Wed - November 8, 2006
Wed - November 1, 2006
THE BUSINESS OF GOD: Mini Conference
The Business of God
A mini-conference to explore emerging thinking on the role of business in the Kingdom of God with Brian McLaren, Nathan George, David Batstone .
Ever wondered how your faith connects directly to your skills in business? What has the ability to read a balance sheet, design a marketing campaign, or craft a legal operating agreement got to do manifesting the reign of Christ on earth? Are you really only in your secular job to act ethically and be a good witness? Could there be a bigger picture that God has – a role created for you that uses your skills?
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to come and hear both theory and practice of how God is using business to bring good news to the poor and release to the captives.
First Presbyterian Church, Burlingame, California
13th November 13, 2006 from 7:30 – 11:00 am
Cost is $5 at the door (to cover light breakfast)
Schedule
7.30am Business and Transformation – the role of business in the Kingdom
9:00 am Break (everyone is invited to both sessions but there will be a 30-minute break for those who need to leave)
9.30am The Church and Business – Explore the theology and practice of integrating mission with business
Speakers:
Brian McLaren (www.brianmclaren.net <http://www.brianmclaren.net/> ) is a leading author of the subject of the emerging church, author of The Secret Message of Jesus, and the Board Chairman of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.
David Batstone (www.davidbatstone.com <http://www.davidbatstone.com/>) is the author of Saving the Corporate Soul, the editor-at-large of Sojourners, a founding editor of Business 2.0 magazine, and founder of Right Reality.
Nathan George (www.ambata.org <http://www.ambata.org/> ) is the founder of Ambata, a business focused on using consumer spending to create jobs for people freed from human trafficking and poverty.
Event Sponsors:
Sojourners/Call to Renewal , Ambata.org, First Presbyterian Church, Burlingame
A mini-conference to explore emerging thinking on the role of business in the Kingdom of God with Brian McLaren, Nathan George, David Batstone .
Ever wondered how your faith connects directly to your skills in business? What has the ability to read a balance sheet, design a marketing campaign, or craft a legal operating agreement got to do manifesting the reign of Christ on earth? Are you really only in your secular job to act ethically and be a good witness? Could there be a bigger picture that God has – a role created for you that uses your skills?
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to come and hear both theory and practice of how God is using business to bring good news to the poor and release to the captives.
First Presbyterian Church, Burlingame, California
13th November 13, 2006 from 7:30 – 11:00 am
Cost is $5 at the door (to cover light breakfast)
Schedule
7.30am Business and Transformation – the role of business in the Kingdom
9:00 am Break (everyone is invited to both sessions but there will be a 30-minute break for those who need to leave)
9.30am The Church and Business – Explore the theology and practice of integrating mission with business
Speakers:
Brian McLaren (www.brianmclaren.net <http://www.brianmclaren.net/> ) is a leading author of the subject of the emerging church, author of The Secret Message of Jesus, and the Board Chairman of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.
David Batstone (www.davidbatstone.com <http://www.davidbatstone.com/>) is the author of Saving the Corporate Soul, the editor-at-large of Sojourners, a founding editor of Business 2.0 magazine, and founder of Right Reality.
Nathan George (www.ambata.org <http://www.ambata.org/> ) is the founder of Ambata, a business focused on using consumer spending to create jobs for people freed from human trafficking and poverty.
Event Sponsors:
Sojourners/Call to Renewal , Ambata.org, First Presbyterian Church, Burlingame
Posted at 08:09 AM
Thu - September 28, 2006
THE EMERGENT GATHERING
We are very excited that you will be participating in the Emergent Gathering in New Mexico October 9-13. Since the ancient times of the Tabernacle gatherings, tribes of people have met together with expectancy and the awareness of their creator. This is the yearly gathering of our tribe.
The Gathering in Santa Fe is the Emergent Village event that most clearly expresses the value of Generative Friendship. Though it began some years ago simply as an intentional camping trip among friends, as the network of friends expanded it required a larger facility and further structure to maintain its' original intention of friendship and generative conversation. We feel strongly that the design of this event clearly affirms our commitment to be journeying friends and conversation partners.
In turn, a small group of people has worked up a basic skeleton of the Gathering and essential elements such as meeting places, food arrangements, and a daily rhythm, but you will determine the specific content and character of the event.
EXPECTATIONS
The Gathering is a "for us/by us" event. There is no registration cost - there are no staff or hired facilities persons to set up or pick-up after us - there is no pre-arranged content or entertainment other than what you bring as an offering to the community. We are ALL responsible for the various responsibilities that arise when 200 people spend 4 days together.
PARTICIPANT RESPONSIBILITIES
These responsibilities break down into 2 categories: Chores and Content.
Many of us are required for specific chores like meals, transportation, food preparation and clean up. If you haven't already done so by the time you arrive at the Gathering, you will be asked to assign yourself to one of the specific chore crews below.
