Dear People’s people,
It is easy to get discouraged right now. Overwhelm and fear are closer companions to me right now than they have been in a while. When it gets hard, I try to remind myself of the small, courageous things that so many people are doing to try to hold fast to our values in this moment.
I think about the bags and boxes of food for hungry neighbors that have appeared at the church in recent weeks, crowding our entryway as they wait for the next time Rick’s truck swings by. I see the toiletries and winter gear that not-so-magically ap-pear in another part of the church building, the col-lection point for the refugee friends free store at Congregation of Moses. We are meeting the basic needs of our community in powerful ways.
I think of the folks in our community who have asked for help – financial support from the minister’s discretionary fund, emotional support, spiritual support, tangible help like meals. It is brave and important to trust one’s community enough to ask for care and support. And we, at least most of the time, are meeting folks’ needs.
I think of how People’s Church – and so many People’s people – have acted with courage and integrity and love over the past year. The donors to our refugee support fund and dedicated volunteers made it so newly arrived refugee families were not abandoned when promised federal support and programs were cut last year. Your giving to the resistance and resilience fund has made such a tremendous difference in the lives of people in our community, mostly undocumented folks, asylees, and transgender folks. Their stories are not mine to tell, but know that your giving has kept people safe and housed and cared for when they had no-where else to turn. Our building space is being so many outside groups who help us co-create the world we want to live in. And there are the small actions that I see so many of you taking – speaking out for inclusion (including a recent time that a People’s Church kid taught me to be more inclu-sive), interrupting cruelty in family and communi-ties and workplaces, building community and resili-ence across difference, being generous. I am always grateful when I get to hear your stories about living in alignment with our values.
Knowing that I am not alone in this moment helps. That there are hundred of folks in our church trying to be ‘People of Hope’ right now helps – and knowing there are millions more beyond our congregation who are also working to build the Be-loved Community helps too. We are not alone in our commitments. We are not alone in trying to meet this moment.