Reflections on 2023: a better way
Showing Radical Hospitality to neighbors is at the heart of what we do at Trinity Community Commons. Unfortunately, the way we think about our economic activity influences how we make decisions about our social lives. We busy ourselves to get ahead, but neglect spending time with neighbors & those in need, leaving us isolated and unfulfilled. We try to make up for it with well-intentioned generosity, but this can sometimes do more harm than good, furthering the divide:
“One of the most damning criticisms against charity is that it increases the distance between the haves and have-nots…. but it does not have to be this way! Jesus himself saw almsgiving and sharing food with the marginalized as ways to create community between the haves and have-nots. A gift given to the needy or a meal shared with the marginalized established an economic and social relationship between the giver and the receiver. Who one gave to and who one ate with created what scholars sometimes call “fictive kinship” connections. In other words, generosity created family.”
- Michael Rhodes, Practicing the King’s Economy
We believe there’s a better way of social and economic life that includes and benefits everyone, rather than ignoring the poor and isolating us from our neighbor. There’s a better form of charity that draws us closer to our brothers and sisters, rather than distancing ourselves from those in need. Who we share a table with and how we spend our time and money matter. We believe there’s a better way.
Here’s what that looked like at Trinity in 2023.
Community Meals
Welcoming everyone to the table
Along with The Nashville Food Project & a host of creative neighbors, we continued to welcome 20 to 50 neighbors each Tuesday night to break bread together. This year we were joined by Open Table Nashville + Shower the People during the spring, summer, and fall months. Neighbors who are experts in the kitchen shared their skills with the community, and new bars were set for pizza, ice cream, and butternut squash lasagna. When neighbors join us for a meal, we don’t distinguish between volunteers and people in need: everyone is both host and guest because everyone has a gift to give and something to receive, everyone has worth and potential.
My highlight from the meal this year was seeing neighbors develop loving, supportive relationships with each other that extend outside our Tuesday night dinners. Neighbors gave each other rides to medical appointments. You hired neighbors to restore houses and fix up Trinity together. We visited each other in the hospital and helped our neighbors make it through hard times. You welcomed strangers into your homes, gave them a place to stay, and helped them find work! It brought me such deep joy to see your love and generosity towards each other start at the table & spill out into the rest of the week. This kind of generosity brings us closer together into family style relationships, rather than dividing us into haves and have-nots.
Community Farmers Market
A way to buy and sell that draws us closer in community
Thank you to our 243 neighborhood customers who shopped for fresh local veggies & other locally made goods with us this year! Through our Thursday markets, we also got to meet & welcome 100 new neighbors to the community! While you shopped locally with us, you supported 10 different neighborhood makers, bakers, and growers, generating $5,250 in revenue for them. Together we recycled 200+ jars, saving local makers $250. Thanks for bringing your own bags & returning boxes each week - no need to waste when we can reuse!
When you shop at Trinity, your impact goes beyond the market, supporting neighbors in need & helping them stay in the neighborhood:
$775 in short term loans to help neighbors pay rent & utilities
$400 to neighbors in need of things like transportation, food, & diapers
$200 for emergency hotel stays
Let’s continue to buy and sell in ways that include and support those in need, rather than profiting off of them. At our weekly market, we can continue to offer high quality, low priced & healthy produce to neighbors who lack a convenient grocery store. This means that our economic activity can bring us closer together instead of furthering the distance between us.
Clothing Sales & Swaps
Sharing from Abundance
“So much more than a clothing exchange - it’s connective. We have too much stuff, more than enough. Here, we get to share, create community, and raise money for a good cause. I show up so I can hang with friends, have fun, and find amazing stuff. Shopping for clothes at Trinity is like visiting a curated closet, personalized by a friend.” - Liz Johnson, a Trinity neighbor
Fast fashion is a significant contributor of waste & global emissions, and the overproduction of cheap goods exploits vulnerable workers. Rather than exploiting the poor and degrading our planet, we can buy, sell, share, and enjoy what we already have in ways that bring us closer together as neighbors.
Clothing sales & swaps at Trinity directly connect abundance to need, and generate meaningful support for Trinity Commons and other local non-profits serving the neighborhood. Throughout the year, neighbors donate high-quality, used clothing and other items. We curate the best to meet the needs of our neighbors. When we host Clothes For A Cause & the Sassy Family Kids Clothing and Toy Exchange, we meet real local needs with an abundance of high quality hand selected goods without consuming scarce resources or taking advantage of workers.
A Better Way is Possible
At its worst, our culture and economy drive us toward isolation, oppression, and environmental degradation. Trinity Commons offers an alternative: a community that welcomes & affirms everyone’s worth and potential, that shares what we have in abundance so that all may flourish. Our goal is for everyone to belong, have enough, and meaningfully participate in the social and economic life of the community. Thank you, neighbors, for demonstrating that this type of community is possible!
If you’re grateful this holiday season, if you long to see neighbors reconciled to each other, if you want to partner with us in creating an alternative community where all are welcomed & valued, make a gift to Trinity Commons. Your generosity helps this community show radical hospitality to all our neighbors & share our common space with neighbors and partner organizations pursuing the flourishing of all people.
Full of hope & longing for a more beautiful community,
Zach
