Spiritual Touchstone: B.C.

SPIRITUAL TOUCHSTONE

“Perhaps there could be no joy on this planet without an equal weight of pain to balance it out on some unknown scale.”
— Stephanie Meyer, author of The Host

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about life B.C. (before COVID). It was certainly different than how we are living now even though we are no longer as heavily hampered as we were during the pinnacle of the pandemic in late 2020, early 2021. For example, it is summer opera season and at the two performances we have attended so far, almost every seat has been filled in the War Memorial and neither proof of vaccination nor masks are required to attend.

But even though we are back in the opera house in full force, everything else in San Francisco has changed. Retailers are fleeing downtown, empty office space is plentiful, and public transit is struggling. The soaring tech B.C. tech boom has gone bust and as a result, public coffers are no longer bursting at the seams.

In some ways, boom then bust cycles are normal in San Francisco, they have been happening since the Gold Rush and have also been instigated by catastrophic natural disaster busts followed by human-caused booms to support war and then eventually the dot com boom/bust tech boom most of us have witnessed since the beginning of the 21st century.

But is this just another boom/bust/boom cycle or did COVID really shift our society more profoundly? Do you feel different? What is better? What is worse? Where should we put our energy for creative change?

In my own view, I think we have all been a bit traumatized by the pandemic coupled with a toxic political environment being challenged by the growing and powerful Black Lives Matter, Me Too, and LGBTQ movements. And in our congregation, the impacts on our efforts to create The Good Table have been dampened and stalled by broken bureaucratic systems, a huge robbery in 2022, lack of specific technical advice and expertise, and the erratic availability of resources that are much more expensive, too.

At the same time, a project like ours is exactly the sort of thing that will help local communities thrive in new ways. We are creating a robust, yet flexible hub for social infrastructure that will provide a safe place for community to gather, grow, and create together. Plus, in times of emergency and/or disaster, this critical social infrastructure will even save lives. I CANNOT wait to be able to open our doors and welcome folks into a beautiful space that will provide food for body, mind, and spirit for everyone - no matter who they are or where they are on life’s journey.

While the road to creating The Good Table has been slow, and sometimes rough, we are still moving forward. Join us at a monthly community work day (last Saturdays each month, 12-3p), consider making an ongoing financial donation or introduce us to your networks by inviting us to come speak to your group. Help us bring this beautiful vision of a pay-what-you-can and pay-it-forward community cafe; local craft and food marketplace; organic tree and plant nursery with a farm store; and a gathering place for education, spiritual development, and the arts to final fruition.

* Original artwork by Tim Peacock