Journey to the Beloved Community Story Quilts
Some photos of the exhibition appear below. Thanks to David J. Kaminsky
for these beautiful images.
The Waddie Welcome quilt pictured (with me) nearest to the top of these
images was made specifically for the Beloved Community exhibitions and
bears the subtitle "Fear Not! All Will Be Well." As told in Tom Kohler and
Susan Earl's extraordinary book "Waddie Welcome and the Beloved
Community," the story of Waddie Welcome is a Savannah legend. In this
story quilt, Waddie Welcome and his soul friend Addie Reeves appear to us as angels bearing Addie’s handmade phone book. Mrs. Reeves’ phone book is the legacy of a life given to the service of the wider community as she lived out the spirit of the beloved community. She and Mr. Welcome radiate a spirit of generosity, compassion, and respect. They exemplify Reverend Jim Lawson's comment that “the beloved community is not a utopia, but a place where the barriers between people gradually come down and where the citizens make a constant effort to address even the most difficult problems of ordinary people."
All photos © David J. Kaminsky 2012
