Dean’s Letter: Dreaming Dreams

Hello St. Paul’s,

The prophet Joel describes a time when the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all people. He says, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” I may not be an old man, but I do dream dreams of what St. Paul’s could be. You probably already know about a couple of the big ones: we are well on our way to having a more flexible and accessible worship space; and I share with many others the dreams of an outreach center and a music center on our campus.

But I also dream smaller dreams, and I want to share a couple of them with you, in case the Spirit moves you to step forward and make one of them a reality.

I have a dream that we will start a social justice loan fund. We all know how expensive it is to live in San Diego. Sometimes all that stops an unsheltered person from finding a home is the lack of a security deposit. We could provide low interest or interest-free loans to suitably screened families and individuals that would enable them to find a stable home in our community. A less well-known issue is the system of bail bonds, where people get trapped in the justice system by an inability to pay relatively small bail amounts or court fees, and instead start accumulating debt while they are behind bars, compounding the challenges they are facing. St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle started a bail bond fund, making interest-free loans to individuals to enable them to escape the vicious cycle. Their experience was an almost 100% payback rate; after the initial fund was created they never had to ask for more. Our fund might be directed to bail payments or to deposits on rental properties, or to both, depending on where our corporate energy directs.

I have another dream, this one more inreach-focused, that we will create a system to care for our parishioners who live in single-adult households. We have had more than one parishioner die alone in their home without anyone knowing. If you live alone, and especially if you don’t have family in the area, who do you trust to keep a key to your home or to check on your wellbeing? If you have an accident and are unconscious in hospital, who has contact information for important people like your next of kin, your power of attorney, or your landlord? We could provide a secure space at the Cathedral where we store spare keys and essential contact information for our single members. A part of the system might involve establishing pairs of buddies who covenant to be in touch daily, perhaps with nothing more than a brief text.

Both of these dreams would require one or two people who are passionate about the issue to invest some time and organizational skill researching the issue and creating the solution. For the loan fund, once it was thoroughly researched and the details worked out, there would be some fundraising to organize: I believe the St. Mark’s fund started with $25,000. And there would be a need for ongoing involvement in either ministry, in collaboration with cathedral staff.

Maybe one of these dreams resonates with you; if so, let’s talk! Or maybe this letter awakens a dream in your own heart for a social justice or pastoral care ministry; if so, let’s talk about that!

See you on Sunday!

Your sister in Christ,
Penny