Companion Orientation Monday | The next companion orientation is this Monday, December 5th. We will meet in the sanctuary at 5:00pm. Invite your friends or family to attend! |
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Street Dog Coalition December 11th
December 11th, Street Dog Coalition will be on campus to offer vet services to folks at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
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UPDATE: Haywood Street Community Development | |
Much gratitude to Katie Button and The Corner Kitchen for hosting a fundraiser this week in support of our effort to develop deeply affordable housing designed with dignity and built for belonging.
A very generous donor presented a challenge gift at the event, offering to match dollar for dollar gifts to Haywood Street Community Development, up to $250,000 before January 15th!
Please consider an additional gift directed towards Haywood St. housing as you plan your year-end giving or to launch your charitable giving in the New Year. Thank you!
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ONE WORD Campaign
We wrapped up the ONE WORD campaign on Wednesday. To read all of the words used to describe Haywood Street, click HERE.
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Companion Corner
COMING UP:
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Mark your calendars for December 19th. This will be an extra kitchen prep day to get ready for our holiday meal!
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Companion Orientation December 5th. We will meet in the sanctuary at 5:00pm. Invite your friends or family to attend!
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Companion Care Crew- The Companion Care Crew is made up of Companions at Haywood Street Congregation who have the time, energy, and a sense of call to support Haywood Street’s ministries and Companions. If you'd like to join, let Katlyn know & look out for our next meeting time!
SIGN UP:
- Please make sure to check the sign up sheet each week and update it based on your availability or let Katlyn know if you will not be here. This lets us know if we will have the coverage we need each week.
| Decorating the tree in the sanctuary! |
Thank you to everyone who helped us decorate for the holidays! | |
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Weekly Ministry Opportunities:
Worship:
Sundays at 11:00 and Wednesdays at 12:30 in the sanctuary
Tuesday Prayer Group:12:00 in the sanctuary. Gather for a time of communal prayer
Thursday Card Making: Group - 10:00am in Room 1 (off the main lobby) - Gather together to make cards for our community and friends in prison or in the hospital.
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Clothing Resources
Click below to see the list the places in the community to donate clothes and to find free clothes.
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Fresco Viewing Hours:
Sundays 9-12
Monday-Thursday 10-2
By appointment, contact April at april@haywoodstreet.org
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Ways to Give
Your gift ensures that there is always enough, and room for everyone, at the many welcoming tables of Haywood Street.
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Angels in Disguise
by Laura Bernhein
I met Patrick in the spring of 2022. He was sitting by the front door of the Sanctuary, holding a wounded bird. He told me he wasn't the best at taking care of animals, so he was about to take it to Sow True Seed, the plant store next door. It was warm and sunny, and the rose bushes were blooming. He said his name was Ezekiel, like the visionary prophet. I was going through the last stages of a rough patch that started at the beginning of 2020, a path that had led me to Haywood Street.
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He asked me to touch the bird, so I started caressing it. I hadn't done that since I was a little girl. "It feels calmer now; I can feel its heart beating slower," he said. It was a moment of profound connection, that magical instant in which two people are not strangers anymore; they are becoming friends. The bird's beating heart, the silence, the beautiful light, and two sets of hands holding space for life to unfold. | |
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Before I left to go to the Welcome Table, he told me: "I never let anyone leave without a blessing. You have the heart, the mind, the soul, and the strength." That spring, I was experiencing the light at the end of the tunnel after a period of profound growth and transformation. I felt he was an angel, holding the door open for me to enter the next chapter of my life.
We've shared many moments and conversations since then. We discovered that we both love cinnamon, and he continues to surprise me with his poetry, raw beauty, and insights about life and the human soul. Sometimes he's in his world, and I can't access it, and that's OK. Other times, I understand him so deeply that words, medical diagnoses, and even our stories don't exist anymore.
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It's the type of communion I often feel at Haywood Street, a superpower I discovered while working as a companion.
Once, he told me his real name was Patrick R. So, I searched for his family on Facebook and found his mom, Cheryl. We started talking, and I got to know how Patrick became Ezekiel. She's a beautiful mama, and she so loves Patrick. Whenever I see him, I tell him: "Patrick, you are so loved." Today, Cheryl calls me her angel. I called her son my angel. A Rabbi once told me that, according to Judaism, we create an angel whenever we do a loving action. So, angels must be human beings sent by God to give us back the love we once gave. We are all angels in disguise, then.
A few weeks ago, I came home to find a package from Cheryl on my front door. She had made a beautiful shawl for me. In the box, there was a grey scarf for Patrick. "Please, give it to him the next time you see him. He doesn't need to know where it's coming from." I carry it in my backpack. I know I'll see Patrick soon, although I'm not sure he'll accept it. Every time I've tried to give something to him: a water bottle on a blazing hot day, a backpack because his was falling apart, he stopped me: "Don't give anything to me, leave it at the church; the person who needs it the most will take it, the same way I've taken everything I have. It might be me; it might be someone else."
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"There are many worlds,
There are many languages.
I learn from listening,
I know from silence.
We are preserving the beauty.
The stars are in your hands.
I only get flowers when it rains.
I learned everything from children;
There is only one master here,
And I'm ready to learn."
(Patrick)
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A witness to include the most excluded, Haywood Street not only welcomes every child of God–especially sisters and brothers of every mental illness and physical disability, addiction and diagnosis, living condition and employment status, gender identity and sexual orientation, class, color, and creed–but we celebrate your presence, certain that the kingdom of God is coming closer because you are here.
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