Becoming Beloved Community Ministry Debuts at Ministry Fair

Miriam Casey at the ministry fair table.

At the Ministry Fair on September 24 the Becoming Beloved Community Ministry made its debut. At the heart of this ministry is our call to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.

The Becoming Beloved Community Ministry team’s mission is “to create opportunities where we can build beloved communities through relationships with our neighbors, hearing their stories and lived experiences in Sonoma County. Our goal is building relationships and pursuing wholeness and kindness individually and collectively. We strive to understand for the sake of the flourishing of the greater whole and for the end of all forms of domination and oppression that diminish the children of God, through book study, field trips and building relationships in Santa Rosa/Sonoma County.”

Several recent adult forums have been hosted by the Becoming Beloved Community ministry team.

• An Adult Forum where The Episcopal Church’s commitment to building the Beloved Community was presented and how we are striving toward that goal at Incarnation.
• An Adult Forum where a draft land acknowledgment was presented, recognizing that the land upon which Incarnation is located was the homeland of the local Native Pomo People.
• At another Adult Forum farm worker activist Zeke Guzman presented the challenges faced by the Latino farm and vineyard workers and efforts to ensure equitable and safe working conditions for them.

At an Adult Forum on November 19 Rose Hammock, a member of the Pomo and Wailacki tribes from Round Valley Indian Reservation and Big Valley Rancheria, will speak with us about the importance of the land acknowledgment as a first step toward developing a meaningful relationship with the local Native community.Rose is part of the Redbud Resource Group that helped us to develop the draft land acknowledgment.

The Becoming Beloved Community Ministry is collaborating with Redbud Resource Group for a book drive for the Windsor schools. Understanding that learning is improved when books reflect the ethnicity and culture of the students, the book drive is gathering books, written by Indigenous authors, that feature Indigenous culture and people.

If you would like to know more about the work of the Becoming Beloved Community Ministry, contact Daphne Vernon at [email protected].