* FOOD & MEALS: This crew is for you if you: Find yourself complaining about meals often, are picky, find yourself thinking about lunch at breakfast, dinner at lunch, and breakfast at dinner, can cook, can make things happen with a bunch of people in a kitchen, etc.The contact person for this crew is Troy Bronsink. Contact Mark at troybronsink@msn.com to join this crew.
The Food and Meals Crew will work together to plan and implement best way to feed 200 people healthy and tasty meals and snacks in three locations. This involves menu planning, shopping and coordinating meal preparation.
* HOSPITALITY: This crew is for you if you: Find yourself using words like "ambiance," "atmosphere," "vibe," or "space" often; find yourself constantly scanning a room to see who you haven't met yet, or who might not be jelling with others in the room; feel a need to start every meeting with a "get to know ya" exercise; or are convinced that florescent lights suck the life right out of the aforementioned words. The contact person is Nate Milheim. Contact Nate at millheim@gmail.com to join this crew.
The Hospitality Crew will plan out ways to help people make meaningful connections during the Gathering, and fostering a space conducive to the emergence and development of authentic generative friendships, and just a plain ole' lovely time by overseeing goings on in our gathering spaces (including houses of hospitality) and various affinity group lunches, etc.
Many of us are required for providing content to our 4 days together. This content may come in the form of hosted conversations or other offerings including recreational activities or experiences of other interest or passion (the arts, foods, local history and culture, etc.). It would be MOST HELPFUL for participants to sign up to host these offerings IN ADVANCE by responding to the contact persons below; however there will also be room to add additional content on the fly at the Gathering.
* CONVERSATIONS: This crew is for you if you have something to say or give, you'd like to have something to say or give, or if you always feel that you could have said or given something better than something someone else just said or gave (you know who you are J). The Contact person is Damien O'Farrell. Contact Damien at dofarrell@bridgesonline.org or visit the Gathering Conversation Writeboard (using the password: santafe) for more information or to add your offering.
Each day, space is provided for intentional conversations. Most conversations include 5-20 participants and are held at Aspen, one of the hospitality cabins or somewhere outdoors. We like to say that this is an advanced conversation event where we learn from one another. We especially welcome people to facilitate whose vocation is not "pastoral" or academic to encourage cross-pollination among life disciplines. As stated above, it would be most helpful if you would provided us with an idea of the conversation/s that you'd like to host at least a week before the gathering. There's plenty of space for a plethora of conversations - and with 200 people, we need a good variety, so please don't be shy!
* ACTIVITIES: This crew is for you if you love the outdoors and outdoor activities; like to explore, pursue adventure, or sweat; get nervous if you stay in one place for to long; and ESPECIALLY if you love to organize happenings to ensure that people have a wonderful experience wherever they are. The Contact person is Wendy Eason. Contact Wendy at wendyeason2001@yahoo.com to join or get more information on this crew.
The Activities Crew will coordinate the planning and logistics for things like morning fitness activities, hikes, field trips to galleries and historic sites and evening restaurant offerings in Santa Fe.
* PRAYER: This crew is for you if you: have always wanted to assist in scripture reading and prayer leading for worship services but have been afraid to try, or, are able to start an a cappella song on the right note, or, regularly spend time in intercessory & healing prayer, or, say grace at meals. (And if you are able to lead groups in chanting Psalms, that skill will be very helpful!) The Contact person is Karen Sloan. Contact Karen at flirtingwithmonasticism@gmail.com.
The Prayer Crew will be: (a) leading Liturgy of the Hours at our orientation meeting & morning check-in, (b) coordinating reflection & thankfulness with meals, and (c) offering to pray with and for those who specifically request prayer.
In addition to the five crews listed above, since there is no registration cost, we ask that participants take ownership of things that may need to be done for the good of the group. If you see a need, please take the initiative to address it or synergize with others to problem solve.
DAILY RHYTHMS
MONDAY
3 :00 -6:45 Registration
6:00-7:00 Hospitality Hour (with light snacks)
7:00 -8:30 Orientation At Aspen
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
7:00-9:00 Breakfast in Cabins and Aspen
7:30-9:15 Exercise Options (Yoga, running, hiking, etc.)
9:30-10:00 Morning Check-In Meeting at Aspen (see details below)
10:00 - 11:30 Conversation 1
12 :00 -1:30 Lunch and Affinity groups in Aspen
1:30 - 3:00 Conversation 2
3:30 - 5:00 Conversation 3/Activities (see details below)
6:00 PM Dinner (in cabins, or restaurants in Santa Fe)
THURSDAY
8:30-9:30 Exercise Options
7:30-10:30 Clean up and packing
10:30 AM Closing Celebration/Blessing in the Prayer Garden
12 P.M. Check out and departure
DETAILS
THE MORNING CHECK-IN MEETING:
At 9:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday we will have a brief meeting opening with a Liturgy of the Hours prayer time followed by descriptions of the day's conversations and activities.
