Scars and war stories bring people together.  Kids on a playground,
adults fighting the same demons, war vets...  there's something about
comparing bruises and identifying with someone else's pain which forges
friendships that even many years cannot boast.  

This blog series and, in its way, the blogging community, has
created a space where it's ok to share some of these stories-- not to
shake a fist at the church, but to say we're all welcome, we all have
something to learn and all need to fight to make each other heard.  

As David put it, we really are all the same, with the same
insecurities and fears and passions and joys and needs as each other....
we all need to be heard.  

We realized at some
point mid-series that we'd used the word engage in every post up until
then.  I laughed at first, but then realized that of course we would...
because that's really what we need-- we need to be heard, need to have
our stories affirmed, need to have someone else (sometimes especially
someone who does life differently from ourselves) look us in the eye,
grab our hand, and say "I see you and I hear you and I affirm the story
you're living-- crap and all."   

So engage.  So listen.  So give space.  Love people where they are, rather than where you want them to be.  Try your damndest to avoid being a jerk... and when you fail at this, get up and try again the next day.  All that
stuff that we know, but need to hear an outside voice reminding us of
again.  To end the series is, in some way, circling back around to its beginning-- sometimes we don't need to start a revolution, storm the castle or Occupy The Church Front Lawn...  sometimes it really is about learning to thrive where we are, learning to listen better and, when it's possible, being heard better, too.