Posted 701 days ago
Rediscovering the Domestic Lost Arts
by Eileen Hanson, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, WA
Rediscovering the Domestic Lost Arts is one strategy that Trinity Lutheran Church is employing to respond to the economic downturn in our country and neighborhoods. In July, the diverse and numerous women’s groups of Trinity gathered to explore ways in which they could collaborate across generations and beyond our walls. What emerged from an animated exchange was the realization that many of our women possessed skills that had been missing in recent generations. In the heyday of disposable consumerism, generations of people were coached to buy new rather than repair the old. As a result, skills such as canning, sewing, and gardening were relegated to Martha Stewart wannabes and hobbyists.
Trinity is lifting up these lost domestic arts as a means for women in our neighborhoods, particularly single moms, to stretch the dollar and survive this recession. On Saturday, October 25th, we will be offering a fruit-canning workshop to learn how to make jams and jellies with hands-on experience. Gleaning from basements and thrift stores, canning jars and lids are being collected for the workshop from basements and thrift stores. The fruit has been harvested from the summer season, and we will coach people in gathering free berries, particularly blackberries, from rural roads.
In the winter we will be offering a workshop on sewing and knitting, and in the spring we will focus on gardening vegetables. The hope of this ministry is to share the skills and experiences of past generations of women who survived economic downturns and provided for their family through ingenuity and resourcefulness. Luke 12:48 tells us, “from everyone to whom much as been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.” We have been entrusted with God’s abundance through the skills and experience of the women in our congregation, and it is from this faith that we are attempting to share our abundance with our neighbors in need.
Trinity Lutheran is also doing a series of classes taught by Coe Hutchison on Surviving the Economic Downturn. The series is geared specifically toward helping people prepare for economic challenges ahead. The first class on September 24th was called “Biblical Principles for Money,” focusing on Scripture passages mainly from Deuteronomy and the Gospels. The second is “How to Make and Live Within a Budget” on October 1st, and the third, “Basic Tools,” will be taught by Tom and Christine Sine on October 8th.
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