in the park

wonderful gathering in the park this week.  that’s the sweet part…the bitter was also with us as we said farewell to the Aja and Bartlett tribes.  dear co-travelers for a small time and we will miss them.  we played and prayed, laughed and talked and shared in the meal of remembering. 

The Importance of hospitality

In a world where social and political discourse is so dominated by the (felt) need to capture and keep the "news-cycle," I find these words from Henri Nouwen very hopeful and challenging:

"Creating space for the other is far from an easy task. It requires hard concentration and articulate work. It is like the task of a patrolman trying to create some space in the middle of a mob of panic-driven people for an ambulance to reach the center of an accident. Indeed, more often than not rivalry and competition, desire for power and immediate results, impatience and frustration, and, most of all, plain fear make their forceful demands and tend to fill every possible empty corner of our life. Empty space tends to create fear. As long as our minds, hearts and hands are occupied we can avoid confronting the painful questions, to which we never gave much attention and which we do not want to surface. 'Being busy' has become a status symbol, and most people keep encouraging each other to keep their body and mind in constant motion. From a distance, it appears that we try to keep each other filled with words and actions, without tolerance for a moment of silence...But by filling every empty corner and occupying every empty time...hospitality becomes more oppressive than revealing.

Occupation and not empty space is what most of us are looking for. When we are not occupied we become restless. We even become fearful when we do not know what we will do for the next hour, the next day of the next year. Then occupation is called a blessing and emptiness a curse. Many telephone conversations begin with the words: 'I know you are busy, but...' and we would confuse the speaker and even harm our reputation were we to say, 'Oh no, I am completely free, today, tomorrow and the whole week.' Our client might well lose interest in a man who has so little to do.

So we can see that creating space is far from easy in our occupied and preoccupied society. And still, if we expect any salvation, redemption, healing and new life, the first thing we need is an open and receptive place where something can happen to us. Hospitality, therefore, is such an important attitude. We cannot change the world by a new plan, project or idea. We cannot even change other people by our convictions, stories, advice and proposals, but we can offer space where people are encouraged to disarm themselves, to lay aside their occupations and preoccupations and listen with attention and care to the voices speaking in their own center (selections from chapter 4, "Reaching Out")."

Book Review – Friendship at the Margins

Friendship at the Margins is part of the Resources for Reconciliation Book Series, a partnership between IVP and the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. The series asks what it means to pursue hope in the midst of the many manifestations of brokenness in our world. Each book is co-authored by a practitioner and someone from the academy. I have been looking forward to reading Friendship, written as it is by two people I have respected for a long time: Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh, and Christine Pohl, professor of social ethics at Asbury Seminary, who was my advisor during my time there.

Two decades ago I volunteered regularly at a free lunch program offered by a downtown church in Lubbock, Texas. From one to two hundred people came, mostly from the neighborhood. We ‘got them through the line, fed and cleaned up’ in an hour. For a reason I no longer remember, one day I decided to stand in line, get a plate and sit down at a table and get into a conversation with a couple of people. That was an important milestone in my journey into the heart of what the authors discuss in this book.

Although a relatively short book, it took me a while to read Friendship. The authors ask questions I thought I had satisfactorily answered a long time ago, and yet through their graceful interweaving of stories with the insight that comes from praxis, I found myself being challenged at the same time I was nodding in agreement with them. I took stock of some of the friendships I have, and confess I came out wanting. Having lived in Lexington for 9 months now, I became somewhat uncomfortable as I reflected on whether blossoming friendships here are truly mutual or if I’m still tempted to see certain people as “projects”, “potential donors” or “representatives of causes.” One of the strengths of the book is the honesty and humility evident throughout, which gently drew forth the same from me.

The book takes an unflinching yet generous look at donor-recipient issues in service and mission; at the unavoidable ambiguities and tensions that arise when we become friends with those outside our own social circles; and at the necessity of long-term commitment to place and people. The last chapter, which asks what kinds of spiritual practices help sustain friendships at the margins, seems particularly important. What will help us sustain long term commitment to each other – where does our hope come from, and how will we nurture it in the midst of our shared brokenness? (To that end I’m also looking forward to reading Pilgrimage of a Soul by Chris’ wife and partner in mission, Phileena, released next month.)

