“How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
‘Your God reigns!"
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
‘Your God reigns!"
The theme for StreetFest this year is “Beautiful Feet” which is derived from the verse Isaiah 52:7. The passage describes the beauty of the feet of those who proclaim peace, bring good tidings, proclaim salvation, and praise the reign of God. The theme “Beautiful feet” was chosen for two reasons. First, we wish to urge students to develop beautiful feet, by proclaiming good news and working towards peace in their communities. And second, and more importantly, urging the students to recognize and show gratitude towards the people in the Grand Rapids community who have beautiful feet.
People with beautiful feet are those who have a willing heart and have taken action in pursuing service to their community. These people are walking in the mud of a community garden, the cement slabs of a city block or the overgrown grasses of abandoned homes. People with beautiful feet are those who work in the desolate areas, the developing and the crowded areas of the world.
People with beautiful feet see the potential of neighbors gathering in the community garden to plant fruits and vegetables, see the cement slabs of city blocks as canvases for local artist and children to draw on, and see the community pulling its resources together to revitalize overgrown grasses of abandoned homes.
We hope that StreetFest students will catch a glimpse of people with Beautiful Feet and see the harmony of Grand Rapids communities, so that they may be inspired to recognize their place in this community and develop beautiful feet of their own.
We at Calvin College’s Service-Learning Center thank all of the organizations of Grand for your commitment to service and to the beautification of the city of Grand Rapids, we thank you for seeing this world as redeemable and taking steps to bring about peace. You have beautiful feet.
Christina Crider
1 comment:
I like the Streetfest theme. In particular, I think your emphasis on the image of feet in motion and doing good work captures how we are profoundly physical creatures, which is something we can too easily forget. So often we focus on what we see with our eyes, and this leads to an overly mentalistic conception of the world. Alternatively, the feet are dominated by the sense of touch, which is a fascinating contrast to the sensory input of vision. Notably, touch is always experienced as being vividly in the body as opposed to vision wherein we can assume the role of a distant and uninvolved spectator. Accordingly, your theme, I think, dramatically underscores how service done well is intensely bound up in a deep connection with a specific place and particular group of people.
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