The Crossing started when a small group of young adults sat to pray, share dreams and stories and ask some big questions: What would happen if we could step out of the Sunday morning box, bring along the most compelling parts of church and then claim the holy experiences so many of us have far from the walls of church? What if we got rooted in the good news Jesus walked around preaching and living – the good news of God’s peace, God’s desire for justice, God’s longing to gather all God’s children and name them as beloved – and then proclaimed that good news in words and sounds and images that truly touch our lives … and probably the lives of other people hovering far from the walls of church? We didn’t know where we’d land. But we ended up tapping into some deep passions and a common dream: Let's nurture a space where sisters and brothers can have a profound encounter with the living God and with one another. And even if that encounter shakes things up, let's trust that what emerges will be a gift from God. Let's build on contemplative traditions, pause, breathe deep and build peace from the inside-out. Let's step into the groove – the rhythm that thumps on the street and in your heart and moves you into the dance God started at the beginning of time. Let’s ground everything we do in the just, radically welcoming dream of God – assuming that real church prepares us to take our part in the world-changing, peace-making, justice-seeking, all-embracing mission of God. Let’s get serious about spiritual practice, carving out intentional time and space just before and during worship to practice what most of us find it so hard to do – to pray, meditate, do yoga, create art, live simply, love well, reach out to Christ who is already reaching out to us. Let’s build a full community, inviting the hopes and gifts and cultural expressions and postmodern perspective of young adults to shape a community for everyone, the beloved community of different races, different ages, different social classes, different sexual orientations and identities, where the homeless man sits next to the partner in a downtown law firm and they both see the face of Christ in each other. That’s the dream. Every week, every day, we try to live it out. Have we got it down perfect? No one could. But if that journey sounds like the one you’ve imagined – if you’ve wanted to groove at the communion table, get centered, reflect on God's word (past and present), go deep with spiritual practices, offer your gifts in a community that's always emerging, chill and let the Spirit wash over you, experience the love and blessing of God and then spread them as far as possible – if something’s sparking in you, then come on in. Bring your gifts and passions and help us to see what life is emerging @ The Crossing.

the crossing 138 tremont st. boston ma 02111 617.482.4826, x318 thecrossing@diomass.org