What a delight to have Manu Koenig, our county supervisor, and Sam Altis, program director for the Association of Faith Communities join us this past Saturday to distribute bagels, socks, plus 8 bags of clothing.
After our tour of the San Lorenzo River and Park, I received this text from Supervisor Koenig: “I can see how this point of human connection is the best place to start.” Intuitively each of knows how to make connection with other human beings, whether we are homeless or a County Supervisor, the end result always seems better than before. There was curiosity, laughter, and heartfelt passion by all parties in the dozens of connections that we made last Saturday. My vision is to have 3000individuals making connections every week with the unhoused community. It would make Santa Cruz safer and healthier for everyone and in the words of Supervisor Koenig, “the best place to start.”
“Experiencing Beliefs”
Our next retreat is already scheduled for Wednesday, January 24th, from 9 am to 3 pm at the Villa Maria del Mar Retreat Center. Thank you, Lois, for arranging this and thank you all for bringing your expanding awareness to our last retreat! At our next retreat we will be exploring the experience of beliefs. What is the process by which some beliefs we carry with absolute certainty such as the earth is round and not flat. While other beliefs such as I am a valuable and worthwhile individual, we often carry with far less confidence. Is trust and belief something that is random and unmanageable or are there resources within us that enables us to realign our trust with the reality of love. Meditation is a resource that humankind has turnedto for millennia to access healthy postures of trust and to anchor that trust in ways that serve us best. We just need to learn how to point that resource in the right direction.
Join us and kindly RSVP!
Villa Maria del Mar Retreat Center
21918 East Cliff Drive
Santa Cruz, CA
(831) 475-1236
Bridge Building this Week
We are back on schedule, Saturday November 18thth, distributing bagels and socks, and lots of other items. Let me know if you’d like to join us. We depart my place at 12:30 and wend our way up to the Clock Tower to deliver clothing and enjoy 10 minutes of silence in the presence of the life force that sustains all of us. Somehow, we get a deeper appreciation of that life energy when we spend time in silence with others.
Stillpoint never has a stockpile of clothing, socks or bedding. If you have any of these items and would like to donate them, please do so. Stillpoiint and the unhoused community are grateful for all donations. If you would like to support us financially in our bridge-building ministry contact us at Stillpoint: Joel@stillpoint.world or (831)419-8290 or https://stillpoint.world
Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina on Zoom
Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina meets as always this Tuesday, 11/14 at 8 am and 8 pm. Attached is the Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8352995499?pwd=RllrMlRrd2VTNFdZZW1hQTBTRDg3QT09
In the beauty of God’s love,
Joel+