In November when my daughter Paige and I were visiting Charleston, SC we saw a cool prayer installation at a church. The congregation invited people to lift prayers by tying ribbons on to the fence railings of the church building. I thought this was something we could copy as we wait to build a new Blessing Box for the SFC House. The only problem is we don’t have a fence in our front yard. I decided what we needed was a blessing tree that people could tie ribbons too. I spent late November and December scouring for branches. I found some at a local park and, thanks to the big windstorm, our own backyard tree provided a nice selection of options.
My intention was to build the tree after epiphany and so this last week I was out front with my motley collection of fallen branches trying to construct a tree that would hold up to wind, rain, middle schoolers, and tying ribbons on to it. I must have looked a sight to all the people driving by as I wrestled with bending nails around branches and my hair frizzed out unto a huge halo as it began to lightly rain. Suddenly a man came up to me and began telling me how much he had loved the blessing box and saying he had always been curious about us. We had a delightful conversation for more than 10 minutes, which ended up with him getting my number, following me on instagram, and promising to come to dinner church.
This man had been living just down the street for 2 years. He had interacted with us through our blessing box, but it wasn’t until I got out there that he came and asked some questions. It’s east to put up a sign, which we have. And a little hard to create interactions, which we do through the Blessing Box. The question is how do we make ourselves available to our neighbors and to our community?
As our parish continues our season of discernment and developing a 5 year plan this question is on my heart. How do we continue to connect with our neighbors and be present to those around us in transformational ways? I know that I’ll be building more wacky things in the yard as a way to be visible and accessible to the neighborhood!
-Eilidh
Recent Comments