GraceStreet- a company of exiles

Welcoming Community

Paul at Prodigal Kiwi writes about St. Kilda's Baptist Church and describes it as a welcoming and inclusive community. Nice words. Rev. Carolyn Francis at St. Kilda's describes their community with wonderful words. They reflect what Deborah and I have been pondering over the past year.

So - why do we bother? When Jesus talked to his followers about being together, working together and living their lives of faith together, I don’t think he was trying to make life difficult. He saw the great potential in people of faith gathering together. He knew that maintaining and growing faith in a world that doesn’t always value it would be hard - but that it would be easier together. He knew that we were created to be in relationships with other people - and that a Christian community would be a great place for that. He knew that, if other people were going to find faith for themselves, that there would have to be places full of people who lived differently, and who could show what a life full of faith was like - and that a church could be a place like that.

We don’t always succeed at doing and being those things - but at St Kilda we’re trying.
So here’s what I love about our church: you can come and just be yourself; you can come to express faith, doubt, ideas, worries, joys and troubles and always be welcome; your kids can come along and be welcome too; you can find other people who believe that faith leads you to be concerned about the world, and not just yourself; you can be cared for if you’re struggling and care for others when that’s what they need; you can find ways to use your gifts and talents no matter what your background, age, culture or level of faith. That’s why I come to our church.

 

Let's see. Kids are welcome. Nice

You can express Joy or Worry. Nice

Faith is concerned for the world. Very Nice

You can find ways to use your gifts. That's a novel idea. I like that.

You can use your talents regardless of age, culture or level of faith. Old folks are welcomed for their gifts?! How subversive.

 

 

 

Solidarity

Len at www.nextreformation.com posted this today. I'm always struck by Brueggemann and the poetic scope of his work. The Jer.22 scriptures are remarkable.  

In “Covenant as a Subversive Paradigm,” Walter Brueggemann writes,
“The new community of covenant is in solidarity about the knowledge of God: “They shall all know me, from the least of these to the greatest” (Jer. 31:34). “Knowing God” is crucial for covenanting. Since this God has made a move to earth, there is no knowledge of God that can focus on the things of heaven to the disregard of the affairs of earth. And, conversely, there is no preoccupation with the things of earth without awareness that disruptive covenanting has caused a break in heaven.

“Knowledge of God calls this community away from its many other knowledges which betray and divide. Jose Miranda (Marx and the Bible) has made clear that “knowledge of God” is attentiveness to the needs of brothers and sisters (Jer. 22:13-17). (Amazing!)

 13"Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness
         And his upper rooms without justice,
         Who uses his neighbor's services without pay
         And es not give him his wages,
    14Who says, 'I will build myself a roomy house
         With spacious upper rooms,
         And cut out its windows,
         Paneling it with cedar and painting it bright red.'
    15"Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar?
         Did not your father eat and drink
         And do justice and righteousness?
         Then it was well with him.
    16"He pled the cause of the efflicted and needy;
         Then it was well 
         Is not that what it means to know Me?"
         Declares the LORD.
    17"But your eyes and your heart
         Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain,
         And on shedding innocent blood
         And on practicing oppression and extortion."

He does not mean that this derives from or comes after knowledge of God; rather, the two are synonymous. (Again, Amazing!) One could scarcely imagine a more radical and subversive theological claim. And the matter is the same in the new community of the New Testament. Love of God is intimately and inextricably linked to loving brother and sister (I John 4:20-21).

“The new “knowledge of God” envisioned here does two things. First, it minimizes the importance of much of our knowledge, our expertise and professional skills (I Cor. 13:2). A different kind of knowing is what is needed. Second, the new knowledge now entrusted to this community (the very antithesis of gnostic secrets) is radically democratized. The least as well as the greatest shall know. The strong and the weak know together (cf. Rom. 14:1-23). The credentialed and the uncredentialed share the gift. The word to the strong in the community is that the weak ones know some very important dimensions of the news, to which we must all attend. The word to us all is that within the church there are no monopolies on this knowledge, not by wealth or longevity or gender or anything else. Democratizing knowledge in the community is a threat to all of us who preside over the establishment, for we have long known that knowledge, even in the church, is power.