Friendship at the Margins – highly recommended.

staying is the new going

Chris (from word made flesh) writes beautifully here of what it means to engage in meaningful mission in our day and age.   he is writing in response to Jonathan’s wonderful book, “the wisdom of stability.”

read the article

keeping our faith cheerful

"What keeps our faith cheerful is everywhere in daily life, a sign that faith rules through ordinary things: through cooking and small talk, through storytelling, making love, fishing, tending animals and sweet corn and flowers, through sports, music, and books, raising kids ­p; all the places where the gravy soaks in and grace shines through. Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people."
-- Garrison Keillor

Something to consider

Here is something remarkable that I was contemplating in my morning reading. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the United States for 2009 was over 6.25 times greater than that of the entire 53 countries of the continent of Africa. The GDP (GSP in this case) of the state of California alone in 2008 was over 80% of the GDP of the 53 countries of Africa for 2009. I know California is currently experiencing significant difficulties, as are many of the rest of us. I do not mean to downplay anyone's struggle, nor am I trying to build an argument based upon such a simple comparison. But as we engage in the very necessary debate about foreign aid (Sachs) vs. internal development (Easterly)-and attempt to discern what we feel is "Africa's responsibility"- I think it is critically important to continue to reflect upon and contemplate how much material wealth is controlled by the west. It seems that as Christians such contemplation could provide us with a strong measure of sobriety as we have these conversations. Perhaps it could help us to incarnate Christ in this debate (as well as the other, even more intense debates, about our own nation)?

List of African countries by GDP (PPP)
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This is a list of African nations ranked by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). Figures are given in 2009 International Dollars according to the World Bank[1] 2009 figures.

This list excludes Somalia.
African Rank World Rank Country 2009 GDP (PPP)
millions of International dollars

— — Africa $2,200,100

1 25 Egypt 467,600
2 27 South Africa 403,900
3 37 Nigeria 294,800
4 38 Algeria 268,900
5 55 Morocco 127,000
6 61 Angola 93,100
7 62 Libya 90,600
8 66 Sudan 80,500
9 67 Tunisia 76,900
10 73 Ethiopia 61,600

List by the International Monetary Fund (2009)
Rank Country GDP (PPP) $M

— World 69,808,807
1— European Union 14,793,979
2 United States 14,256,275
3 People's Republic of China 8,765,240
4 Japan 4,159,432
5 India 3,526,124
6 Germany 2,806,266

gardening and faith

check out this post from Christine Sine at MSA where she references seedleaf.

http://godspace.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/edible-art-churches-and-backyards/

‘return to el salvador’ film

please take a minute to demand this film in your city/region.  just a couple of clicks and you can really help this film get the audience it deserves.

thanks

http://www.returntoelsalvador.com/blog/98

book review – the vertical self

The Vertical Self: How Biblical Faith Can Help Us Discover Who We Are in An Age of Self Obsession

The Vertical Self - Mark Sayers

ATTENTION

Mark had my undivided attention with his Acknowledgements section. He gives thanks to his regional library for “saving me a small fortune in books and for a lifetime of learning.” So, from the beginning of my reading I considered Mark a kindred spirit.

STYLE

Mark writes with an uncommon grace. As I was reading this book I did feel like I had a wiser friend gently dispensing insight. Personal without being corny and deeply thoughtful without being overtly academic makes for a very compelling read. His personal stories and central thesis provide grounding for years of scholarly research.

AUDIENCE

Mark writes primarily to those of us engaged in “reshaping the church in the West.” He suggests that our efforts will ultimately fail, “because there is a huge unnamed problem with people inside the church.” (p.xviii) He goes on to argue that discipleship is both the problem and the way forward as the people of God reframe church practices for the sake of living out a more liberating, revolutionary, and life-embracing faithfulness.

AGREED

After 12 years of ‘life together’ with communality I tend to agree with Mark’s assertion. We really can find all kinds of creativity in the ways we ‘do church’ but still leave our lives just as vulnerable to the dehumanizing influence of that which is unholy. It is no surprise that hot on the heels of this book those other Aussie missionary marvels, the Hirsch’s, released a book on missional discipleship (Untamed).

