This afternoon I met over lunch with about 30 other clergy from the Merrimack Valley area.
The group formed in 2016 after the brutal murder of a teenager in Lawrence. It worked together in the aftermath of the gas explosions of 2018. And then during COVID, this group of clergy shared information and resources and several of the participating churches served as vaccination sites.
At our meeting today, we were Christian and Jewish and Buddhist. Most spoke Spanish; some spoke English. The question raised for us was, “What next? What’s next for the Merrimack Valley ministerium?”
As we gathered around the lunch tables we were asked to discuss two questions:
- What are the challenges facing the faith communities of Andover, North Andover and Lawrence today?
- What are the gifts that the faith communities of Andover, North Andover and Lawrence bring today?
As far as the first question, some of our answers were similar, and others showed the socio-economic differences among our communities. Challenges that area faith communities named included: violence, lack of affordable housing, trying to do ministry with fewer volunteers, diminished financial resources, lack of safe teen gathering spaces, income inequality, and addiction.
The real joy came when we talked about the second question. What are the gifts that area faith communities bring? Around the tables, fellow clergy noted that we have extraordinary creativity, the desire to serve, places for people to connect with each other, hearts to reach beyond ourselves, passion for justice, and mandates from our various faith perspectives to love all people (to name a handful of gifts).
What a joyous gathering! I’m looking forward to further conversations as we live and learn with each other.
In Christ,
Pastor Jen