Casa Rush (or Why I Still Believe in Jesus)

This past week I was lucky enough to have some really formative friends over to our house for an evening. We ate tamales and talked for hours, way past our bedtime. Annabelle wasn’t too sure about them, but let a smile sneak out periodically because Brett and Marlyse are simply too great.

I arrived at college pretty disillusioned. My theology had let me down in a lot of ways. I had become pretty obsessed with politics and found myself seeking meaning in systems and structures of humanity. God and I, we weren’t really connecting and I really didn’t understand the point of believing in something bigger than the political structures humanity had created. With hindsight (and a few elections) I realized that belief in something so man made really was a waste of time.

But still, I kept feeling pulled back to a Christian community. I went to college ministry that turned into a church that turned into a grouping of house churches. There was one near USF and so I gave it a shot. It was the standard small group, we ate, we talked, we worshipped, and we reflected on God’s word. We called ourselves Casa Rush, and they are why I believe in Jesus.

Two things made it really different from any sort of small group I had been a part of before: the Office and honesty.

The Office came on at 8 and there was no hulu (#grandpa) and so discussion had a firm cutoff. We all shared a unique obsession with the show and it was important to everyone that we got to see what shenanigans Michael would get into. I remember when Jim proposed—I know it sounds silly, but one of my best memories is Marlyse screaming and the rest of us gasping as Jim took a knee.

I didn’t know it then, but having this in common with a group of believers made it “okay,” for me to keep coming back to this group. I needed something more than just the gospel because, at this point, the Gospel and I weren’t seeing eye to eye.

And the group had honesty. Not really at first. The group was awkward and quiet for months. Brett and Marlyse kept opening their doors though. Kept giving us their couch. For months we would bat around a scripture or a video and then leave after The Office was over. But then someone got really vulnerable. And then another person. And then the horse was out of the barn.

Every single week, new people came and new stories began. Jesus started showing up in our divine conversations reminding me of the wonder I once had regarding the love of Christ. I am pretty sure we missed a few episodes of the office when we started sharing with truth and vulnerability. We had found something even more dynamic than staplers and jello.

We all grew up and almost all of us moved away, but there is not one soul that wasn’t touched by the times of silliness, honesty, and holiness. It was in those times that my faith was saved. I had been saved years before, but that was the period of my life where my mission, my calling, my passion and my faith in Jesus Christ was saved from a lifetime of malaise.

Brett and Marlyse are why I believe in Jesus today. Why we wanted Annabelle to be baptized, why I want to serve the United Methodist Church and they are why my marriage keeps making me more like Jesus. Who were your Brett and Marlyse? Whose faith could you save?