“But the knowledge now broadly entrusted is not just “personal experience,” not a subjective inclination about this or that. It is a discernment of the “news,” of the gospel, of the move God has made to earth where the torah is given. In New Testament categories, the knowledge commonly entrusted to us is knowledge of the cross, a sense about how the empty cross bestows life. That is a knowledge which is deeply subversive and now definitional for covenant.”

It is this to which so many wait and long for. That the knoweldge of God is not confined to the pulpit or the classroom alone. This knowledge that Jeremiah and the Apostle John speak of is in the neighborhood! It is the idea of paying attention to the needs of the community. It has been argued that one of the great sin's of the church is it's failure to notice. Think of the empowering this provides to those who beleive and long to serve. That the very knowledge of God is in the shelter and soup kitchen. It's not secondary. It's not what happens after you "learn enough" or "get more knowledge".

It is the knowledge of God. How wonderful.

A prayer of Justice

A Prayer for Justice Adapted from Ron Rolheiser in "The Holy Longing" Our Father.. who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn, and those who by victim of circumstance, bear the heat of the day. Who art in heaven.. where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last and the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of thing will be well.. Hallowed by Thy Name.. may we always acknowledge Your holiness, knowing that your ways are not our ways, your standards are not our standards. May our reverence for You pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbor. Your kingdom come.. help us to creat a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with you and our neighbors. Teach us our own poverty.. and to receive Your kingdom as a gift by the power of Your Spirit. Your will be done.. open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor. Teach us to partner with you as you renew and redeem creation. Give us this day.. give us life and love, teach us to receive Your life so that we may in turn give it away. Give not just to our own but to everyone, including those who are very different than the narrow "us." Give us this day and not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some distant future so we can excuse our passivity or our apathy. Unveil to us the Presence of Your Kingdom. Our daily bread.. so that each person in the world may have what they need, enough food, clean water, clean air, adequate health care, and access to education. So that we may learn how simple are our true needs, so that we may work for a sustainable world. And forgive us our trespasses.. forgive us our blindness toward our neighbor, our self-preoccupation, our racism, our sexism. Forgive us our capacity for blindness, for believing the lies about progress, for adopting a consumer lifestyle. As we forgive those who trespass against us.. help us to forgive those who take advantage of us. Help us to forgive imperfect parents, impersonal corporations and the systems that wounded them and us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.. Amen

Poet/Prophet

  I’m still going to go there. I’m going to represent a broad movement. We will be back next year and you’ll be hearing from me. You’ll be hearing from the sleeping giant that is the church. I mean, what is going on with the churches? It is incredible. I tell these evangelicals in the United States there are 2,300 verses of scripture about the poor. It’s the central message outside of personal redemption, the idea of dealing with the poor. And I’m asking them, where are they? Where are they on this? On a recent poll of evangelical churches, only six per cent said they wanted to do something about AIDS. It is unbelievable, the leprosy of our time if you like. But it’s starting to turn; the Church is starting to wake up.” — Bono

THIS PLACE IS NOT LIKE ALL OTHER PLACES. IT IS A DIFFERENT PLACE, CHARGED WITH OTHER PRESENCE AND OTHER PURPOSE, AND WE MAY EXPECT HERE TO BE ADDRESSED AND CALLED.

- WALTER BRUEGGEMANN

Some things are difficult to measure. If the quote above is true then what makes Lewiston a place charged with other presence? Can we expect to be addressed (by God) and called? And if we are, what's the nature of the call? Let's take a look inside for a moment. In 1999 according to the U.S. Census, 15.5 percent of Lewiston residents lived below the poverty line. In a rolling census from 2005-2007, that figure has grown to 23.2 percent. The growth is almost 9 percent in 7-8 years.

Ps. 140:12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.

Is. 25:4. For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress.

Ps. 10:14. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan... O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed.

Is 41:17. The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, as the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.

Is. 58:66. Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

"Good will come to him who is generous

and lends freely, who conducts

his affairs with justice."

~Psalm 112:5

Have we ever prayed for good to come to us? Sure. Have we ever thought of that good coming in the form of generosity and justice?

