In September at Sojourners, life began to settle into our school-year routine. Since all of our households contain students or teachers or both, back to school season holds both transitions and a return to familiar routines. At the end of September Renata and Melinda attended the SMC Camp Meeting, Melinda’s first. We enjoyed the time with new and old friends and companeros.
In October several of us traveled, either to friends and family or to visit and support other communities, particularly those in Portland and Eugene, Oregon.
November brought our Thanksgiving Together. (We alternate years of celebrating together and traveling to celebrate with other friends and family.) Many relatives and friends came to visit and share our dinner and other activities. One activity was the viewing and discussion of documentaries, one about Alzheimer’s, Alive Inside, and one on the Doctrine of Discovery, (a video about the ongoing project of decolonizing by Mennonite churches). Outdoor activities on Friday included a hike and a “seed bombing” trip, where we planted seeds in vacant lots and sidewalk tree beds, in the hope of seeing flowers come spring. Friday night was a game night; Saturday morning was a bread baking workshop; Saturday afternoon was a photography workshop, and Saturday evening was our leftover feast and hymn sing.
On the first Sunday in December gratitude merged with Advent, and this Advent we experimented with using visual art as a sort of Lectio Divina. Each week worship leaders chose a piece or two of visual art to project during worship, and gave us time to reflect on it by creating our own art in response. Later in December we teamed up with First Mennonite Church to go Christmas caroling in the neighborhood, including stops at an AIDS hospice, a nonprofit Christmas tree lot, and the overhang at Safeway, where we sang while we waited out a sudden rainstorm.
January brought our annual Epiphany celebration and gift exchange, and included a “journey with gifts” to collect parts of our lunch together from various parts of the neighborhood. We ended up with chow mein, bratwurst sandwiches, pizza, pupusas, and other treats representing the universality of Epiphany and the many nations and cultures of our neighbors.
Throughout the fall and winter, we have also been pursuing a slow (but not TOO slow) conversation about sexuality, for both LGB and straight folks. We’ve been listening to each other’s stories of how we developed our sexual ethics, and looking at how we feel and what we believe about issues such as same-gender marriage and the Biblical texts referred to as “clobber passages.” We will be continuing this conversation for some months to come with the hope of coming to a shared set of understandings and commitments.