The book opens as the Searcher, a raccoon, returns to Old Tree after a night of scavenging. Belly full, he climbs into the arms of Old Tree and falls deeply asleep. Throughout the day, a powerful storm swells the sea and shakes the ground. Fierce winds threaten to pull Old Tree up from the roots, but can’t. Old Tree holds firm and the Searcher sleeps through the storm, peacefully oblivious.

Old Tree is not simply a “giving” tree. Old Tree is a symbol of strength, protection, shelter, selflessness, and unconditional love. A twist at the end shows the Searcher is not oblivious to Old Tree’s generosity. They seem to honor each other in their nurturing relationship. One can draw parallels to any caring relationship, but particularly parents and children and our relationship with God.

Mr. McPhail tenderly conveys a symbiotic relationship featuring protection, gratitude, acceptance, and mutual kindness.

Encourage new parents, reassure a child, or simply tell someone you’ll always be there for them. Give them a copy of The Searcher and Old Tree.

St. Mary’s Food Bank, Feeding America, Food For Free, Boston Area Gleaners, and the Society of St. Andrew are all examples of efforts to glean leftover or wasted food and use it to feed the hungry. The USDA has a webpage about gleaning which is a resource guide on food recovery programs for businesses, community-based profit or nonprofit organizations, private citizens, and public officials. Check them out.

This summer at COS has being anything but a staycation! Even so, it has been very refreshing. Pictured here is the fresh summer sign that welcomed old and new members to worship and community.

In June, the pews in the sanctuary were moved into the parish hall and then moved back into the church in a more functional and pleasing configuration. In July, the long awaited refinishing of the parish hall floor kept us busy moving all the furniture out of the hall into the church and then back into the hall when the floors were dry. Soon new carpeting in the church will be installed and I think you can guess what has to be done. Thanks to the brave and brawny COS members who showed up to make it possible. Thanks to all whose pledges and gifts support such necessary improvements. We will all enjoy the fruits of this summer as we worship and gather in these fresh new spaces.

And, then, I talk to my neighbors Ellen and Dennis. They have fallen in love, passionately and actively in love–with the people of Farato, a small village in Gambia, one of the poorest countries in West Africa.

Here is how it started. Ellen is an artist. Her husband Dennis, a Vietnam veteran, is retired. Both are in their early 60s. They own a large house and decided to host foreign students studying in the United States. One of these students was Biran Sallah, from Gambia, the smallest country in Africa and a former British colony. Both Ellen and Dennis enjoy traveling and decided to visit him in Farato when he returned home. They had never been to Africa before but they expected that they would see real poverty and they did. What they did not expect to discover was how easily they fell in love with the people of Farato, not as victims but as real individuals with families, wanting the best for their children.

There was a problem in Farato, however. The nearest school was six kilometers away and that was a long way for the children to walk back and forth each day. Dennis asked why the children didn’t just ride a bicycle to school liked he had done as a young boy. he reply? There was no money for bicycles; the average income in Gambia is only $350. Dennis nodded and then fretted … “if only these children had bikes”… and when he and Ellen returned home, he decided to fix up the two old bikes stored in his garage and to ship them to Farato. Ellen organized the photos she had taken in Farato into a slide show and at our neighborhood pot luck dinners she showed them, telling the story. One of the neighbors wanted to help but had no bicycle to offer. Instead she suggested raising money to buy bikes and, well, the whole thing snowballed from there. Ellen set up a web site and arranged a fundraiser at a local restaurant. Progress is being made. Right now 25 village children have bikes and attend school for the first time. There are 77 others waiting for their bikes so that they, too, can go to school.

Ellen and Dennis continue to visit Farato–in this African village, these two ordinary people who live on my street in West Roxbury are enabling kids to go to school. In the process, they have been changed as well into advocates for outreach and connection across continents. All it took was a willingness to fall in love.

I invite you to take a look at Ellen’s photos at www.futureforfarato.com, and to keep their work in your prayers. I invite us all to be open, too, to those unexpected loves and places where we, ordinary people, can serve as the hands of God.

– Terry Hofmann
Terry is the author of a series of occasional columns in our newsletter in which she shares with COS her continuing journey in formation as a permanent deacon. Terry has been a frequent contributor to Loaves and Fishes, often writing about mission, service opportunities, and linking us to interesting talks and events. Her columns will continue this tradition and give her free rein to talk about whatever is on her mind and heart.

And there is the knitting. My grandmother, a staunch Canadian church lady, was a lifelong volunteer at the Mission to Seafarers, a ministry of the Anglican Church. When I was in an early hat and scarf phase, I found that the Mission accepts donations of warm woolies for merchant seafarers all over the world. Plain dark colors only! This is not the place to use up your leftover hot pink mohair.

In western Mass we find the first chapter of Knitting Liberally, a community based on the social networking, community development model of Living Liberally. These communities are predicated on the assumption that political identity should be part of our regular lives. The Knitting Liberally group’s last giving project donated knit toys for the children served by the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition (NELCWIT), who have survived domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Other well known knitting ways of giving are Afghans for Afghans, which also does scarves, sweaters and hats, the Dulaan project, which knits warm clothing for children in Mongolia, and the Red Scarf project, which cares about foster kids heading to college. And for those of you who are stash-rich, consider donating some yarn for Lent—as in “letting go.” Drop some off at Rosie’s Place and throw in some needles. Call your LYS and find out where they suggest. And please note, the rector advises that this does not count if it is just an excuse for stash expansion!

Another found its way to Koinonia, a Christian farm community in Americus, Georgia, which strives to be “a demonstration plot for the kingdom of God.” Visit their website to find out more about their ministries and buy pecans, baked goods, and books.

The Arlington MLK Committee thanks COS for sponsoring the annual Dr. King observance and making a strong public statement in support of justice and equality for all people.

The Arlington Food Pantry appreciates our on-going support and gifts.