If you live in the area then God has called you here...and perhaps that calling has something to do with the tragic reality that almost 25% of those around us live below the poverty line. And...most of them are children. You have revolutionary power to free the poor. Yep. Bishop Tutu from South Africa stated, "“There’s nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible.”

And the crowds asked [John the Baptist], "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." (NRSV, Luke 3:10-11)

But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? (NAS, 1 John 3:17)

Do not preach helping the poor and not practice what you preach (James 2:15-17).

It's not enough to sing about helping the poor. It's not enough to listen to a sermon about the poor and hope that some area of "THE MINISTRY" will help the poor.

You have been called to the rich tapestry of a giving community. We have been priveleged with the unheard of opportunity to serve.

If not now...when?

If not us...who?

And if we do it will be charged with presence....Isa 58 embodies it.

 

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and

the power and the glory forever. Amen

Imagine the power of the church if the first word "Our" was a priority. Not my Father...our. And here's the unsettling part. Who is our? Those that are in our tribe? Those in the tribe that resembles ours? Is the Fathers named hallowed when Our Father is said with expansive reverence to those we walk by on the street or meet at work? This prayer is a call to spiritual formation. Discipleship inhabits each word.

A momentary pause

  Just off Walnut Street. Discipleship in context. Sister-in-Laws doing the Lord's work!

Walnut Street (again)

If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.

— Lill Watson

 

 

Another photograph on Walnut Street in Lewiston. This guy was asking us for some help with his girlfriend who needed treatment for her alcoholism. She was eager to get well and this guy was extremely grateful. A couple of ladies took her to the ER at St. Marys and waited with her until she was admitted. Addiction fuels much of the poverty and violence in our community. At its root is this idea that there is no abiding sense of hope. That, coupled with a sense of being ultimately fated to a life of captivity keeps many from getting help or worse, having any faith that help will...help. The guy in this photo was drinking a cup of coffee and sayed he hasn't had a drink in 8 years. I've always been captivated by the love/hate tatoo's that are so old school. This guy had kindness in his eyes in a very harsh environment. There are a million stories on this street. I'll be telling a few of them over the next few months.

Walnut Street

  Ian Mobsby offers a refreshing view of different forms of church.

“So increasingly, the focus of new forms of church, (from my perspective), needs to be that they can be experienced as life giving, enabling, loving, caring and places of belonging and liberation. It is not about being ‘Cool’ or the next new ideology to consume, or about having the best technologically driven alternative worship. The world has had quite its fill of 'Cool' people and new ideologies that have not brought lasting change. We need forms of community that dream big dreams centred on the values of the Kingdom of God. I hope Moot (great church)grows into this type of profound places of humanity, where the Christian faith can be experienced as a liberating event that enables people to find their common humanity, in a world that is driven by power, competition and consumption. So liberation has to be a key focus to emerging & fresh expressions of church, if they are stand any chance of reflecting the values of the Kingdom of God Christ exposed through the ancient world, and which we are called to love and act on now.”

*Italics mine.

I've been inspired by Moot and Ian's writings. He like so many today are looking for area's to practice radical hospitality and mission. I see this in converstations with others who are being drawn by contemplative forms of prayer, meditation and praxis. I dream of seeing an abbey or priory in the neighborhood somewhere. A place to work out the idea of narrative community once again. Jacob Needleman thought that the great art form of the 21st century could well be narrative.I resonate with a new rhythm of life that I find in work and study. I am only just beginning to "get" that there are only local narratives. It is a desire I think, to reconnect with a broader wisdom of faithful communities. Communities that may not inhabit church buildings alone. The faithfulness of an older couple on Bartlett Street who spend there summer days sitting on the front porch and praying for those who live nearby. It is the hope of young artists who bravely live and create on those bleak and weary streets. It is in the formation of the Root Cellar and it's opening in a few short weeks. It's where The Commons have placed a flag of hope and where the Italian Bakery takes you back in time and reminds us that local narratives are rich and sustaining. I want to see trees planted on deserted streets (my wife Deborah is working on this) and I want 50 people to join us and plant tulip bulbs. Yellow and White, Orange and Violet. Beauty as Justice. Right here in Lewiston Maine.

Quaker wisdom...

  The basic trouble [with the modern church] is that the proposed cure has such a striking similarity to the disease.

— Elton Trueblood