Remembering

I worshiped at TVC from the fall of 2005, when I arrived in New York City to pursue my dream of acting, until the spring of 2006, when I gave up my dream of acting and moved home. My story is typical, not only of young “actors” (I could hardly call myself one), but of so many people who come and go in New York in a very short time. But TVC was atypical. On my first morning at worship, Wynn and Michael invited me to lunch with a group of TVCers, and I never bothered visiting another church in the city. I’ve kept up with some friends from those days, and I was happy to be able to catch up with many of them last Sunday. But Karen and Sam and Mary Kay and Sarah, and many others, don’t remember me (many new faces came after me). But people like me remember all of you, and (without any pious cliche) I believe God remembers, too. I didn’t know anybody in New York, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I didn’t even know what life on my own was all about. I needed kindness and welcome and a place to feel I belonged, and you all provided these things without requiring anything in return. Thank you, TVC. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!”