Latest Blog Posts

Pass the Peas Please

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Yesterday as I was eating lunch, and the only one at the table with me had left. I was enjoying a moment of quiet, which doesn’t happen much in the dining room. Another guest, “James” whom I had not seen for a while joined me then, a delightful man in his 40’s.

Who is your neighbor? Who is your sister?

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“If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?” (JAMES 2:15-16)

Recently a person of need started appearing on the exit ramp of the Lodge to Livernois. A tall gaunt women wanders in and out of 4 lanes. She is so thin I cannot imagine what size she might be. She is graceful with hands and arms outstretched—as in a dance—asking for money.  Her image haunts me frequently during the day: She is somebody’s daughter. Does she have any family? Whatever happened to her that she must beg on the freeway? Yet I know that in the Gospel sense she is my sister, too. What to do?

Eating Lighter While Being Satisfied

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The other day the Meldrum Kitchen received some beautiful cabbage from a donor. Also we had some gorgeous swiss chard from our Earthworks Urban Farm. After all the coring and chopping, we ended up making a “smothered cabbage” side dish. The swiss chard was used with the rest of the cabbage. When we prepare them, we de-stem them, but we save the stems & chop them up into small pieces (less waste, food, no need to compost). We add the leafy greens from beets, radishes, baby salad turnips & even carrot tops. I like to use something rather than just throwing it out. This summer heat can make our appetites’ decline, but we want to stay satisfied while eating lighter.

Twenty Years Strong and Still Going!

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“We plant the seeds that one day will grow…we water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise…We lay foundations that will need further development. It is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”  Bishop Ken Untener

All of a sudden, as we prepared for the start-up of our annual summer three week Peace Camp, I realized with a jolt that it has been twenty years! For twenty years we have been trying to plant seeds of respect, peace-making and care in the hearts of east side children and youth. For twenty years, we have loved the children of the peace camp and they have loved us. For twenty years our youth have discussed peace, offered resolutions to conflict and celebrated peace with art, music and dance.