New Friends in the Neighborhood

One woman needs a place where she can get her power wheelchair through the door; her husband uses a walker. Another woman is excited about having a good place to care for her grandsons and about making new friends, especially since she heard about weekly community dinners with neighbors. They are among the first inContinue reading “New Friends in the Neighborhood”

What does unselfish love look like?

In families, love looks like two white-haired sisters giving physical and emotional care to their sister for long months after illness left her unable to move or speak. Love looks like two sisters giving emotional and financial support for years to their sister when her depression and mental illness spiral into abusive fury against themContinue reading “What does unselfish love look like?”

Who is My Neighbor?

On Independence Day, I put on my clergy collar and stood on a hot sidewalk with my homemade LOVE ALL OUR NEIGHBORS sign. About 400 energetic people brought colorful signs with a common theme: we do not consent to authoritarian policies. Our elected leaders had just voted to strip medical care and nutrition assistance thatContinue reading “Who is My Neighbor?”

Is It Really Worth It?

“All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a far distance they saw and greeted them….” Hebrews 11:13a It’s rarely an accident when people get left out of the narrative. There is investment in every story we tell: who it chooses to highlight, the way people are presented, the mistakesContinue reading “Is It Really Worth It?”

Regrouping while still in the wilderness (Part 2)

No matter the duration of intense destruction, a disaster doesn’t end when the trembling bedrock or raging storm is over, nor when we’re told it’s ok to return home, nor when the body of our comrade is buried, nor when a vaccine arrives. The disorientation, the loss and attempts to rebuild, the crisis of trustContinue reading “Regrouping while still in the wilderness (Part 2)”

Working together for healing and life

Dear friends and neighbors, As the ice and snow and chill of winter come on this week, the air has a different smell to it. The colors of leaves and grasses stand out against the snow that falls, and melts, and falls again. I invite you to pause, and look around, and take a momentContinue reading “Working together for healing and life”

Regrouping while still in the wilderness (Part 1)

Dear kindred in Christ, We’ve been living through so many disasters the past few years. Devastating fires, flooding, droughts, freezes like we haven’t seen before. Another Black person murdered, on tape,. Another, another. Another. And we shudder, we have seen this before A world-wide pandemic and over 5 million people dead as we enter aContinue reading “Regrouping while still in the wilderness (Part 1)”