Dear ones,

This message was emailed to those who have expressed interest in the Food Ministry that is forming here at the Center for Spiritual Living Santa Rosa, and/or  you have attended one or both of our two visioning/brainstorming meetings. First of all, welcome and thank you for your interest in supporting this exciting new ministry! I am delighted that there is so  much interest and enthusiasm and I am thrilled you are joining us.

Attached are the notes from our first visioning meeting. As you can see, many beautiful visions and lots of creative ideas and thoughts came out of this process, which was wonderfully facilitated by our Prayer practitioner Janet Tobin.  I am also attaching the notes from our second brainstorming meeting held this last Sunday, this time masterfully facilitated by our own Prayer Practitioner Kathleen Kearney. Thank you both! We are blessed to have your support and guidance.

In case you haven't had a chance to go to the CSLSR website and see our mission and vision, here it is:
Purpose: Nourishing Community.
Vision: To facilitate greater wellness in our community by providing nourishing, healthy offerings at Center events and services, educating our community about nourishing food, and creating relationships with local farmers and food producers.
Food Ministry – Visioning meeting June 12, 2011
 
HIGHEST VISION:

1. Healthy, food aware congregation
2. For members to meet in a dinner group or potluck to share healthy and nourishing food and lifestyles
3. For healthy and nourishing food to be offered to the congregation on Sundays
4. To create an atmosphere of wellness at our Center
5. Feeding our spiritual community: financially, those housebound in Professional, illness/children/low income
6. Wholesome, organic, natural, wellness
7. Highest mission for health that matches our spiritual principles
8. Seeking health attained through careful choices, preparation & offering of food to the community
9. Strawberries with yogurt
10. Salads, veggies or fruit
11. I wish I can bring snacks but I don’t know healthy ones
12. Food bank style of sharing healthy foods
13. Free cooking workshops using healthy techniques, everyone brings a veggie
14. Community garden
15. Healthy choices for after service (guidelines)
16. Stone Soup café (banner)
17. Lightness/feather, health, vitality
18. Unity expressed through diversity
19. Celebration of bounty
20. Nourishing our bodies to be vibrant expressions of spirit
21. Vitality, vibrancy, wellness
22. More healthy food options offered at services
23. “Healthy” is defined differently by many so a variety of healthy options
24. Joyous, plentiful, grateful gardeners, cohesive community
25. Good food, God food, healthy habits

 
WHAT MUST I BECOME:

1.  Example for others
2.  Willing to open home to others
3.  A source of nutritional knowledge and recipes and healthy food
4.  Open, available, flexible, and ready!
5.  Positive – substantive and supportive, open, selfless service
6.  Open to new ideas about food that I have not heard before
7.  Wiling to try recipes I’ve never made before
8.  Giving time to do this
9.  I wish to volunteer as much as I can in the center or with people
10.  An eating right group and meet once a week, bring food and have a free class
11.  Willing to volunteer my time, and maybe request contributions of healthy foods from grocery stores for the free cooking workshops
12. Open and willing
13. Slipping away, sliding off desire and judgment – just because not my food. Receptive susceptibility
14. Open to infinite possibilities
15. Creative
16. A channel, open for spiritual nourishment to flow through
17. Open & available as a resource and consultant
18. More loving, patient
19. Happy, generous, glowing, free lively

 
WHAT MUST I RELEASE:

1. Prejudice against unhealthy eating behavior, my own and others
2. My fear that most people are not really interested in eating healthy food, especially vegan recipes
3. Feelings of imitation in regards to time
4. Temporal needs now vs. long term value
5. Old ideas about food that no longer serve me
6. Stop using “not enough time” as an obstacle to pursue this objective
7. The thought that eating healthy is an expensive act and someone in need can’t possible eat healthy
8. Expectations
9. Embrace the spiritual principle of wholeness. This ministry is whole, holy, holistic, (whole, holy, holistically) the good that is God
10. Sugar
11. Confusion
12. Rigid ideas of how it should look
13. Fear of being overwhelmed
14. Judgment of others ideas of “healthy”
15. Surrender ideas that cost is issue. That others don’t want it, of separation, us vs. healthy eaters

 
WHAT MUST I EMBRRACE:

1. Time to perform service to the ministry
2. This ministry as a vehicle to achieve this vision
3. Abundance, love, joy
4. Love, support, others
5. Doing it for love of myself or my church community
6. Knowing the whole energy of the group is way beyond what I can do myself
7. Love for people and food no requirements needed
8. God’s living food
9. My desire to be more involved and make friends here at the Center
10. Shared knowledge
11. Opportunity to learn
12. Trust that Sprit will guide us
13. Abundance
14. Being accepting, loving what is before me and other people’s ideas and opinions
15. Wholeness, joyful, loving people and food. Plentiful community

ANYTHING ELSE:

1. What to do next
2. Teen/young adults group
3. Open to other groups via meet up groups
4. I need to know how to proceed and to connect with others interested in this ministry
5. Ministry ought to be accessible to all gradual shifting and understanding for the differences and the ways of others
6. Food – Body, mind, spirit, one, all
7. I acknowledge that I can do this and do it well and I am grateful to have the opporurtunity
8. When/how often will this take place?
9. Stone soup café and circle dinners, music, poetry, parlor games
10. Ceres project, JoEllen DiNicola = teaching classes
11. YAG project? Would they join us?
12. New way to socialize, be in healthy community
13. Concept of food as great unifier, breaking bread
14. Food bank, potlucks with labeled ingredients
15. Educational principles, cooking classes, shopping support
16. Be playful when creating
17. Always allow

Blessings and gratitude,
Julie Burns
707-541-0385
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