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This Easter a group of us from the Sellwood Faith Community met down at the river in the darkness.  There we sang songs, prayed, and read scripture. As the sun rose we thought about the ways people in our community could feel God’s presence through the risen Christ.  We painted rocks with words that we thought people in our neighborhood might need.  These are a reminder of the stone that was rolled away so that something new could unfold that Easter morning two millennia ago.  They are also a reminder of Christ present with us now.  We are going to leave out a big platter with the rocks in the front yard of the SFC house for the season of Easter, which is 50 days long.  We’ve put up a sign that says “Take What You Need.”  At dinner on Sunday nights throughout Easter we’ll have more rocks to be painted by the kids and any adults who would like to do so.  We’ll replenish the platter in the yard as needed.  Hopefully our neighbors will appreciate taking a bit of Christ’s presence with them through things like peace, hope, clarity, love, light, joy, serenity, openness, and wonder.

The idea for this community love project sprang from the auction art that my daughter’s class did this year.  They made outdoor art from painted rocks and a cool leaf platter.  We’re keeping the class art we won at the auction as a memento from this year, but we were inspired to create our own art for the neighborhood.  As a faith community we already engage our neighbors with positive message on our chalkboard sign.  These rocks are a portable way for our neighborhood to know us and to know we care for them. We’ve talked about ways to do this before, to engage our neighbors, maybe through some sidewalk level chalkboards that they could write on or through some poetry they could take home.  Once again an idea came from these different nudges to be a way to be in ministry in this place at this time.  I’m excited to see how it unfolds and how a little love and hope will touch others.

May your Easter season be full of wonder epiphanies and lots of love, light, and wisdom.

-Eilidh

One of our inspiration rocks.