Let's Start at the Very Beginning

After a few weeks of recuperation from a very full summer, we begin again: first days of school, reconnecting with old friends, remembering where we left off last, getting back into routines.  Even though we're retracing our steps a bit, going back to school and back to reality, what we experience this time around feels fresh, new, different.  And so, we enter these new days with hope, awareness, and with watchful spirits for the ways in which we will experience life renewed and afresh.

August marked our 10 year anniversary of living among the good people of Enderly Park.  We remember, 10 years ago, meeting a vibrant family from New Orleans who fled to Charlotte after Katrina.  In those first months of resettlement, the Brown family allowed us in and showed us, by example, how to live with generosity and perseverance.  We remember the early days of walking door to door to meet neighbors and of playing basketball with teenagers at the rec center.  We remember our first ever community meal where we experience first hand the lesson of five loaves and two fish.

Much has changed since those days.  Some neighbors have moved away.  Many of our youth have become adults who have family and job responsibilities.  Development is creeping its way toward our neighborhood, bringing with it a shift in culture.  Yet, even with these changes, many things remain the same.  We remain committed to and engaged in the lives of vibrant generous neighbors who continue to teach us hospitality and perseverance.  With our young people as our guide, we are working towards creating small businesses that will empower and employ neighbors.  We continue to find ways of sharing our daily bread with one another through the practices of communal prayer and meals.

After 10 years of ministry, we begin again.  Rooted in this particular place and with these particular people, we look for ways that the Spirit is calling us to re-imagine the possibilities. Together, let us start at the very beginning and watch with wonder for what will come.

Enough

by David Whyte

Enough. 

These few words are enough.

If not these words, this breath.

If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to life

we have refused 

again and again 

until now.

Until now.

A David Whyte poem from 

Where Many Rivers Meet