In September of this year, the Luke 10 team (Sarah Castricum, Nancy Asbedian, Kate Byers, Sharon Bonnell-Bradley and Lisa Sackett) travelled to Baltimore and were immersed in their first program trainings. We learned about how Christian Nationalism has swept our country like a storm, and how it works to roll back the supports that have been in place for those who are living on the margins (especially people who experience food insecurity, housing insecurity, who are immigrants, or who are part of the LGBTQ+ community).
During October, the Luke 10 team met 1-2x/week via Zoom with their program’s national trainers, regional coaches, participants from across the country and across our region. We also met in our own small group, all to begin the process of identifying the top specific needs and most urgent social justice issues challenging our communities.
For First Church, this discernment is made much easier by the transformation work we’ve already undertaken as a congregation. We understand our congregation’s values, priorities, and resources, and the Luke 10 team will build on this thinking.
This November and December, the Luke 10 team will be reaching out to some of you and requesting about 30 minutes of your time for 1:1 conversations. We hope to understand your sense of urgency among the many different social justice issues we face. No preparation is needed. Perhaps you know you’d like to chat with one of us. If so, let us know. And if we ask you if you’d like to participate in one of these 1:1 conversations, please consider saying yes.
Also, please mark your calendar for Sunday Nov. 15, when the Luke 10 team will lead the worship service and share what we are learning. Our new Luke 10 friends from Natick and from Somerville plan to join us. They will enrich our worship music, and be available to answer questions you may have about their experiences as Luke 10 participants.
Our annual mission trip is a weeklong service project working with the Appalachian South Folklife Center in Pipestem, WV. Each year, we assist families in need with home repairs and community service. So far, the teams have refurbished homes and a church, worked with a school and an Arts center. It's a rewarding experience for all.
Thousands of chidren do not have beds to sleep on. "Sleep in Heavenly Peace" builds bed frames, supplies mattresses and bedding to hundreds of children children in eastn Massachusetts each year. In addition to financial support, we have work days each year to build bed frames.
Started many years ago by a bowling group, each year in the Fall about 50 to 80 new coats are given out to those in need through the City Missionary Society along with numerous other Christmas gifts.