HITTING HOME

I found this book personally challenging, a perfect companion during the Lenten season. Mark was able to help me think about my identity as a human person in relationship with the Creator God (the vertical self). I must admit my severe (and, for the most part, ungodly) cynicism whenever I come across the latest “find yourself” recipes for self-discovery – especially from Christian writers. I was curious to see how Mark would avoid pressing my buttons and I was delighted to catch myself deeply moved by a challenging message. Mark is calling us back to a biblical anthropology that affirms what it means to be a proper human being and he cleverly articulates how frequently this quest is interrupted by the push and shove of our LOUD culture. Mark urges the reader to think about this proper humanity in terms of holiness, an admittedly un-sexy idea for this day and age. Mark helps unpack a kind of holiness (wholeness) rooted in scripture and affirming of our deepest impulses. His writing about the redemption of desire was especially helpful for fasting efforts during Lent.

WANTING MORE

I would have loved to read more of Mark’s reflections of being human in terms of the life of the Trinity. Our image bearing, it seems to me, is only possible in communion with other human persons. How does holiness become more than a personal trait and carry over into cultural (trans)formation? I’m also on a kick about ‘place’ and would love to hear more from Mark about how geography informs the vertical self.

BUY (OR BORROW) THIS BOOK

I highly recommend this book to you. Fantastic for personal inventory and/or reading in a small group setting. Few writers are able to bring the big-picture into the same landscape as personal formation with the clarity and gentleness of Mark. And while you’re at it, pick up his other book, “the trouble with Paris” for a brilliant survey of the mess we make when we allow faith to be submitted to consumerism (my review is here).

overflowing weekend

so many wonderful gatherings this weekend…and then several of our basements flooded. cups runneth over!

we had the growing community event in the east end, (saturday 10am-2pm), billy’s birthday party and derby gathering (saturday night), and the baby porter shower/celebration at the koch’s place (sunday morning).  good times and even in the midst of soggy basements, some cherished community time.

here are some picture (see more here)

gardening and god

a wonderful post from christine sine.

here

…and here’s a taste:

Is This a Move of God?

Saturday I facilitated a Spirituality of Gardening seminar at the Mustard Seed House.  A small but extremely enthusiastic group gathered to discuss basics of organic gardening and how we encounter God in the garden.  Towards the end of the day we talked about the current move towards faith based community gardens that are springing up literally all over the world as churches discover they can not only produce food for their congregations but also help feed those at the margins.

christian community

jonathan talks about community in this 5min WOTP video…i’m honored to have my photos incorporated into this piece so if your a communality peep look out for your shining face.

Christian Community w/Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrve from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

From hostility to hospitality

In the light of Geoff's post from yesterday, and the boiling controversy over immigration in America, I thought I would share yet another thought from Henri Nouwen's "Reaching Out." This book is really helping me to better understand the path we've been upon in this community for many years, as well as helping illumine the tougher (and more glorious) path that lie ahead. Throughout the book I have continued to be reminded of Jesus' cosmically perplexing words on the cross, "'Father, forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing.' And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice (Luke 23:34)." Why did Jesus say such a thing? I continue to contemplate these words as I wrestle with what it means to live a "spiritual life," and as the governments of our world (with our proxy, whether it be explicit or implicit) place their "bets" and "gamble" with human lives with the decisions they make and the policies they employ. Here are Nouwen's words (written in 1975):

"The first characteristic of the spiritual life is the continuing movement from loneliness to solitude. Its second equally important characteristic is the movement by which our hostilities can be converted into hospitality. It is there that our changing relationship to ourself can be brought to fruition in an ever-changing relationship to our fellow human beings. It is there that our reaching out to our innnermost being can lead to a reaching out to the many strangers whom we meet on our way through life. In our world full of strangers, estranged from their own past, culture and country, from their neighbors, friends and family, from their deepest self and their God, we witness a painful search for a hospitable place where life can be lived without fear and where community can be found. Although many, we might even say most, strangers in this world become easily the victim of a fearful hostility, it is possible for men and women and obligatory for Christians to offer an open and hospitable space where strangers can cast off their strangeness and become our fellow human beings. The movement from hostility to hospitality is hard and full of difficulties. Our society seems to be increasingly full of fearful, defensive, aggressive people anxiously clinging to their property and inclined to look at their surrounding world with suspicion, always expecting an enemy to suddenly appear, intrude and do harm. But still-that is our vocation: to convert the hostis into a hospes, the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced (p.65)."

