Goodness Weekly 4.29.24
"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance."
- Ursula K. Le Guin
What’s Good
If you’ve been to a worship service at Sunset Ridge Church you’ve probably heard Nancy Campos’ beautiful singing voice in the worship band and we are delighted to share that she has taken on an additional role as our campus Welcome Ambassador. We’re so grateful to have her positivity and bright light to greet everyone who comes here.
A Look Ahead
Lunchtime Yoga Flow with NYX Wellness, Mon-Fri at 12pm, upstairs in Room 200
For weekly hours of One Another Coffee, Scott’s Pizza, and NYX Yoga, please feel free to check our calendar and follow us on Instagram for any updates.
Interested in more of what’s happening at Sunset Ridge Church? Please consider subscribing to Views from the Ridge.
Spring Cleaning
Message from Taylor Bates, Deputy Director, Sunset Ridge Collective
We found a treasure in our building recently—and it’s not what you might think of if you’ve ever watched Antiques Roadshow.
We’ve been going through another round of annual spring cleaning here on our campus. We’ve taken down a wall in one of our old classrooms upstairs to create a new photography and podcasting studio. We converted a storage room by clearing out things we no longer needed to make space for Kim Turner to launch her yoga and fitness business, NYX Wellness, from her garage into a larger community space—and now that room has come alive again.
I grew up here at Sunset Ridge Church and can remember many of the ways these spaces were used and the time spent in my youth enjoying them. I know that many people have decades of memories on this campus and I don’t take that for granted when we are reimagining how we might use it.
Culturally we go through these natural springtime rhythms of cleaning out and pruning to make room for new growth. We have to let go of what was to make room for what can be. Marie Kondo, famously known for only keeping objects that “spark joy” recommends thanking an object for how it has served us when we no longer need it, and then passing it on. I’ve found myself silently doing that as we let go of storied objects found throughout our building.
Over the last several weeks we’ve worked on reimagining Sunset Ridge Church’s old library space. In the last decade or so it had become underutilized and its books were no longer checked out as they once had been. Our community used the space a couple times a week for meetings, but other than that it sat mostly dormant.
I’d never paid much attention to the signage on the doors until recently.
There is a plaque that reads “Stanley Ross Dye Memorial Library”. It goes on to tell a little bit about a young man, Stanley, who tragically passed away in 1961. Members of the congregation at the time came together, along with his family, to dedicate the library in his honor and to contribute books that meant something to each of them.
Knowing this story, I’ve struggled with the idea of deconstructing the library.
A need arose for more children's spaces in our building because both Sprouts School and our church are growing. We decided the library would be a great space for children to start using. Within just a few weeks of moving and sorting things, there is new life in the library.
Every Sunday morning upwards of 20 children infuse the space with their joy and wonder. We kept many of the children’s books and also donated a bunch along with a bookshelf, to our neighbors at Green Door Thrift Shop with the hope that the books find their next home where they are well-used and enjoyed.
Ultimately the treasure that we found is in the practice of gracefully letting go. The grace part is there because even when the change is exciting, there’s a certain amount of grief involved. We are choosing not to create monuments out of physical objects or spaces, but instead allow them to serve as living memorials through being put to good use. We can both honor the stories of what came before and let go to invite creativity and new life.
What do you need to let go of in your life that might create space for something new to enter in?
Inhale:
I am thankful for what was
Exhale:
and embrace what will be