ACTIVITIES:
In addition to conversation, you may also have an activity you would like to initiate. In the past these have included a film screenings, yoga classes, music jams, a group art project, hikes, excursions to Santa Fe, food or beverage tastings, etc.. It is recommended that you bring any supplies or equipment needed for your activity. You can post this activity on the board beginning on Monday night, but it would also be helpful if you would join the Activities Crew. Contact Wendy Eason wendyeason2001@yahoo.com and make submissions at least one week in advance to the Gathering.
ARRIVAL INFORMATION:
Please plan on arriving at Glorieta by 6:45 PM on Monday night. When you get there, please proceed directly to New Mexico Hall. There you'll find someone at a registration table. You'll receive instructions for the remainder of the day at that time. Our opening orientation meeting, including a Liturgy of the Hours prayer time, will be at 7 P.M. at Aspen Hall. (see the attached map). If you don't think you have time to grab dinner and make it to back Glorieta, light fare will be provided during a hospitality hour at Aspen from 6-7 P.M.
HOUSING:
If you have not yet made housing arrangements, please do so today. You'll need to contact Glorieta directly at 1-800-797-4222. In addition to apartment and hotel type room options, there are a limited number of bed in two Houses of Hospitality. You can inquire about the availability of these beds by contacting Mark Scandrette (mark@reimagine.org) or Doug Pagitt, (Pagitt@mac.com) who will be hosting each of those cabins. The estimated cost of a bed in the Houses of Hospitality is $25 per night per person.
CONNECT:
If you would like to find someone with which to split a rental car or accommodations, you can connect with people at the NEW Emergent Village Web Site. After you make your initial request, don't forget to check back for responses to your request. And don't forget to leave some sort of contact information.
FAMILIES
We are looking for someone to coordinate special activities for people who are bringing the whole family to Glorieta, Help us make sure that families who are attending have a great experience. Think babysitting co-op and kid friendly activities in Santa Fe... If you are interested in helping with this option, please join the Hospitality Crew (contact Nate Millheim at millheim@gmail.com) and take the initiative to make it happen.
MEALS
Sharing meals has been one of the best things about the Gathering. We encourage you to participate in communal meals. In the past, most people have enjoyed the informality and economy of these meals. The meals are communal because we buy the groceries and prepare the foods ourselves in two HOUSES OF HOSPITALITY Food cost will be $30/adult, (children up to 16 are free) and will be payable at registration. Please bring cash or a check. Complete information about how these meals will work will be communicated at our check-in meeting on Monday night. The contact person for this crew is Troy Bronsink. Contact Mark at troybronsink@msn.com to join this crew.
SANTA FE DINNER OPTION
Some people enjoy taking the opportunity for a night out on the town while in New Mexico. Tuesday and Wednesday nights we will have organized excursions to restaurants in downtown Santa Fe. Meals range from $7-$15 at the restaurants we have selected. In order that we do not overwhelm one or two restaurants, a sign-up system for these dinners will be presented on Monday night. For those who do not wish to eat out, meals will be provided in one of the houses of hospitality. If you have a preference or strong opinions on how these things are handled, please join the Activities Crew. The Contact person for this crew is Wendy Eason wendyeason2001@yahoo.com
TRANSPORTATION
While many of us will have vehicles at the event, some may be hitching a ride, we will need to car pool to dinners and field trips. If you have a vehicle with room in it for other people, we ask that you post it on the meal carpool board.
Looking forward to our time together!
--The Gathering Coordinating Team
Posted at 07:13 AM
Sun - September 10, 2006
INTRO TO SOUL GRAFITTI SECTION 1
Commenting on his visit to the gold rush
city, Mark Twain famously quipped, “The longest winter I ever spent was a
summer in San Francisco.” People come to San Francisco from all over the
world expecting beaches and balmy California sunshine -- only to find themselves
shivering and covered in goose pimples. The locals know who the visitors are
because only the tourists wear shorts. The trinket vendors at Fisherman’s
Wharf make a brisk business of selling tourists fleece jackets and ponchos to
face the chilling winds and fog that blanket the city in July and August.
Every August for the past five years our family has spent a week in Palm Springs, located in the desert east of Los Angeles. No one else goes to Palm Springs in August--the average temperature is a hundred and ten degrees every day—which is exactly what we want after wearing jackets and scarves all summer. We stay in a restored 1960’s Tiki motel with a pool area surrounded by palm trees and decorated with Polynesian masks, grass cabanas and Tiki torches. Elvis used to swim in the pool, where our kids play all day while my wife and I sit and read, soaking up the sunshine and dry heat. I like to think of our week in Palm Springs as a nod to the contemplative desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century—only with a bit more luxury. (We do take some long meditative hikes in the arid wilderness of Joshua Tree). This vacation gives us time to relax and do some soul searching as we reflect on our dreams and goals for the coming year.
