#ThankYouPatrons

About a month ago, I launched a Patreon campaign. Launch was both enlightening and moving. Asking for help is hard. And sometimes when it comes, it’ll come from people you don’t expect, which will be inexplicably emotional and meaningful, though you’ll be hard-pressed to name the meaning.

Today, Patreon asked all its creators to participate in the #ThankYouPatrons campaign. To thank mine, I stocked the LFP Pilot with fixings for Thanksgiving sides, including recipes.

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I spelled one patron’s name wrong and left another off entirely. (Thank you, too, Susan Hartman.) But these folks didn’t help me because I don’t need help. They helped because I do. #ThankYouPatrons

For a printable shopping list and recipes, click here.
To become a Patron, click here.

Coming Together through Good

A few days ago, a man named Eric emailed me about a just-launched mini pantry, “Community Pantry,” in Concord, NC. He attached a copy of the Concord newspaper presser, titled “Diverse Groups Come Together for Good.” The first paragraph reads as follows:

At a time when intense tribalism grips our country, two diverse Concord groups have found a way to come together for good.  Pastor Nathan King, representing Trinity United Church of Christ, and J. Rodger Clark, Director of Planned Giving - The Humanist Foundation representing North State Humanists, have joined forces to create, dedicate and support a “Community Pantry”. 

In her book Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown defines the term “Common Enemy Intimacy.” “Common Enemy Intimacy is counterfeit connection and the opposite of true belonging. If the bond we share with others is simply that we hate the same people, the intimacy we experience is often intense, immediately gratifying, and an easy way to discharge outrage and pain. It is not, however, fuel for real connection.”

We may bond over the “bad,” but these bonds aren’t lasting; we will retreat to our tribes. We come together through good. In Concord, NC, “Community Pantry” is one such conduit.



Grace After Meals

We end this meal with grace.

For the joy and nourishment of food,

The slowed time away from the world

To come into presence with each other

And sense the subtle lives behind our faces,

The different colors of our voices,

The edges of hungers we keep private,

The circle of love that unites us.

We pray the wise spirit who keeps us

To change the structures that make others hunger

And that after such grace we might now go forth

And impart dignity wherever we partake.

Find “Grace After Meals” in John O’Donohue’s To Bless the Space Between Us. If, like me, you are moved by his writing, you might enjoy listening to Krista Tippett interview him for her podcast, On Being. Listen here!