Five-handed piano

There are some things you just can’t do without a community. Moving a piano is one of them. (Sure, you can hire piano movers, but that’s just a different sort of solution to extending your community.)

Today we joined the biggest posse of volunteer movers I’ve ever seen to help our friends Linda and derek move into their very own house. Throughout the day, there was one illustration after another of the power of community:
* the “bucket brigade” that meant we could collectively move scores of boxes without any of us taking more than five or six steps
* the wide assortment of relationships, from co-workers and church friends to former students and bar buddies
* the kids who were there witnessing how friends sweat for friends
* the fact that their new house is a two-flat they’ve gone in together on with some trusted friends
* and especially the moving of the piano

Taking even an upright piano up three flights of stairs is not for the faint of heart. And I admit, I was a bit faint of heart — but I wasn’t reckoning on the power of community. All it took was a couple people to start saying, “Let’s do it!” and we were rolling. Once we actually started lifting, one painstaking step at a time, there were always at least five pairs of hands on it at a time. And there were always a couple more standing by to rotate in and take a spell. It was awesome.

What else takes a community? Just about everything worth doing.