In the fall of 1975, a small group of people who published a magazine called the Post American and attempted to live together in community in Chicago moved to Washington, D.C., to make a new start. The group changed its name, as well as that of its magazine, to Sojourners. The following sermon was preached at Sojourners Community Church in November 1985, in celebration of the community's first 10 years in Washington, D.C. --The Editors
A few years ago, my father's company sent him to take a business course at Harvard University. Not surprisingly, he sent his grandsons, my nephews Michael and Nathan Tamialis, "Harvard" T-shirts. Michael and Nathan took one look at their shirts and became very excited. They exclaimed, "Wow! A T-shirt named after our Harvard Street!" To which Barb, their mother, replied, "No, no, there's a big university named Harvard." And they were even more impressed. They said, "A whole university named after Harvard Street!"
A home is the place from which you take your perspective. For Michael and Nathan, and for many of us, Columbia Heights in Washington, D.C, has become home.. Ten years now we have been here. The Tamialises were the first ones here, the first family of Sojourners Community. Michael was one year old and Nathan was three months old when they arrived here.
The scouting team, a few of us who had come earlier, had found two houses. But all we had time to do was find them--not clean them. That job was left to the Tamialis family. So, when they got to D.C, the houses were absolutely filthy. And my father, who was along for the trip, said, "Oh, let's go to a motel for the night."
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