Member-only story
Spiderwebs
on the ways in which community holds us
A spider has taken up residence off of one of the porches at the church where we attend services. As best I can tell, it is a Golden Silk Orb-weaver. Her web stretches from the porch to the bushes below, an easy five feet in diameter in the densest portion.
Her home rests just to the side of the entrance to the cinerarium where many of our member’s cremains have been buried.
Although the spider and her mate have been there for many weeks now, a number of us noticed the large web again on Saturday as we stood on the porch or gathered around the brick pathway leading into this sacred, secluded spot sitting next to the space where we gather to worship.
As family and friends gathered at the end of the funeral ceremony for the interring of the ashes, this spider’s web was there as a greeting, one that shifted and changed from where you stood, depending on how the light revealed its presence.
Yesterday was the funeral of one of the members of our congregation. My part was not glamorous to be sure, but I was one of the first faces that many people encountered on entering the campus of this former orphanage, now church. Leading a group of young adolescent males, I helped people find a suitable place to park and directed them to where the family and friends were…
