February 3, 2023
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Dear Lake B friends & family,
In the spirit of our season of Epiphany, I wanted to share a recent experience. In the last two weeks, and in two separate circumstances, friends shared with me that they were in desperate need of a car. One friend totaled her car in an accident before Christmas. My other friend’s car needed repairs that would take hundreds of dollars to fix. It would have taken months to save for those repairs. Within an hour of making these needs known, both needs were met by other friends who had cars they no longer needed or were not using and were looking for people who may have need of a vehicle. I couldn’t believe it happened just that fast. What’s the epiphany? At any given moment in our community, there are both needs and abundance. Our work is to foster the kind of community where people are free to share what they need AND to share what they have without the fear of being judged or shamed. A New Way As we’ve talked about each week, epiphanies can lead us to a new practice, or a new way of seeing or a new way of acting in the world. If you didn’t know it, Lake B has a community fund designated to respond to needs we become aware of in the community. It can be a need from within our own Lake B community of faith OR it can be a need that you are aware of in your own circle of relationships – ie friend from work, from your neighborhood etc.. The Community Fund is supported by our congregation. Typically, we make a special offering request for the community fund on Communion Sunday. But you can give at any time. We have had many requests come to the office over the past several months and anticipate that the needs will continue to grow. The kinds of requests we receive range from rental assistance, utilities, help with groceries, car payments and other kinds of bills. We try to respond to these requests with what is available in the community fund. You will hear about a specific need of a congregation member this Sunday during service. We’ve only done a specific ask to the entire congregation one other time in the last 10 years that I can remember. We felt this was something that we wanted to make folks aware of. Thank you for considering a gift to the Community Fund AND I hope that if there’s a need you are aware of (either for yourself or for someone you know) you will feel free to contact the office. Grateful to be in community with you! Pastor Lina PS For those of you who were able to attend our 5th Sunday breakfast and Annual Meeting, thank you for making it a great morning! |