"Finding Fellowship" -- Now More Than Ever

 

https://www.pbs.org/video/finding-fellowship-3bz18O/

A few hours ago, we learned of the passing of Ida Pearl Green at the age of 106.  Bobbi and I first met Pearl in 1998, when she and our friend Bill Phillips spoke, and their Fairhaven Methodist Church Choir sang, at Temple Emanuel’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemorative Shabbat Service.  The Fairhaven story -- the merger, in 1968, of three small churches, two White and one Black -- was fascinating and uplifting.

 

Fifteen years later, Bill’s wife Jane excitedly called to tell us about Rob and Reece Scheer and their four adopted children who had joined the Church.  Soon after we were invited to volunteer at Fairhaven for the early production and assembly of backpacks for children in foster care – the origin of Comfort Cases, which over the years has become a major force in helping and advocating for children in foster care. 

 

And then, in February 2020, we were thrilled to attend the premier of the film Finding Fellowship, produced by Pearl’s grandson Jason Green and granddaughter Kisha Davis, featuring Pearl and her amazing family, friends, and community at Fairhaven.  I wrote about the experience then, concluding that “[now] more than ever, we need to experience this story of belonging.” 

 

With the passing of the matriarch, I was moved to watch the film again.  I am even more inspired now than I was five years ago.  And we all need it now even more than we did then.

Thank you, Pearl, for your life and your legacy.