Dear ones,
We write with loving greetings in these ever-changing times. We are with you and those you love, and with all of those whose health and survival are threatened by the coronavirus pandemic and systems unprepared to care for the vulnerable. We are with you.
We are bolstered by the outpouring of care that points in these times to the deep truth that we were made to take care of one another.
We are bolstered by the spread of digital “mutual aid” boards, like the one in South Minneapolis that reads: “Isopropyl alcohol: We didn’t stock up! My partner is immune compromised and disabled and we’d love to have some. I’m trying to avoid stores. Any chance someone could drop some on our porch?” Other neighbors tune in with offers of errand-running, emergency funds, cat food, vegan soup, and: “A ton of craft supplies. I’d be happy to drop some off for those who have to self-quarantine.”
We are bolstered by meditations set to the task of handwashing.
By emergency funds for quarantined people who don’t have paid sick leave.
By cobbled-together solutions for families without daycare.
And we are grateful for these words from our teammate and Nuns & Nones co-founder, Adam Horowitz, and his recent piece, Toward an Infrastructure of Sacred Hospitality:
“Sacred hospitality means engaging in the sacred art of offering hospitality — literally opening doors, filling plates, offering hope, care, and refuge. It also means holding and hosting space for the sacred — turning our hearts toward the divine life and mystery in our midst. This world is clamoring for both. And the more we practice each, the more we realize they’re one and the same.”
This is our call today: to create the spaces of hospitality- whether or not we are able to be physically together - that the world aches for in these times. Which is why this week, we’re inviting you to:
...A Community Care Call this Thursday, March 19 from 11:30-1 PT / 2:30-4 ET, to listen together for what is true and needed in this moment. Anyone in the Nuns & Nones community is welcome to join. RSVP here.
...Join us in Contemplation this Friday, March 20, in one of three different ways:
Meditate on one of these reflection questions on Sacred Hospitality, or discuss in a small group.
Join for a live, digital, shared meditation this Friday from 5-5:30ET. RSVP here for the Zoom link.
Send us your solidarity, prayers, and reflections as we spend much of this day in contemplation and discernment about how to show up in the weeks and months ahead.
Just as sisters responded to the signs of the times by building hospitals in the midst of pandemics of typhoid and cholera, it is time we call on the healers, the community builders, the mystic misfits, the spiritual elders, and the visionaries to strengthen our memory and practice of community care. As we practice social distancing on a massive scale, let us remember how to take care of one another.
Adam continues: “Now is the time to pursue pathways for remembering, envisioning, awakening — in ourselves and in each other — our innate and limitless capacity to love mightily, to belong to the earth, and to tend and defend the sacred.”
We can do this, together. Now is the time.
We’ll see you on Thursday.
Love,
Nuns & Nones ❤️