Gratitude: Outreach

The work of outreach—caring for our neighbors in relationship—is sometimes the most invisible work. Between grant proposals and ribbon cuttings and budget negotiations and new programs there are years of quiet service to our neighbors. For that reason it feels a little bit impossible to put names to all the thank yous that should be said for the work of outreach within a parish.

Ideally the Christian is formed to work, pray, give, and pray for the spread of God’s kingdom in all corners of their life, emboldened to serve in their vocations, in their family, and in the broader community. It is always a gift to hear about the ways God’s love is shared in Tucson by way of your dedication to service in all these spheres. It is my prayer that we are so formed by the way of Jesus that the way we live is indistinguishable from outreach ministries in particular—that a spirit of generosity and compassion would be our response to who we know God to be, wherever we are, and I am so grateful for all the invisible life-making work to which this bound-up task of prayer and service lead.

The Parish-specific efforts for Outreach, things such as the Tuesday and Thursday morning Food Pantry, the monthly food and supplies ingatherings for frontline organizations, the Kitchen on a Mission effort, In-School Mentoring at Rio Vista Elementary, teams that support the Inn in welcoming Asylum seekers, our involvement with Pima County Interfaith’s work with job creation and efforts for just policies, the Feeding Ministries Working Group, the thousands of hours of service offered each year of Beloved in the Desert and more create webs of relationship where the love of God can be shared through tangible supports to our shared community life. These efforts trucked right along while I was on leave and for this I am so grateful, while not at all surprised! Thank you especially to Landon Swanson, Dcn Susan Erickson, John Bremond, Barbara Cone, Diane Dittemore, and Nancy Atherton for your continued support of the Kitchen on a Mission project, to the Feeding Ministries Working Group for your tireless support of and vision for relationships and service, especially to Mary Norman, Allan Cooley, Donna Palmer, Alex Swain, Eileen and Don Veitch, Nancy Atherton, John Koza, Liz Wood, Ruth Campbell, Barbra Vogen, Barbara Cone, Michael Anderson, Landon Swanson, and others, to John Kneale for coordinating the summer’s work toward In-School Mentoring at Rio Vista, to Chuck Kirchner for coordinating teams to welcome Asylum seekers, to Dcn Leah Sandwell-Weiss and Jane Prescott-Smith for their leadership within PCI, and to the Food Pantry team who faithfully feeds our neighbors--Ruth Campbell, Barbra Vogen, David Owen, Nancy Atherton, and the expanding team that makes this all possible.

I look forward to the fall where we will continue to listen for the Spirit’s calling into relationship and service, to practice compassion, generosity, and love as a community, and to seek and serve Christ in our neighbors in all the ways to which those callings lead.

Thank you,
Mtr Taylor