Being Part of the Greater Community

Dear Friends,

I had been the rector of Church of the Ascension, Silver Spring, Maryland for three months when the time came to get volunteers for a monthly dinner serving the homeless at another church. As I reached out to various people active in outreach, one by one they not only turned me down, but they all explained that each had been looking for a way to leave their outreach responsibilities. Talk about feeling like a pastoral failure! The issue was that many of these folks had been doing this ministry for years, and they were tired, burned out, and no one new had shown up to take over. It is a story I hear a lot in the church, and I was reminded of it on Saturday the 17^th when I participated in community organizing training at the Diocese of Maryland.

I decided to take a pause in my efforts to fill ministry slots and instead explore how people felt about ministry in general and particularly as a community. At the same time two clergy colleagues approached me about joining with them to explore a new way of doing work on behalf of social justice, founding a county-wide, interfaith community organization that would through relational meetings and conversations, and gatherings identify the justice issues we could all agree on and go after making them happen via county and state government. That group, Action in Montgomery, made all the difference in the life of Ascension, and led to a renewed sense of outreach too.

I am aware that Elkridge has two civic groups that do a lot to advocate for this community, Elkridge Rotary and Elkridge Community Alliance. I know that we have a vibrant outreach program at Grace. I also know that serious issues of injustice persist in this part of the county such as affordable housing, food insufficiency coupled with a food desert, lack of local high school, and a large share of children who need free breakfast and lunch in our elementary schools. That’s the short list. Having helped found a community organization I am writing to encourage us to think about interacting with PATH, People Acting Together for Howard. What I have learned over the years is that the more people, especially from beyond your backyard, are clamoring together for change, who make an investment in challenging political power by intentional relationships with those who are elected to office, the more likely it is for change to happen, especially the change you intend.

PATH’s local organizer, Gabriel Hightower has met with some of you about your hopes and dreams for this church. And our role in this community. I would like after Easter to invite him to lead a congregational meeting about the issues facing all of us. If you would like to know more about PATH, and its work please feel free to talk to me. In the meantime wonder with me, how what we do for the “least of these” can be a moment of justice and systemic change as well as what we do in the moment for their needs.

God's peace and keeping,

Mary +