My friend Adam recommended that I read the autobiography of Mahatma Ghandi, which I began while sitting by the pool. I called to mind the bronze statue of Ghandi I see by the bay in San Francisco, a sculpture of an older Ghandi wearing his iconic loincloth and striding with a walking stick in hand. He looks cold and people often put a stocking cap on his head along with garlands of flowers around his neck. Ghandi is almost universally respected for his personal sacrifices and civil rights work in South Africa and India. Martin Luther King Jr. said that studying Ghandi’s life inspired his non-violent civil disobedience. In the preface to his autobiography Ghandi wrote that the goal of his life was to walk with God . He saw every act of his life as an “experiment in truth,” a tool for learning how to love God and serve others. I was inspired by his dedication to play out this ambition in the details of his daily life, including his work, diet, exercise, financial affairs and relationships.
Throughout the book Ghandi chronicled his spiritual development and particularly his contact with Christians and the “Christian” gospel. While studying law in London he read the Bible with a group of friends. During his early years in South Africa he went to Christian church and ate Sunday dinner with a Dutch family. Many of the Christians he encountered were critical of his vegetarian diet and his deep sense of personal ethics. They suggested that through his lifestyle he was trying to earn his way to God and were emphatic that the message of Jesus was exclusively about forgiveness of sins and eternal destiny but not about a new social ethic. This did not sound like good news to Ghandi, and with few notable exceptions, he didn’t find much to admire in the daily lives of the Christians he knew. Ghandi couldn’t see value in a message that had no hope or power for the here and now, and later stated, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Christ was born in poverty at the beginning of the first Century A.D. At the age of twelve he was found debating with prominent professors of Religion, Ethics and Philosophy. His early adulthood is veiled in mystery—though it is likely that he worked in the trades or wandered like a mad prophet in the wilderness. At thirty he emerged from obscurity with a message and power that attracted the desperate masses. And at thirty-three he was executed as an insurgent. News that he was raised from the dead inspired his followers to lead a quiet revolution of love that garnered the hatred and admiration of an empire. His name has become a symbol and his life inspired a religion. Today perhaps more people are familiar with the traditions and peculiarities of Christianity than the life and teachings of the one they called the Nazarene. Jesus, in his own terms, was a teacher, a prophet and a messiah—one who was awake to divine realities and sought to be a light for others.
Was the message Ghandi heard the essential gospel of Jesus or a Christian gospel that appealed to the sensibilities of wealthy Europeans in the nineteenth century? In the introduction to his collection of anecdotes about the life of Jesus, John Mark wrote that, “Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God.” (1:14) Gospel means good news. We are invited to wonder “What is the good news of God for people like us living in the twenty-first century?” In the chapters included in Part 1 I hope we can begin to explore this question. I am suggesting that:
• Good news is negotiable and must connect with the real needs, demands and concerns of our daily lives.
• It takes courage and work to investigate the message of Jesus beyond the hype of an overly religious culture.
• Jesus saw himself as both a savior and teacher for life who took on apprentices who would learn from his words and example.
• The message of Jesus was equally about the future and the present.
• We search for what it means to be human and how to connect with our creator in the context of our relationships with one another.
You can be surprised by the chill of cold or the heat of summer, or the pleasant warmth of the unexpected. The good news that Jesus proclaimed was probably bigger and better than what anyone anticipated--and it may take a lifetime to discover what it might mean to pursue making a life in the way of Jesus.
Every August for the past five years our family has spent a week in Palm Springs, located in the desert east of Los Angeles. No one else goes to Palm Springs in August--the average temperature is a hundred and ten degrees every day—which is exactly what we want after wearing jackets and scarves all summer. We stay in a restored 1960’s Tiki motel with a pool area surrounded by palm trees and decorated with Polynesian masks, grass cabanas and Tiki torches. Elvis used to swim in the pool, where our kids play all day while my wife and I sit and read, soaking up the sunshine and dry heat. I like to think of our week in Palm Springs as a nod to the contemplative desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century—only with a bit more luxury. (We do take some long meditative hikes in the arid wilderness of Joshua Tree). This vacation gives us time to relax and do some soul searching as we reflect on our dreams and goals for the coming year.
My friend Adam recommended that I read the autobiography of Mahatma Ghandi, which I began while sitting by the pool. I called to mind the bronze statue of Ghandi I see by the bay in San Francisco, a sculpture of an older Ghandi wearing his iconic loincloth and striding with a walking stick in hand. He looks cold and people often put a stocking cap on his head along with garlands of flowers around his neck. Ghandi is almost universally respected for his personal sacrifices and civil rights work in South Africa and India. Martin Luther King Jr. said that studying Ghandi’s life inspired his non-violent civil disobedience. In the preface to his autobiography Ghandi wrote that the goal of his life was to walk with God . He saw every act of his life as an “experiment in truth,” a tool for learning how to love God and serve others. I was inspired by his dedication to play out this ambition in the details of his daily life, including his work, diet, exercise, financial affairs and relationships.
