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On Sunday, October 26th we will be gathering together to take some of these “small steps” by doing some community mapping in the San Pedro area. After searching through various definitions of the term, community mapping, this one stuck out as appropriate for the mission of the Garden Church. Community mapping is a “methodology used to link community recourses with an agreed upon vision”. In this case, the vision being the garden, the church, and the community hub that we hope to eventually bring to the San Pedro community. During this activity, we will be identifying various assets and resources that San Pedro has to offer that supports our end goal. You will be using a handout where you will identify and record any markets, schools, vacant lands, community gardens, bus stops and potential partners that you come across on your designated street (we will assign you a street on Sunday). You will work in pairs or triads to walk down one street (we have 10th street to 21st street left to map) from Harbor Blvd. to Pacific Ave. We will be meeting in front of the San Pedro docks at the water fountain on 6th street and Harbor Blvd. to give out the record sheet and further discuss before venturing out to our designated streets. Can’t wait to see you all there! After we do our mapping project, our work together, we will gather outdoors for worship in a park near by and reflect together on what we discovered in our community. We will continue together in community by sharing in our community meal. Lorie is making sandwiches of a few varieties and each of us can bring chips, fruit, veggies or drinks to share. We look forward to being church together this weekend!
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The Garden Church and Common Ground on “Love in a Dangerous Time”
The Garden Church and Common Ground were recently featured on the Love in a Dangerous Time online radio show. Listen and hear Rev. Anna Woofenden and Rev. Sarah Buteux talk about the way that they are re-imagining church in their communities.
http://loveinadangeroustime.net/ldt005-planting-a-church-with-rev-sarah-buteau-rev-anna-woofenden/
Being Church Together
The Garden Church gathered this Sunday to be church as we worked and worshiped and ate together.
People were greeted in the parking lot of a local park, with a “Welcome to the Garden Church!” and handed a trash bag and gloves.
Soon the hill was filled with people with black plastic bags in one hand, bending down and gathering up the litter and debris that was covering the area.
And in what seemed like no time, the area went from a messy dumping ground to a clean slice of nature. I watched as people went from individually picking up trash in various areas, then slowly migrating together to form a trash-collecting cluster of community caring for the earth.
After celebrating how much trash we’d picked up in a short half hour, we washed our hands, grabbed our picnic stuff, and headed over the hill to a grassy spot under a tree.
We spread out blankets and set up our worship table and put our picnic items in the shade.
Our youngest community members helped me to begin our time of worship together by setting out the objects that mark our worship space together. We set out the Word, the bread, the cup, the light, the water, the bell, and the tree of life. As we unwrapped each one we talked about the meaning and the vision for who we are as a church and how God is present amongst us.
As we moved into worship we spent time in silence that our bell ushered us into, finding silence in and amongst the sounds and movement around us. We noticed the wind blowing, the feel of the grass, and how the ocean had places that looked purple in it.
We then shared the story of the Children of Israel and how when they traveled, they set up their tabernacle and we heard the story of the Manna, the bread of life that God gave them in the wilderness. And we talked about what this story means in our community, and our lives.
Which led us into sharing the Sacred Meal, Communion, Holy Supper together, gathered around God’s table and feeding and being fed by each other.
The Sacred Meal then led into our Community Meal and we enjoyed fresh sandwiches, delicious fruit and crisp creative salad.
During our meal we heard people’s stories about where they find belonging and feel at home in the world, and what it means to be church together.
We closed in prayer as we stood together holding hands in a circle and thanked God for the gift of worship and community.
We packed up our tabernacle and cleaned up our picnic. Chatted and finished conversations and then walked back down to the parking lot together.
Good to be church together. Let’s do it again soon.