Thoughts from the ACGA Conference. . .

T*

Hi, Folks!

While at the ACGA Conference this weekend, I was given the title of "The
Morning Glory Vine of E-Mail!" ;-)  To live up to this title and give you
all a taste of the conference, I typed up the handout that I felt was the
most profound of all the information (and there was *quite* a lot of THAT!
;-D) given at the conference.  I truely do believe that these thoughts,
given to us by David Hunt of the Community Building StoryTelling Project,
really does express what we are all trying to do through community gardening.  

(Not that *I* still don't love plants more than people, but hey, that's just
me! *Somebody* has to keep biodiversity going! ;-D)

Enjoy and bother Ben to give you a scholarship to next year's conference!
It was fun! :-D

The Embrace of Community

Quoted from _The  Spirit of Intimacy_ by S. Some

Community is the spirit, the guiding light of the tribe, whereby people come
together in order to fulfill a specific purpose, to help others fulfill
their purpose, and to take care of one another.

The goal of the community is to make sure that each member of the community
is heard.

And is properly giving the gifts that they have brought to this world.

Without this giving, the community dies.  And without the community, the
individual is left without a place where they can contribute.

And so the community is that grounding place where people come and share
their gifts and receive from others.

When you don't have community, You are not listen to;

You don't have a place you can go to and fell that you really belong.

You don't have people to affirm who you are and to support you in bringing
forward your gifts.

What this does to a person's psyche is that is disempowers it, Making the
person vulnerable to consumerism and all the things that come along with it.

Also, it leaves many people who have wonderful gifts, wonderful
contributions to make, holding back gifts, not knowing where to put them.

And without the unloading of our gifts we experience a blockage inside, and
this blockage effects us spiritually, mentally and physically in many
different ways.

We are left without a home.  A home to go to when we need to be seen.
Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's Organic Community Garden

A mission of 
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA  19460

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