Greetings to a Stone Soup Summer

The Stone Soup Summer Begins on Sunday June 1.

We’ll meet at the Wesley Cottage at 7:30 and go from there up to Judd’s Peak (Orchard Hill). 
Bring your binoculars, cameras, water colors yoga mats or whatever you use to observe, take in or be part of a beautiful sunset and time of worship.

Our gathering is to be an occasion to “taste and see how good God is.” For the taste part, bring a light hors d’oeuvre or snack to share and blankets to spread out on.

So, join us for a summer together reflecting on sacred writings, meals together, adventure (spiritual and otherwise), deep beauty, surprising peace and the enduring love of God…join us for Stone Soup.


As the summer intern at Saluda UMC, I have the opportunity to be a contributor to this Stone Soup blog. I will briefly introduce myself here and will perhaps be able to share more later. My name is Dave Grace. I just finished my first year at Duke Divinity School and I am entering a full year of study, 2014-2015, at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. I am studying in both schools to be able to more fruitfully combine Christian Education and Environmental Education and discern how Church ministry can respond to today's ecological needs. I'm excited to be able to take part in Stone Soup to share in the gift of food and community in Saluda, NC.

As I have come into town for only a brief stay this summer, I will offer my thoughts on Stone Soup as a new visitor and eager participant in its community of faith. In the Letter to the Ephesians, there are words of encouragement from another outside perspective:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. -- Ephesians 1:17-19

I would like to offer my encouragement to Stone Soup as well. In bringing together people and places, Stone Soup offers a chance to "taste and see how good God is." When food is shared freely, it is a gift. The world around us yields food, satisfying a need and desire. Whether it is food which is grown with human labor or not, it is certainly a gift. This bringing forth of food is a continual act of creation. We learn about ourselves in sharing this gift of creation with each other and we worship God who creates. As we continue to come into contact with the "great power" of God, we are urged toward wisdom and are shown a new hope and inheritance. I look forward to being able to share this good gift.