Cartography of Tenderness

Imagine a news reporter pointing to a map of the world. You give an audible sigh and think to yourself “what’s happened now?” However, instead of bad news and speaking of violence and tragedy around the world, the reporter speaks of cities and communities holding a global Poetry Marathon. Dozens, or hundreds of people gathering to read and listen to poetry together. They’re in parks, on street corners, inside churches and community centers.

That’s the idea initiated by the Global View Foundation of Ecuador. After the isolation and restrictions of the COVID Pandemic it was important to reclaim public spaces that had been off limits. Instead of a Geography of Fear – which had become the norm – they wanted to create a Geography of Tenderness. In 2022, people gathered for the first time to share poetry. Young, old, poor and wealthy listening to one another read, “highlighting the importance of sharing the Word as a means to build societies of social justice.”

Seattle First Baptist Church and our surrounding community is going to join in with our friends from Ecuador, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Chile. We are going to have a number of activities during this year that we can do together in anticipation and preparation for the Poetry Marathon in October.

The “Co-Ambassadors of Peace” for Seattle are Pastor Anita and Janet Hasselblad. We will be attending monthly Zoom meetings with our cohorts from the countries mentioned. And we will be inviting you to join us as we create a Geography of Tenderness within and outside our walls.

The first action will be to identify geographic locations in Seattle and King County where you have experienced tenderness or where tenderness is needed to counteract the fear of a particular place. In the month of February PLEASE visit the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hal and add a pin to our collective “Geography of Tenderness.” We’ll provide more information in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned! “Let’s lose our fear and build a continent of tenderness together.”