Director’s Desk: Issue 7
There are two notable references to the mustard seed in New Testament scripture that feel relevant to this Street paper and the world right now. One passage, which uses a metaphor for Heaven (Matthew 13:31-32), describes a farmer who plants the smallest of seeds, and yet it grows into a big tree that holds all the birds of the air. The other reference states that faith, even the size of a mustard seed, can move mountains and accomplish the seemingly impossible. (Matthew 17:20). It was an act of faith and the belief that we could grow a place that could hold our community in conversation and connection around poverty issues that started the Mustard Seed Mountain (MSM) Street Paper.
But as many of you know, MSM had to take a hiatus, and at first, this felt a bit like a failure. I have come to realize, though, that having a “failing” mindset is very different than having a “farming” mindset. Planting mustard seeds is not a one-time event. No farmer plants only one seed. A farmer replants season after season, assessing the land to decide where to plant, how to plant, and when. New fields are tilled, while others are given furloughed rest. A farmer understands the season as much as the landscape the seeds will alter.
And so it is with great excitement that we welcome MSM’s new season with Niamh Coomey as our Editor. As the new mustard seed is planted, she will be tending both the old land and the new growth. I believe she will also be tending to what our community and world desperately need, that place where there is a desire for our presence – where a branch or seat at the table of community is already waiting for us to show up. There is something very beautiful about the mustard seed’s ability, whether seed or tree, to recognize its present state and anticipation of what it will become. I have watched Niamh tend to both with such care.
But like there is no single seed in farming; there is no “one” person. Each of you, be it our contributors, vendors, or dear readers, is part of that growth. MSM Street Papers aims to address issues of poverty and to lift up the voices of those who often have “no perch.” These topics can sometimes be tough, the pathways of dialogue rocky, but the aim is never to divide, but to till the soil so that it is fertile for the seed of faith in our community to take root and develop strong branches. When we are in conversations with our community, mountains move. We create space for each other. We might not always agree, but we can show up and continually ask ourselves: Is someone missing from the “all”? I truly believe that as we tend this work, we will find we have harvested the “impossible” again and again.
Kate Marshall