Out of Place

A family of wild foxes continues to share our suburban neighbourhood this summer. They are commonly seen roaming on sidewalks, around houses and malls. This young fox sat and watched me from a church property as I rode my bike last evening. They are not aggressive, unless you are a squirrel, rabbit or rodent, but they do not appear fearful of people. 

I watched this fox "mousing" in a empty lot earlier in the week. It did catch a mole or vole, and trotted over to a side yard of a nearby home to eat its dinner. I took these pictures with my phone, giving an idea of how close I was to the animal. 

On the whole, my neighbours feel sorry for the foxes and express regret about how recent housing developments have pushed wild animals out of their native habitat. Three nights ago, our dog was sprayed by a skunk who was digging for grubs in our city backyard. We are still dealing with a persistent skunk odour in the house and yard!

Last week, our 20 month old grandson was stung several times by wasps outside his home. When we visited a few days later, I looked for a wasp nest in the trees but could not find one. The next door neighbour hired a company to repair their eavetroughs and one of the workers was stung. From their vantage point above the trees, they found a huge bald-faced hornet nest. 

They showed us the well camouflaged paper cone, which was patrolled at each entrance by sentries. A pest control specialist removed the nest the next day. Hornets do prey on other unpleasant insects and are pollinators, but they are definitely out of place close to your home.

I am reading a book by Douglas S. Bursch called The Community of God: A Theology of the Church from a Reluctant Pastor. I had listened to the author's recent podcast called The Actual Reason Churches are Declining and his words resonated with me. He describes preferring to hang out with family and close friends rather than pursuing the more difficult task of belonging to a spiritual community.

For some time I have felt out of place in "seeker-sensitive" church environments, where the interests and desires of the individual are paramount. We need a meaningful spiritual community that includes a diverse group of people. The author also describes how Utopia (Greek=no place) is an imaginary concept and looking for a perfect community is a futile exercise. Community involves getting along with others with different experiences and perspectives than our own, not just trying to build a uniform group of like-minded people.

And so I remain "out of place", hopefully like a wandering fox, not a stinging hornet or stinking skunk! The COVID pause has given me time to grow individually, but I know that spiritual community is important. I am searching for community without celebrity leadership, focused upwards toward Christ, not left or right politically, a place where serving others is more important than personal pampering. In our increasingly individualistic, isolated lifestyles, these kinds of "off-line" communities are still needed.