What a year 2021 has been already. White supremacy has already been made manifest in a violent attempt to subvert democracy at the Capitol. A rampant pandemic continues to claim lives around the country. The gallery windows on my Zoom calls show strained, tired faces. And we’re still in January.
Yet January brought another landmark event in Life Together’s little corner of the world: after 20 years as the home of The Micah Project and Life Together, and many years as the Boston University Episcopal Chaplaincy as well, the last fellows moved out of 40 Prescott Street in Brookline on January 23rd. With the help and support of many at the Diocese of Massachusetts, particularly Missioner for Property Stewardship the Rev. Ed Cardoza, six fellows have safely moved to Dorchester and are very happily settling into their new home on the campus of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
It brought me so much joy this morning to hear the fellows’ excitement. They talked of a kitchen where everyone could gather together and cook comfortably. They described setting up the space not only for themselves, but for cohorts of fellows to come. And they told me how much they loved their new neighborhood, how excited they are to build relationships with their neighbors in the church and beyond. There was much about the world that I could never have imagined when I first looked at the architect’s plans for this house, more than two years ago. Yet in spite of everything, the seeds planted then have borne fruit.
When I toured the Dorchester house with Bishop Alan Gates last week, he commented that even as exciting as this new chapter is, leaving 40 Prescott must be bittersweet. It definitely is. For me, an alumni turned Executive Director, it really hit home when I took that classic “40P front porch” photo for the last cohort to ever live there. The house has held the excitement of each Orientation, as our community forms anew each year, as well as the growing pains of conflict. It has stood witness to late night laughter and tears. And every time our bewildered Cottage Farms neighbors stumbled past the intimacy of our year-end anointing ritual on the side lawn, or saw us out for a group meditative walk, they were seeing an alternative to the comfortable world of privilege around them. They were witnesses to our attempts, however imperfectly, to embody God’s dream in the world.
Keep an eye out for upcoming opportunities to celebrate our years at 40P in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please send us your photos and memories so that we can share them! As we embark on this new chapter, living into the new world that will emerge from this “Covidtide,” I hope we can bring the best of 40P along with us.