Throughout the book Ghandi chronicled his spiritual development and particularly his contact with Christians and the “Christian” gospel. While studying law in London he read the Bible with a group of friends. During his early years in South Africa he went to Christian church and ate Sunday dinner with a Dutch family. Many of the Christians he encountered were critical of his vegetarian diet and his deep sense of personal ethics. They suggested that through his lifestyle he was trying to earn his way to God and were emphatic that the message of Jesus was exclusively about forgiveness of sins and eternal destiny but not about a new social ethic. This did not sound like good news to Ghandi, and with few notable exceptions, he didn’t find much to admire in the daily lives of the Christians he knew. Ghandi couldn’t see value in a message that had no hope or power for the here and now, and later stated, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Christ was born in poverty at the beginning of the first Century A.D. At the age of twelve he was found debating with prominent professors of Religion, Ethics and Philosophy. His early adulthood is veiled in mystery—though it is likely that he worked in the trades or wandered like a mad prophet in the wilderness. At thirty he emerged from obscurity with a message and power that attracted the desperate masses. And at thirty-three he was executed as an insurgent. News that he was raised from the dead inspired his followers to lead a quiet revolution of love that garnered the hatred and admiration of an empire. His name has become a symbol and his life inspired a religion. Today perhaps more people are familiar with the traditions and peculiarities of Christianity than the life and teachings of the one they called the Nazarene. Jesus, in his own terms, was a teacher, a prophet and a messiah—one who was awake to divine realities and sought to be a light for others.
Was the message Ghandi heard the essential gospel of Jesus or a Christian gospel that appealed to the sensibilities of wealthy Europeans in the nineteenth century? In the introduction to his collection of anecdotes about the life of Jesus, John Mark wrote that, “Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news of God.” (1:14) Gospel means good news. We are invited to wonder “What is the good news of God for people like us living in the twenty-first century?” In the chapters included in Part 1 I hope we can begin to explore this question. I am suggesting that:
• Good news is negotiable and must connect with the real needs, demands and concerns of our daily lives.
• It takes courage and work to investigate the message of Jesus beyond the hype of an overly religious culture.
• Jesus saw himself as both a savior and teacher for life who took on apprentices who would learn from his words and example.
• The message of Jesus was equally about the future and the present.
• We search for what it means to be human and how to connect with our creator in the context of our relationships with one another.
You can be surprised by the chill of cold or the heat of summer, or the pleasant warmth of the unexpected. The good news that Jesus proclaimed was probably bigger and better than what anyone anticipated--and it may take a lifetime to discover what it might mean to pursue making a life in the way of Jesus.
Posted at 05:55 PM
LISA ON PRACTICAL HOSPITALITY
Our hospitality goals as a
community:
1. To provide hospitality to our neighbors and to one another.
2. To model achievable hospitality for others.
Hospitality is distinct from entertaining others. The goal of hospitality is receiving others in a warm and loving environment, sharing graciously of what we have. It does not seek to impress, but rather is centered on the care of those to whom the hospitality is given. We hope to keep this in mind as we share with one another and with others.
Opportunities for hospitality:
1. SEVEN meeting—we will need a simple meal of vegetarian soup and bread each week.
2. Jesus Dojo porject night—participants will take turns providing a vegetarian soup and bread meal for the other attendees.
3. Hospitality nights will be encouraged on Thursday nights. Each Thursday, an open house sort of hospitality will be offered at one of the SEVEN homes, rotating each week to a new spot. The purpose of this gathering is to be able to welcome guests who want to connect in some way with Seven. If you do not have guests in your home that night, you are welcome and encouraged to attend. If, however, you are not hosting this venue, you are encouraged to use the night to show hospitality to coworkers, neighbors and friends outside SEVEN. The rotation could look something like this (just an example):
a. First Thursday of the month—Damon and Alice
b. Second Thursday of the month—Nate and Andrea
c. Third Thursday of the month—Adam
d. Fourth Thursday of the month—Mark and Lisa
We encourage you to keep your meals simple and healthy. This should be something that seems achievable to you and your guests, rather than a consistently elaborate affair.
1. To provide hospitality to our neighbors and to one another.
2. To model achievable hospitality for others.
Hospitality is distinct from entertaining others. The goal of hospitality is receiving others in a warm and loving environment, sharing graciously of what we have. It does not seek to impress, but rather is centered on the care of those to whom the hospitality is given. We hope to keep this in mind as we share with one another and with others.
Opportunities for hospitality:
1. SEVEN meeting—we will need a simple meal of vegetarian soup and bread each week.
2. Jesus Dojo porject night—participants will take turns providing a vegetarian soup and bread meal for the other attendees.
3. Hospitality nights will be encouraged on Thursday nights. Each Thursday, an open house sort of hospitality will be offered at one of the SEVEN homes, rotating each week to a new spot. The purpose of this gathering is to be able to welcome guests who want to connect in some way with Seven. If you do not have guests in your home that night, you are welcome and encouraged to attend. If, however, you are not hosting this venue, you are encouraged to use the night to show hospitality to coworkers, neighbors and friends outside SEVEN. The rotation could look something like this (just an example):
a. First Thursday of the month—Damon and Alice
b. Second Thursday of the month—Nate and Andrea
c. Third Thursday of the month—Adam
d. Fourth Thursday of the month—Mark and Lisa
We encourage you to keep your meals simple and healthy. This should be something that seems achievable to you and your guests, rather than a consistently elaborate affair.
