Dearly Beloved,
It is a beautiful almost-autumn day. The blue of our Colorado sky regularly takes my breath away -- as if the sky has no business being quite so bold, quite so bright. The tree to the north is still in full green leaf, no sign of yellow or brown yet, no sign just yet of autumn. Did you get to see the full moon last night? With the top blurred out because of the partial eclipse? It was beautiful. Time marches on and I realize that my son Ezra is 3 1/2 today. I cannot imagine my life without him and also March 18, 2021 when he was born seems so much like yesterday.
What is moving for you today? Where are you noticing God's wonder and majesty? How are you connecting with creation? With the passage of time? With the movement of the spirit?
A quick plug -- tonight is our third Wednesday supper social! Looking to build up our community and strengthen relationships as I invited you to do in last week's update? Tonight's one of your chances! 6:00 pm here at church.
For those of you who are parents, staff or students in TSD, you will have been navigating threats this last week (Friday the 13th is always a thing) about shootings or other violence. I have had a couple of conversations in which parents have shared the pain of trying to comfort terrified children (high schoolers) and having to try to decide whether or not it's safe to send your child to school and how to equip them for getting on the school bus or walking into the front doors of their school.
God's beloved, this is not normal. This is not healthy. I know that we have become accustomed to regular shootings in schools and grocery stores, in movie theaters and at concerts, but this is not normal. We are all living and breathing trauma and being retraumatized over and over again. This is not normal. And, it does not have to be this way. I know I struggle with that -- really? But then why isn't it different? Why can't we figure out how to make changes? Perhaps you, like me, struggle with feeling so very small and so very helpless in the midst of it all.
God's beloved, a different world is possible. We know this because our neighbor just to the north of us has all of the things that we have plus common sense gun laws and control, and they do not experience school shootings on a regular basis.
How many of the injustices around us, how many of the ways in which we as a society choose profit over people, power over community, individualism over the collective thriving of interdependence, corporate growth over the health of our citizens and planet? God's beloved, a different world is possible.
A world in which every child has enough to eat is possible.
A world in which every senior citizen has a safe place to call home is possible.
A world in which every sick person can get the care they need is possible.
A world in which there are no school shootings is possible.
A world in which we listen with love instead of correct with self righteous animosity.
A world in which we assume the best of one another is possible.
A world in which men and women earn the same amount is possible.
A world in which human dignity is assumed is possible.
A world in which those of us who live with disabilities have access to community and community care is possible.
A world in which all of us, regardless of our skin color, our mother tongue, our nationality, or who we love, can lead lives of connection, meaning and thriving -- that world is possible.
Join us this Sunday to hear our youth talking about their learnings from this summer's mission trip with Be the Neighbor to Albuquerque, NM. We will hear the call to be the neighbor who makes a just and loving world possible.
You are also invited to the Together Colorado People's Assembly in Denver this Sunday (Shorter Community AME Church, 3100 Richard Allen Court, Denver, 2-5pm). This is a multi faith event where we can learn about and see the power of collective action to create a more just society. If you're interested in attending, please contact Mary McCabe who plans to attend and has room in her car to take a couple more people.
What a gift it is to hold in front of us God's dream for our world, and to partner together and with other people of faith to make God's dream possible, to be the neighbor who works for peace, and justice, and love.
With love, Thandiwe