a half-born condition

if i’m reading something other than fiction, it is usually because geoff has convinced me with a fair amount of cajoling that a book is worth my time.  i didn’t need any form of convincing to start into jonathan wilson-hartgrove’s new book “the wisdom of stability.”

just from the first chapter alone, i feel like his gentle words (which read just like the sound of the slow drawl of his southern accent) resonate with a place in me that is still unresolved yet full of hope about the stability that can come from life in community.  in one passage, jonathan quotes a saint of christian community, clarence jordan of the interracial community called koinonia farm in my home state of georgia.  about the rising and falling tides of their life together, jordan claims, “this is what always baffles me.  koinonia is forever dying and forever living.  we should have conked out long ago, but somehow others came in the nick of time.  this half-born condition is agonizing, and i could wish it otherwise, but there it is.”

 

jonathan goes on to reflect, “stability in community is always a half-born condition.  we are suspended between heaven and earth on a ladder that promises communion with god but is also planted firmly on the ground…stability is a commitment to trust god not in an ideal world, but in the battered and bruised world we know.  if real life with god can happen anywhere at all, then it can happen here among the people whose troubles are already evident to us…community is always a risk.  we cannot know beforehand who will stay and who will leave.  but each decision to stay – every prayer lifted up from our half-born condition – can be seen as an act of faith that our god will give us what we need, as clarence jordan said, ‘in the nick of time.’”

while reading this, i couldn’t help but recall the rich and mysterious observations of wendell berry in his “unsettling of america” in which he depicts this same kind of half-born condition from the lens of the condition of soil, “if healthy soil is full of death it is also full of life…nothing that dies is dead for very long. within this powerful economy, it seems that death occurs only for the good of life.”  these things seep in slowly for me and help recast my sense of the last decade of life in this place with these people of communality, those still here, those long gone.  i certainly receive the paradox and greyness of it all far better than a few years ago.  i’m glad jonathan’s book about stability will give company, comfort and weight to this journey.

(sherry)

the stranger

there is a storm brewing out west. recent legislation adopted by AZ threatens to unearth our fear and hate a scape-goating inclinations.  while the law of the land is important we are always challenged to affirm our ultimate obligation to the reign of God.  our story tells us (without qualification)

“when an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien.  The alien who resides with you shall be ot you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I an the Lord you God.” (my emphasis…Leviticus 19:33-34).

i know it is a complicated issue and i know there are qualifications to be made but this passage (and many like it) must be our touchstone…along with careful reflection on the way Jesus positioned himself in the public sphere where stones were cupped in white-knuckled hands.

this group is doing some good work to help frame a christian response…check it out.  they say:

· We believe all people, regardless of national origin or citizenship status, are made in the "image of God" and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6).

· We believe there is an undeniable responsibility to love and show compassion for the stranger among us (Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 25:31-46).

· We believe that immigrants are our neighbors, both literally and figuratively, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves and show mercy to neighbors in need (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:25-37).

· We believe in the rule of law, but we also believe that we are to oppose unjust laws and systems that harm and oppress people made in God's image, especially the vulnerable (Isaiah 10:1-4, Jeremiah 7:1-7, Acts 5:29, Romans 13:1-7).

We recognize that the current U.S. immigration system is broken and reform is necessary.

The biblical princples above compel us to support immigration reform legislation that includes the following elements:

· Enforcement initiatives that are consistent with humanitarian values;

· Reforms in our family-based immigration system that reduce waiting times for separated families to be reunited;

· A process for all immigrant workers and their families already in the U.S. to earn citizenship upon satisfaction of specific criteria;

· An expansion of legal avenues for workers and families to enter our country and work in a safe and legal manner with their rights and due process fully protected;

· Examining solutions to address the root causes of migration, such as economic disparities between sending and receiving nations.