Posted at 11:54 AM
AUGUST FAMILY LETTER
With the first draft of SOUL GRAFFITI
completed, we took a well-earned week of vacation in Palm Springs. We did
nothing on vacation but relax by the pool, read books and hike in the canyons
and Joshua Tree National Monument. We make this annual pilgrimage to Palm
Springs because it is an inexpensive place to vacation in August—too hot
for most people in Southern California but perfect for us who are used to
wearing three layers of clothes beneath the summer fog that hangs over the San
Francisco Bay.
On vacation I read several histories of San Francisco and was reminded of the wild nature of the city that grew up over night during the gold rush. I also read the autobiography of Mahatma Ghandi, slain Indian civil rights activist famous for non-violent resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. attributed his civil rights work to the inspiration of Ghandi. I found Ghandi’s attention to personal ethics, discipline and diet to be fascinating, along with his observations of the Christians he associated with in London and South Africa. During his law school years in London, Ghandi read and studied the Bible. While he lived in South Africa he attended church and had Sunday dinner weekly with a Christian family. Ghandi’s best known summations about Christianity was that while he was inspired by the life of Jesus, he rarely saw that life imitated by the people who claimed to follow him. Curiously, one of the three books that Ghandi said most influenced him was a book by Leo Tolstoy called “The Kingdom of God is Within You.” Tolstoy’s book was about the ethical ramifications of the gospel of Jesus.
Throughout his life Ghandi made what he called “experiments in truth.” He would adjust his schedule and bodily habits to see how he could maximize his service to others. He also sought to identify with the poor by traveling in 3rd class or walking wherever he went. Many of the Christians Ghandi encountered were critical of his ascetic lifestyle, suggesting that the gospel of Jesus made such sacrifices unnecessary. Many of his Christian friends dismissed his lifestyle as an attempt to earn salvation. From Ghandi’s perspective, his lifestyle was an effort to serve and love God, and he was disturbed that his Christian friends didn’t take obeying Jesus more seriously.
The book left me with a lot to think about in regard to what I believe is our western tendency to dismiss personal discipline as optional to the spiritual life. Any of the people of faith we admire have lived with self-discipline and a willingness to suffer for the sake of others.
We often come home from vacation to be reawakened by an immediate crisis in our neighborhood—and this trip was no exception. We drove up to a police barricade by the park where two men had been shot by a teenager from the housing projects at the end of the block. Dan and Adam, our housemates, were the first people on the scene to find one man dead with a bullet through his head and another man with a minor gunshot wound. The incident didn’t appear to be gang related.
The season of violence in the neighborhood this summer has reached a fever pitch, and we’ve decided to devote our Jesus Dojo cohort activities to a violence prevention project this fall. We understand that violence and neighborhood blight are related and we will be launching a public service campaign and neighborhood pick up to try to address some of the systemic issues. One major area of concern is the park across the street from our house. When I’ve talked to people in recovery programs about where we live they tell me that when they were hustling on the streets they would often hang out in Garfield park—because it was a place where you could do anything and no one cared. Since a lot of our neighbors are new immigrants many of them don’t understand that we can let our voices be heard and advocate for safety and peace in the neighborhood. (More on this project next letter).
I am having a great time working with the leadership team that is partnering to develop our community and initiatives. Currently we are calling the community SEVEN SOCIETY, because we seek to follow Jesus seven days a week and have made seven vows of obedience to the teachings of Jesus. We spent three days this month on a planning retreat outlining our objectives for the fall. In mid September we will begin meeting publicly on Sunday nights, as well as hosting Jesus Dojo cohorts, Thursday hospitality nights and speaking in various places.
ITEMS FOR PRAYER
That our efforts this fall might help curb violence in the Mission
District.
Guidance and energy as we begin the next phase of our
community.
Strength and creativity for Mark as he finishes up the SOUL
GRAFFITI book editing process (due October 15)
We are really grateful for the signs of God’s activity we see in us and around us—and we appreciate your prayers and support!
--Mark & Lisa
[Here’s a little excerpt from a chapter of SOUL GRAFFITI titled THE PATH OF A HEALER—that explores how we can follow the example of Jesus through learning to be healers in our world. ]
Just as Jesus lived among the poor, the lonely and the outcast, we are urged to live with equal compassion and humility: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:5-7) We follow the path of a healer through the practice of being present to each other.
One of the challenges in learning to be healers is that we are often geographically or culturally removed from places of need. Our contemporary patterns of housing and travel tend to isolate wealth or even just middle-class comfort from poverty. It is easy to ignore the hunger or injustice we can’t see. To be present, we have to intentionally put ourselves in the path of need, crossing boundaries by changing where we go and who we identify as our neighbors. This could be as simple as walking down a new street or changing where you shop or eat. Or it may require visiting another neighborhood, city or country, or even relocating to live in a place with more need and diversity.
