Christina Peters: Communal Prayer that leads to love for community

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Sion Friends Hugging before Heading to their Worksites
This morning prayer was about communal love and why communal loving is important and what are some of the barriers in why we may not show it as often as we should. I believe that it is our human nature to judge and perfect people that creates an instant barrier to our ability to fully love.

I decided that I was going to spend the morning in the garden again because it is the chore I enjoy most in the morning. It's a way to connect with the natural resources we have been given and with people that are not in my work crew at the service sites during the day. We planted sweet potatoes and the did some weeding.

Later, we went to our service site and we worked and were in service to a lovely homeowner, Ms. Davis. She was extremely nice and so hospitable. She is a retired nurse which I think is really cool. We have a medical conversation about arthritis. We chatted and talked about the shared experience of having aches and pains in our knees. It wasn't until I left Ms. Davis' home that I realized my time with her commiserating over our knee pain that we were being our most authentic selves, a form of communal love.

When we put in the time to really allow people to be their most authentic selves, we have so many more opportunities to heal the judgment and even pain that people around us have experienced. I have come to know that a great deal during my time at Jerusalem Farm.

I am going to strive to live with more understanding and kindness, so I can allow for communal love to blossom.

Peace,
Christina


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