At the Garden we often describe what we are about as building the beloved community. We did that by opening our gates and inviting everyone in -- to garden the same planting beds, worship in the same circle, and eat at the same table.
Migrating to Zoom worship has separated us -- for how long, O Lord? -- in a painful way: into those who have easy internet access, and those who either don't or who are not comfortable joining a videoconference. In two weeks it will be an entire year that we haven't worshiped in the Garden.
And yet, every Sunday afternoon without fail for almost a year now we have offered take-out meals at our gates. Some, but not all, of our members and neighbors who used to join us at the table now meet us at the gates. It has been an opportunity to stay connected: to catch up on the joys and sorrows in each other's lives, to pray together, and offer each other blessings. And indeed, they bless us as much as we bless them. They bitterly miss the sense of community they found around the common table, as we struggle to remain patient and hopeful.
We also strive to build beloved community in partnership with other congregations and community groups to serve the needs of the most marginalized members of our neighborhood and to advocate for them.
This Sunday we are studying the gospel story in which Jesus sent out the twelve disciples into the towns of Galilee to heal the sick and to bring more people into the Kingdom of Heaven. We will be seeking wisdom in this passage for our own contemporary outreach of healing the wounds and building beloved community here in San Pedro and beyond.
Join us as we offer each other moral and material support for the journey.
Blessings,
Rev. Jonathan
