July 3, 2020

Dear Lake B Family & Friends,
 
“Grace and peace to you from God our Creator and through Jesus Christ.  I thank God every time I remember you.  In all of my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  Being confident of this, that the One who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.”
 
I wish I could claim that those were my own words, but they are not. They are the words of the Apostle Paul to the believers in the city of Philippi.
 
These words do, however, reflect exactly how I am feeling today.  I am grateful to be in this community of faith with all of you.  I am thankful to be in partnership with you in this work of the Kingdom.  The Church is much more than a Christian club.  The Church is a visible, tangible expression of a partnership between God and the world.  As the Rev. Ben McBride put it so well on last Sunday’s Justice League call, the Spirit is leading us in our discipleship to become both prophets of righteous resistance AND midwives to the Beloved Community.  In my mind, this describes Jesus’ life so well.  God, embodied in Jesus Christ, was both a prophet of righteous resistance and a midwife to the Beloved Community - on display for us at the intersection of the Cross. The Spirit of God now animates us, The Body of Christ,  to live in that intersection:  prophetically calling out injustice AND living and carrying forward into existence,  a faithful vision of Beloved Community.  (I encourage you to listen to the podcast from that Justice League meeting! Click here to listen: https://www.lbpc.org/recent-sermons.html )
 
That God would allow us to be part of this is both daunting and energizing!  I am humbled to be working alongside each of you in this journey during this very unique time in the history of the Church and the world.
 
A few updates:
 
Children and Youth

• We began a scaled-back version of our summer day camp last week with 28 neighborhood children.  Ms. Margo and Jesse are leading the program and we have hired three temporary staff to assist.  We are thankful we can offer this program as hundreds of families are struggling right now to balance childcare with going back to work after the spring quarantine.
• We are also launching an eight-week youth leadership summer intern program led by Michael Won.  Young people will learn about principles and practices of community-led transformation.  We are excited to offer this opportunity to encourage the agency of young leaders in our community.  Both the children’s program and the youth leadership program will follow all the social distancing and health guidelines of our state.  More information about those guidelines can be found on the church website (https://www.lbpc.org/covid-19.html).
• Both Margo and Michael will continue to host children and youth of Lake B in weekly summer virtual gatherings (children’s Sunday School and youth-focused conversations).

 
Meal Distributions

• On Fridays from 12:00-2:00 pm we continue to distribute meals in our partnership with World Vision, the Highline School District and Para Los Ninos.
• We have an additional food distribution program called, “Alimentando El Pueblo (Feeding El Pueblo).”  This program is a joint effort with  Para Los Ninos, New Futures, Colectiva Legal and LaRoxay Productions.  Lake B provides space and volunteer oversight for this distribution each Monday.

 
COVID-19 Relief Fund
Through the end of June:

• $67,008 received to assist families
• $65,832 disbursed in utilities, transportation and food assistance
• 248 families assisted

 
Finally, join us in praying that we never lose sight of the vision for shalom and the Gospel fully alive in our own lives and the lives of all people.  And we pray, with the Spirit of God, for courage, strength and wisdom to be both prophets of righteous resistance and midwives for the Beloved Community.
 
Praying with joy today for our partnership in the Gospel,
 
 
Pastor Lina