Dearly Beloved,
I have been thinking a lot about cherished belonging. It's the title of Father Greg Boyle's book that a number of us have been reading and discussing this Lent. Father Greg works with former gang members who have been recently released from prison. Many of them have committed great violence. Many of them have survived terrible violence. Many of them have lived without a sense of hope or belonging and instead with soul crushing despair -- the message that they have no value, that they will never amount to anything, that they can never belong.
The stories Father Greg tells are heart-wrenching: stories of love and hope, stories of healing and joy, stories of grief and loss and death. And the thing that weaves all of these stories together is the boundless love of God -- a love that claims every person, every single one of us, no matter what we have done, no matter what we have left undone, as worthy, as cherished, as belonging to each other.
One of the things I love about the book is how often it gets me thinking: that's what we do as a congregation. That's the kind of love we strive to offer to each other. It's not neat and tidy. It's not performative. It's real and messy and sometimes hard as all get-out. Yet it calls us beyond ourselves. It calls us into relationship with each other. It calls us to dare to believe that maybe we are worthy of belonging too. It invites us to put down our shame stories and pick up the stories of our belatedness. And then to tell those stories to each other and to our neighbors.
On Sunday, we'll hear the story of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in the wilderness to go after the one that is lost. Maybe you're like me and think of yourself as one of the righteous people, one of the 99 sheep, who doesn't stray. But maybe you've had an experience of feeling lost. Or outside. Outcast or alone. What happens when you read this story and imagine that it is you the shepherd is coming after? You are not forgotten. You are not cast away. You are not abandoned. But you are cherished.
We have a few ways as a congregation that we really extend that radically inclusive welcome and love to our neighbors. One is Thrifts and Gifts. Everyone is welcomed in, offered warmth and care. People's stories are valued. Each person is cherished. Thank you to our amazing Thrifts and Gifts team for the ministry you are doing! For the love that you are spreading! For the goodness that you are sowing.
Another place is in our monthly volunteering at Community Kitchen (2nd Saturdays from 2-5). We have a small handful of very faithful regular volunteers and we have many others from our congregation who have volunteered their time -- thank you so much! AND, we're in a little bit of a boom or bust situation. Either having too many volunteers, and there's not enough for everyone to do, or not having enough. We really want to continue this service to our wider community as a congregation, and our Mission and Outreach Team is discerning whether this is truly sustainable for our congregation.
SO we're going to try something new! We're going to put out a sign-up sheet for the next 6 months. Please sign up to volunteer at least once during that time: April 12, May 10, June 14, July 12, August 9, and September 12!
We need the slots all full by the end of April.
Thanks for all the ways in which you help to cultivate a community of cherished belonging here in our congregation; in Loveland, Longmont, Windsor, Berthoud, Eaton and the community where you live; and in our wider world! This is the transformative work of sowing the seeds of God's love through the world.
With gratitude and love,
Thandiwe
