Bread not Stone: A Singe Garment of Destiny
In an essay called “Credo,” Rebecca Solnit wrote, “Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”
Recently, Rod Belshee (our Board president) and I participated in a meeting of the Inland Congregations United for Change group—an early gathering of clergy and lay leaders from congregations in the east of the Coachella valley, coming together to collectively plan for how we might all respond faithfully to the painful reality of our current situation—how we can weave and mend and wash together.
It was an early meeting, nothing concrete was planned yet, but this is one way that we in our congregation are finding ways to live into our interconnectedness in our valley home. I have also begun meeting with clergy of various faiths in Palm Springs to coordinate and support.
And a small group of congregants has been researching and listening and learning what is going on over the whole of the valley to see where we might act in support of our values and in support of our neighbors who are threatened, attacked, or ignored by the current federal administration.
This is the work of “frontline responders” as Deepa Iyer describes in Social Change Now: “addressing community, crises by marshaling and organizing resources, networks, and messages.”
Our Social Justice team already leads us in work that helps and supports our community and we are seeking to broaden and deepen that work in the face of the current crisis. Keep your ears and eyes open over the coming weeks and months as we share together ways to be faithfully effective and ways to nurture local relationships.
We do this because it is the right thing to do. We do this because our neighbors are in peril and we want to protect them. We do this because the values we profess—of justice and interdependence and pluralism and generosity—hold us to this work. We do this because we are interwoven into a single garment.
in peace and love
Rev. Ian
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Dear ones,
As you read this we are heading toward Election Day on November 5. Though we know (and fear) that we won’t know for sure the results of the election on that day, it will certainly be a moment of great change in our political and social lives.
I know that many of you carry anxiety and fear and anger and disbelief at the state of our political and social lives. I do as well. And I am reminded strongly in times like these why we come together in community. To care for each other. To share our fears and anxieties so that we can feel heard and seen and so that we can see and hear those we care for. To share our joys and hopes so that we can strengthen and enliven our individual and collective possibilities.