The first few days of college are strange, but the following three weeks are the strangest. I made a lot of friends when I moved in, but that’s not the hard part.
The hard part is the pretense that comes with being in a new environment. Everyone just moved in, and everyone wants to meet their new best friend. Everyone wants to be awesome. Everyone wants to be seen at their best.
As a result, unleashing the depth within us all takes some time. We goof off, grab donuts at 2 a.m., and laugh a lot. But, most of the time, we don’t get around to deeper things. The true conversation, when we drop the facade.
So when the sermon at the Gathering is about mourning, and you realize you have been holding back a lot of loneliness, and you find yourself weeping into your hands during Communion next to people you only met days ago, you feel a bit lighter. You realize that everyone feels the same way.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
We hate the facade. We want to be seen for who we truly are. Being in an environment with new people is strange, but slowly the facade fades and we learn that we can be honest with each other. In sharing the truth about ourselves, we will be comforted.