Making Visible: The Vision OF GOd's Shalom

​On a chilly afternoon in March, members from Cathedral of the Beloved joined with many others on Park Square in Pittsfield to protest the mayor’s proposed Median Safety Ordinance that would push panhandlers and protesters into invisibility. The proposed Ordinance would make it a criminal offense to stand, sit, lie down, or in any other way obstruct pedestrians on Park Square or in many area median strips. As our Spring newsletter makes clear, being visible—being seen—is the beginning of our full humanity. Until we find more effective ways to address poverty, and until we find more just ways of living together as human beings, panhandling and gatherings for protest need to be visible. As our newsletter tells us: Visibility is Victory! When we begin to see panhandlers--and all those who struggle--as real human beings who come to us with gifts, and when we begin to take to heart the signs and banners of protesters calling us to a more just community and world, then we begin to make visible the vision of God’s Shalom—the peace and wholeness of God’s Beloved Community.

Every glimpse of such community is a victory in this time. Our society, for the moment, has chosen leaders who are intent on scapegoating and terrorizing the vulnerable, pushing millions of our neighbors into invisibility. We must take a stand and seek a better world. As Bishop Sims says in our newsletter, when we truly see one another we call each other into existence—with all our gifts and potential. Cathedral of the Beloved, is intent on helping us do that: to see one another so we can find those gifts and that potential as we assist one another in creating a better world for us all.
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-Written by The Rev. Joel Huntington, member of Cathedral Council

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