Finding Our Way

This past Monday, after listening to a few of Dr. King’s stirring speeches, I decided to take a walk through the Albany Bulb, an artistic enclave along the Bay shoreline near my home. I first encountered the Bulb during COVID and still go there frequently to reflect or be inspired. Over the decades the Bulb has been a community dump, an artists’ community and a homeless encampment. It continues to show signs of each of its past iterations, and every time I visit I discover something new that touches my spirit.

My goal on Monday was to find a labyrinth that I frequently walk. Somehow, I got twisted around and found myself simply enjoying the maze of trails, realizing that maybe the entire Bulb itself is a form of labyrinth. Without one clear path in or out, it was more a network of paths that allow you to discover all kinds of places, sometimes the very places you thought you just left behind! About ½ the size of the Berkley Marina, it’s hard to get really lost inside the Bulb, yet with multiple ways in and out, it is quite easy to find yourself somewhat disoriented. After many twists and turns, I did finally make my way to the labyrinth I had set out for, only to find that was flooded and unwalkable. Oh well, I thought, time to keep finding my path on life’s larger labyrinth.

As we continue to honor the dream of Dr. King, his radical work for the liberation of all people, and what it means to become beloved community, may we remember this work takes many twists and turns, leads us in all kinds of directions, but ultimately keeps us on the path of the gospel: being, sharing and becoming “good news” for one another.

Glad to be journeying together,

Pastor Allison