Dear saints,

One of the more (among many) charming things I learned about Atlanta on coming here nearly seven years ago was that in this city it is possible for a grand idea to become a bold reality. The grand idea belonged to Ryan Gravel, whose Georgia Tech Master's thesis, 'Belt Line - Atlanta Design of Infrastructure as a Reflection of Public Policy', has led to the transformation of in-town Atlanta's abandoned train line. 

When I walk or cycle on the Beltline from our home in Midtown, I marvel at the glorious diversity of human life that shares that busy thoroughfare with me. Whatever Atlantans might think of the Beltline in its current iteration—not least Ryan Gravel himself—one of its most potent legacies in a city that strives to reconcile the divisions of the past is how a path just a few feet wide has become common ground for thousands each day.

The same kind of opportunity lies open for us here on this city block. The church—especially the church of the Anglican tradition—is intended to be an instrument of the reconciliation of all people to God and to one another. In other words, we are made to be common ground. How might we see ourselves as curators of such a place for the people of this city to find one another? How might our buildings and grounds express God's desire for a reconciled world? 

Now is the time for us to hear one another. With a little bit of hope and whole lot of faith, there's no telling where a good, bold idea might lead us.