This Sunday, Jess Williams explored the role of hope when we walk through hard times in life. Starting with the pain caused by toxic positivity and the cultural pressure to put forward a polished life, Jess asks what the antidote to this might be. She thinks the blessings of Jesus in the Beatitudes have something important to teach us about the kind of life Jesus calls blessed.
At this Sunday’s “second breakfast,” Jess invited the tables to share with each other stories of community resilience. But first there was an introduction that included Alex Henderson sharing some thoughtful material on community resilience and Walter shared a brief story of what helped SSU to be a resilient community.
In this Sunday’s homily, Walter suggests the odd encouragement that it has always been in the context of a very messed up world that we find our resilience with courage and love.
Jess Williams reflects on impulses she noticed in herself through a recent experience of asking her friends for help cleaning out her house, and found out she wasn’t alone. She points out how vulnerable it is to let others into your mess, even when that’s what you need most. Then she shares some wisdom gleaned from Fraggle Rock’s character, Marjory the Trash Heap, and Jeff Chu’s teaching on the theology of compost. She invites everyone to trust that God is most at home in the mess, and that all of our so-called failures can serve to nurture the soil of our lives.
Mayara and Lorna share the concept of Timebanking, an exchange of skills based on the belief that every person is of value and has something to offer. They are excited to see how Timebanking can build a stronger, more connected community in St. Stephen, and invite and welcome your participation!
Pulling from the lectionary readings and our current teaching theme, Wendy VanderWal Martin offered a beautiful teaching on the significance of ‘witness’ and how bearing witness to one another (and to our own lives) as we truly are and in ways that assure us we are seen, known, and loved, is a powerful root of resilience.
This week Renate pointed out references in the lectionary that help us see how we can be transfigured when trust helps us find our way through grief – a powerful addition to our “Roots of Resilience” theme!
On Sunday, Marilyn Orr carried forward our teaching theme with a wonderful talk on Intentional Resilience. Pulling from years of insights from speaking and teaching on resilience, Marilyn opened up an engaging conversation about where resilience comes from. Due to the interactive nature of this talk, we’re using the phone recording this week so you can hear what the community had to say!
During our 2nd Breakfast potluck, the Leadership Collective shared some thoughts on the new teaching theme. Together, we reflected on what it’s looked like to “be rooted in love together” these last months, and shared a few thoughts on what we’ll begin to explore as we consider “the roots of resilience” individually and communally in the season ahead.
