a Fellowship of Neighbors

July 2, 2024

Beloved:

My neighbor just two doors down is in her nineties and needed to see the damage, so her son pushed her wheelchair down the street so she could take a look and talk to neighbors who were out.  I have lived here 18 months and met her for the first time.  Crises have that effect on neighborhoods, the urge to check on others, to see if they’re okay, to find out what help they need.

Everyone’s power is back on.  The neighborhood pool has reopened.  Businesses are doing business.  Broken trees are the main damage in my neighborhood, though some roofs are sporting bright red Tyvek until contractors can get to them.  Contractors and tree companies will have a good 2024, as they are all completely covered up, as my dad used to say when he had more work than he could handle.  Internet service took longer for some, my daughter included.  Her job is entirely online, and she had to scramble for a couple of days to find a place to work.

But we have lights, groceries, communications, passable roads and necessary services, after just a week of feeling a little frantic and out of sorts.  Leaving me aware once more of the profoundly privileged place we occupy on this planet.  Having services restored only days after such a massive storm is beyond imagination for a good many people in this world.  Others exist in perpetual destruction and deprivation, driven not by wind and rain but by war and politics.  War and politics born of fear armed with great power deprives far more people than nature ever does – of the most basic human needs:  air and water, food and shelter, as well as all the joys of our existence such as life in a neighborhood.  Living in a certain spot on a certain street, among people we know and who know us, whom we watch out for and who watch out for us is a privilege, I would even say a gift of God, intended for us all.  The Bible word is fellowship.  The worldly word is neighbors, also a Bible word, and I consider it among the very best of words, the very best of life.  And one of the greatest losses we can lose, however it gets lost.  So be grateful for your neighbors.  Do something for them if you can.  Even better, meet one whose name you don’t know.  I pray this beautiful day treats you and your whole neighborhood kindly.

~peace & prayers,
pastor annette