Rev. Wells’ Welcome to Whispering Pines

Rev. Wells’ Welcome to Whispering Pines

These remarks were delivered on Friday morning August 9 at the official opening of Whispering Pines, the Boley-sponsored housing complex that has been built next to the church.

Good morning!  I am Rev. Kim Wells, pastor of the church next to Whispering Pines.  This day has been a LONG time coming and we are thrilled to welcome our new neighbors at Whispering Pines.  When we were first told of the project, it was emphasized that there would be a substantial fence between the church and the development.  We said, Please put a big gate in the fence!

We welcome our new neighbors.  As a church, we are ‘love your neighbor’ kind of people.  That’s what a church is.  And we are excited to have new neighbors.  

There is a story in the gospels attributed to Jesus that includes the image of building a house on sand and building a house on rock.  A house built on sand may be temporary and unsafe.  We know a house built on sand may be blown away by gusts of wind and rising waters.  A house built on sand may be flattened by trends in the economy.  It may be crushed by the erosion caused by embedded inequality.  A house built on sand may be razed by the power of greed.  A house built on sand is unstable and precarious.  

A house built on rock is safe and stable.  The residents have access to food, shelter, healthcare, recreation, the arts, and faith, if they so choose.  A house built on rock stays standing and can be depended upon.  A house built on rock creates the opportunity for residents to positively contribute to the community and to society.  

Whispering Pines joins over 50 Boley housing communities in Pinellas County as a house built on rock – enhancing and contributing to the stability of life not only for the residents of Whispering Pines but also for the community at large.  

We close with a words from a Jewish folk song based on a verse from Micah 4:4 in the Bible:  Let everyone beneath their vine [pine] and fig tree live in peace and unafraid.  

Welcome, Whispering Pines!