If this requirement sounds intimidating, frightening, or inconvenient, that’s because following the Way can be all of that and more. Imitating the healing ways of the master requires us to move beyond the boundaries of personal comfort, reorienting and making space to practice presence. One of my most vivid experiences of boundary crossing occurred as we moved to San Francisco’s Mission District. Becoming part of our neighborhood was both humbling and complex and made us vulnerable in a ways we hadn’t anticipated.
When I first knocked on the door of the lower flat of the old Victorian, holding our youngest child in my arms with the other two children clutching the pockets of my pants, a teenage girl appeared, barefoot in shorts and a tank top.
“Hello, is Jose home?” I asked.
“I don’t know, he might be at work,” she said with her arms crossed, twisting bubble gum from her mouth around her fingers.
“Do you know if he got my letter?” I inquired tentatively. “We read Jose the letter, but he doesn’t want to move out. It’s hard to find another place right now.” I pleaded, “Please try to talk to Jose. We will pay your relocation costs.”
She smiled at the baby, “I will try, but you know he’s kind of crazy sometimes.”
A month and a half later I approached the door again with a checkbook. Keys were handed over and polite handshakes were exchanged with Jose, Salvador, Angel and Jessica (the teenage girl I had spoken to earlier). I stood in the empty apartment calculating the work it would take to make it clean and livable. The children, so glad to be “home” after six months of staying with friends and sleeping on floors, took off their shoes and ran up and down the narrow hallway. Moments later Lisa stopped them, when she noticed their white socks were now dark with stains, and said, “You’ll have to wear shoes until we have new floors.”
We began bagging up the trash that had been left behind. In the makeshift windowless room that Jessica shared with her a thirty year-old boyfriend Salvador, we found a few soiled stuffed animals, candy wrappers and a note from a clinic explaining post-operative instructions for a first trimester abortion. A forgotten student I.D. revealed that Jessica was actually only fourteen.
The back bedroom, where the children would sleep, was Jose’s room, where he had often sat on a single bed drinking beer and watching Spanish T.V. Bonita, the woman upstairs, told us that Jose got a little crazy when he drank. “One time a young prostitute ran up the steps to my back door screaming--Jose was chasing after her with a knife, trying to stab her to death. We had to call the police. But other than that, Jose was a very nice neighbor,” she said.
The bathroom was covered in black mildew. The small back yard, a plot of cement, was filled waist deep with garbage: old auto parts, broken bicycles, bags of beer cans, and rotting food in Styrofoam Chinese take out cartons. A dead fish floated in a bucket of water. It would take months to discard the trash, tear out the carpets, knock down the shanty room, repair the mildew damage, repaint and carpet to make the apartment and yard safe for our children.
“Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins,” I mused while bagging up the garbage. “… and will raise up the age old foundations,” I repeated as I knocked down the shanty room walls with a sledge hammer. “You will be called Repairer of Broken walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” (Isaiah 58:12)
We learned many painful lessons about the practice of presence as we were confronted by violence, theft, loneliness, hostility, and many sleepless nights. We found out that entire refugee families were living in single bedrooms and that the streets were not safe for children or older people because of drug trafficking. The problems of a neighborhood were now our problems as well. “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” wrote the prophet Isaiah (53:4). Jesus modeled the practice of presence by identifying with the struggles and sufferings of the people of his day. We become healers by also joining the sufferings of others.
One day an undercover narcotics officer stopped at our door. Flashing his badge, he asked, “Do you realize what was going on in this house before you moved in? The former tenants used this place to traffic guns, drugs and prostitutes and to harbor fugitives. Your move here really helped clean up this neighborhood.” At a Christmas party, our neighbor Grandma Lupe told everyone: “This block used to be really bad, with lots of shootings. Mark and Lisa have brought peace to this corner. Mark even makes the sleeping drunk men leave our front door so we can go outside.”
It is clear that Jesus didn’t heal every person, and that his mighty acts were signs of a kingdom that is still being revealed. He once said, “The poor you will always have with you,” (Mark 14:7) leading us to consider, “How can we welcome the poor to share life with us?” As long as spiritual darkness is at work somewhere in the world, there will be physical, emotional and spiritual poverty produced by scarcity and greed. So what difference do our efforts make and how do we measure success? Perhaps it would be best to ask, “Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?” and, “Are we doing all that we can?” Jesus said that if we abide in his way, we will bear the fruit of love in our lives. Until the completion of all things we seek the path of a healer, holding to this promise:
If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.(Isaiah 58:9-11)
On vacation I read several histories of San Francisco and was reminded of the wild nature of the city that grew up over night during the gold rush. I also read the autobiography of Mahatma Ghandi, slain Indian civil rights activist famous for non-violent resistance. Martin Luther King Jr. attributed his civil rights work to the inspiration of Ghandi. I found Ghandi’s attention to personal ethics, discipline and diet to be fascinating, along with his observations of the Christians he associated with in London and South Africa. During his law school years in London, Ghandi read and studied the Bible. While he lived in South Africa he attended church and had Sunday dinner weekly with a Christian family. Ghandi’s best known summations about Christianity was that while he was inspired by the life of Jesus, he rarely saw that life imitated by the people who claimed to follow him. Curiously, one of the three books that Ghandi said most influenced him was a book by Leo Tolstoy called “The Kingdom of God is Within You.” Tolstoy’s book was about the ethical ramifications of the gospel of Jesus.
