years but had never fully experienced that in my own life – until I moved to the suburbs. The only house we could afford south of Nashville was in the growing, suburban community of Spring Hill.  I assumed that everybody would look the same, smell the same, and think the same.  I assumed neighbors would keep to themselves and life would be lived inside the confines of cookie cutter homes and minivans.   The first few months in Tennessee played out how I had imagined but mostly because the temperature rarely rose above 35 degrees.  But then as the sun came out, so did life.  It started with the kids wanting to play outside and with small children that only happens with parents watching over them.  Every day we sat outside with 3-4 other families and watch the kids.  This turned into good friendships, deep discussions, laughter, and the next thing we know we were living the theory of community we had talked about so often. My wife, Amy, devised a plan a few months later where multiple families would join a cooking co-op and make dinner for each other every week.  The way it works is that each family is given a specific night where they cook for the entire co-op and then the other nights during the week food is brought to them.  So, for three nights during the week we wait for our food to be delivered to us and then on our night we cook for over 20 people.  This started over three years ago and we have reinvented the idea several times and some families have moved and other families joined us.  At one point we had every night of the week covered except Saturday and Sunday.  The only rules are no red meat and the meal has to be done by 6pm. The current version of the cult-de-sac is comprised of four permanent families with occasional visitors that join us.  The four families combined have 12 kids and it’s usually a given that a few more kids will find their way to us.  We spend just about every night in our lawn chairs watching the kids play and talking.  The four families purchased a community play area a few months ago and parked the thing in Brody’s yard. For a decade I tried to teach, fabricate, and program ‘community’.  It was not until I moved to the place where I thought least likely to find did my ‘theories’ become reality.  

~ by brianseay on July 16, 2007.