By Outreach Committee
Background: Over the last couple years the Outreach Committee has begun the practice of drafting a vision document to highlight the work of our congregation in the world. Part of our role as a committee is to take a step back and notice all of these efforts and hold them up for others to see. This year our vision document is titled “Relief, Reimagining, Rebirth” as we look at the ways our congregation has been responding to the multiple crises we have faced and are facing.
If you are interested to see our past documents, which are connected the FMCSF Core Values and Practices, you can find them here:
Outreach Committee 2017: Strategies and Tactics
Outreach Committee 2018: Mennofesto
Relief, Reimagining and Rebirth resonate with the Outreach committee as we examine the work of FMCSF in the world during this time.
At present we know that so many people are hungry, scared they will lose their homes, and terrified for the health of their loved ones, due to covid, air quality or ongoing social isolation. Many people, within our congregation and beyond it, need immediate relief to buy food, pay rent, get medical care, or experience human connection.
Also during this time, we are having to learn new ways of being. Teachers, children and young adults are reimagining the foundations of education in their schools and universities. All of us who are isolated, but especially vulnerable populations, will need to reimagine our social connections during physical distancing.
Reimagining our existence during this pandemic is scary because it is a recognition that we are living in a new reality. And at the same time, reimagining in this new reality also presents us with many hopeful, creative and transformative possibilities.
Like our new zoom church services, we need to reimagine every part of our lives as we live them now, for however long that will be. We need to reimagine housing in an equitable way (especially for those on the streets), an economic system that values the most vulnerable (including creation), how we work together, and even right now, how we endure the reality of wildfires and lack of fresh air.
What we hope for most as a faith community is rebirth from this societal upheaval. We hope that during this time of deep need, these months of contemplation and isolation, each of us — and our community of faith collectively — are building the capacity to dream of and work towards a different world than the one we left. We want a rebirth of our economy and society that removes the faultlines and divisions laid bare by the crisis. We want a rebirth that awakens everyone to the interconnectedness of all people. We want a rebirth into the beloved community.
Our work at this time must encompass all stages. Relief, reimagining, and rebirth are all happening simultaneously and are all of equal value to our present moment and our future existence. Below is a non-comprehensive list of what our community is already doing in these three stages. We invite you to contemplate where you are drawn to put your energy at this moment.
Relief:
Maria Elena Fund
Sharing Fund
Providing meals
Sojourner Truth Deacon’s Fund
Funds for undocumented people
Making masks
Prayer
Working to get out the vote and end voter suppression
Seeking economic justice through saying Yes to Prop 15 and No to Prop 22
Reimagining:
Making masks for every occasion!
Neighborhood Care Groups
Virtual Church Life (which has included increased accessibility, among other things)
Reparations Procession
Supporting rent strikes
Demanding hotels be made available to people on the streets
Questioning housing as a commodity and advocating to keep seniors in their homes
Rebirth:
Giving reparations
Advocating for mental health response professionals as an alternative to policing
Supporting efforts to defund the police (presence at George Floyd rallies, etc.)
Claiming democracy and preparing to stop a coup if necessary
Winning housing subsidies for seniors in SF
We celebrate all these efforts of relief, reimagining and rebirth among us! We recognize that we’re not all drawn to the same actions or efforts, and that is the beauty of being part of the community. Know that any work that gives relief to those in need now, reimagines how we live during this pandemic, or lays the groundwork for the rebirth of our society is valuable at this moment, right now. The idea that we will return fully to the world before, can and should be put to rest because it is not possible or desirable. We want a new world, a world closer to God’s kingdom, to replace that old world. And now is the best time to start building it.
Mennos By The Bay 