We are building community. We are identifying all the elements that create sustainable communities - infrastructures like electricity, water, waste management, a clinic, job training, schooling and of course, a church. The new residents have named their church the Episcopal Church of Faith and Joy. When we leave, there will be a village with not only physical infrastructure but also a human one, people connected to each other in love and caring. It is this that will ultimately be the strength that enables these people to not only survive but to thrive.
Reason is one of our charisms.
As we give this away. We find that we can do ordinary things, extraordinarily well. This past spring I visited the Diocese of Jerusalem with Sandra Swan the director of Episcopal Relief and Development, Jane Butterfield who is responsible for the missionary personnel of our work and Nan Cobbey from Episcopal Life. We visited hospitals, churches and schools. In Nazareth, we visited Christ School with Bishop Riah.