Welcome to our city

WORCESTER, MA – CITY SQUARE AND THE HEART OF NEW ENGLAND
 
I love Worcester. I'm proud of our city and I know many would share in this sentiment. 

However, sometimes you could say we tend to have a chip on our shoulder. In the post-industrial era of our city's history, we have in many ways struggled to form a new identity. We're back in the turmoil of the womb, trying to be reborn. Despite our size as New England's second largest city, Worcester continues to seek to establish an identity for ourselves. Those within our own neighborhoods and areas of work can too often criticize and self-deprecate the place where we live, hiding embarrassment behind sarcasm. When we have attempted to make progress in different ways, we often take one step forward and then two steps back (see Worcester Center Galleria/Worcester Common Fashion Outlets story for an example). Our reaction? "Well, that's Worcester." Our solidarity is too often in what Worcester is not as a a place to live, rather than in who we are as a community and who we could be as a city in "The Heart of New England."

What would it be like to change our thinking or have our minds renewed in forming a new identity for ourselves in Worcester? What might happen if we prayed for and worked towards the hope of Worcester as "The City No Longer Forsaken"? What would it be like to encounter people in all seven (or fifteen if you're really counting) of our hills with calm in their demeanor, comfort for their community, and a hope in something or Someone beyond the history and pitfalls of our failed experiments and expectations? Is it possible? And if so, what would you be willing to contribute to make it happen?

"'Look, your Savior is coming. See, He brings His reward with Him as He comes.' They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, and 'The City No Longer Forsaken.'" – Isaiah 62:11b-12

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