Annual Report 2022

The mission of the “Building a Beloved Community” team is to practice God’s way of love and to model what it means to live and bear bold witness to the vision and values of Jesus. We point to the reality of the kingdom (the peaceable reign) of God, and we seek to embody the beloved community, where each person strives for and celebrates the dignity and flourishing of every beloved child of God as much as we do for ourselves. This is the “Good News” of Jesus’ Gospel.

In the wider society, this means that we seek to transform a historic culture of racism, hatred, and violence so that all people are treated with justice, respect, compassion and kindness. We hope to create real change through awareness of our past and our present, repentance where appropriate, reconciliation, justice and healing in our individual lives, faith community, and our relationships with all others, right here in Glastonbury and beyond.

In 2022, we sponsored an 11-week course called “Sacred Ground,” a dialogue series produced by The Episcopal Church that uses readings and films grounded in faith and part of its Becoming Beloved Community resources. Sixteen members and friends of St. James’ participated in the course along with facilitators Rev. Don Hamer and Dr. Suzanne Blancaflor of Trinity, Hartford: Rev. Sally Brown, Barbara and David Buddington, Kay Carbaugh, Rich and Nancy Connell, Clint and Marie Dixon, Janet Donston, Debbie Hamer, Becky Lee, Gayle Kataja, Rob and Cheryl Turner, Wendy and Sherman Sherman. Another series is planned in collaboration with St. Mark’s Lutheran and St. Luke’s Episcopal in the coming months.

We invite you to join us in this prayer:

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Respectfully Submitted,

The Rev. Don Hamer, Priest Associate

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