Throughout his life Ghandi made what he called “experiments in truth.” He would adjust his schedule and bodily habits to see how he could maximize his service to others. He also sought to identify with the poor by traveling in 3rd class or walking wherever he went. Many of the Christians Ghandi encountered were critical of his ascetic lifestyle, suggesting that the gospel of Jesus made such sacrifices unnecessary. Many of his Christian friends dismissed his lifestyle as an attempt to earn salvation. From Ghandi’s perspective, his lifestyle was an effort to serve and love God, and he was disturbed that his Christian friends didn’t take obeying Jesus more seriously.
The book left me with a lot to think about in regard to what I believe is our western tendency to dismiss personal discipline as optional to the spiritual life. Any of the people of faith we admire have lived with self-discipline and a willingness to suffer for the sake of others.
We often come home from vacation to be reawakened by an immediate crisis in our neighborhood—and this trip was no exception. We drove up to a police barricade by the park where two men had been shot by a teenager from the housing projects at the end of the block. Dan and Adam, our housemates, were the first people on the scene to find one man dead with a bullet through his head and another man with a minor gunshot wound. The incident didn’t appear to be gang related.
The season of violence in the neighborhood this summer has reached a fever pitch, and we’ve decided to devote our Jesus Dojo cohort activities to a violence prevention project this fall. We understand that violence and neighborhood blight are related and we will be launching a public service campaign and neighborhood pick up to try to address some of the systemic issues. One major area of concern is the park across the street from our house. When I’ve talked to people in recovery programs about where we live they tell me that when they were hustling on the streets they would often hang out in Garfield park—because it was a place where you could do anything and no one cared. Since a lot of our neighbors are new immigrants many of them don’t understand that we can let our voices be heard and advocate for safety and peace in the neighborhood. (More on this project next letter).
I am having a great time working with the leadership team that is partnering to develop our community and initiatives. Currently we are calling the community SEVEN SOCIETY, because we seek to follow Jesus seven days a week and have made seven vows of obedience to the teachings of Jesus. We spent three days this month on a planning retreat outlining our objectives for the fall. In mid September we will begin meeting publicly on Sunday nights, as well as hosting Jesus Dojo cohorts, Thursday hospitality nights and speaking in various places.
ITEMS FOR PRAYER
That our efforts this fall might help curb violence in the Mission
District.
Guidance and energy as we begin the next phase of our
community.
Strength and creativity for Mark as he finishes up the SOUL
GRAFFITI book editing process (due October 15)
We are really grateful for the signs of God’s activity we see in us and around us—and we appreciate your prayers and support!
--Mark & Lisa
[Here’s a little excerpt from a chapter of SOUL GRAFFITI titled THE PATH OF A HEALER—that explores how we can follow the example of Jesus through learning to be healers in our world. ]
Just as Jesus lived among the poor, the lonely and the outcast, we are urged to live with equal compassion and humility: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:5-7) We follow the path of a healer through the practice of being present to each other.
One of the challenges in learning to be healers is that we are often geographically or culturally removed from places of need. Our contemporary patterns of housing and travel tend to isolate wealth or even just middle-class comfort from poverty. It is easy to ignore the hunger or injustice we can’t see. To be present, we have to intentionally put ourselves in the path of need, crossing boundaries by changing where we go and who we identify as our neighbors. This could be as simple as walking down a new street or changing where you shop or eat. Or it may require visiting another neighborhood, city or country, or even relocating to live in a place with more need and diversity.
If this requirement sounds intimidating, frightening, or inconvenient, that’s because following the Way can be all of that and more. Imitating the healing ways of the master requires us to move beyond the boundaries of personal comfort, reorienting and making space to practice presence. One of my most vivid experiences of boundary crossing occurred as we moved to San Francisco’s Mission District. Becoming part of our neighborhood was both humbling and complex and made us vulnerable in a ways we hadn’t anticipated.
When I first knocked on the door of the lower flat of the old Victorian, holding our youngest child in my arms with the other two children clutching the pockets of my pants, a teenage girl appeared, barefoot in shorts and a tank top.
“Hello, is Jose home?” I asked.
“I don’t know, he might be at work,” she said with her arms crossed, twisting bubble gum from her mouth around her fingers.
“Do you know if he got my letter?” I inquired tentatively. “We read Jose the letter, but he doesn’t want to move out. It’s hard to find another place right now.” I pleaded, “Please try to talk to Jose. We will pay your relocation costs.”
She smiled at the baby, “I will try, but you know he’s kind of crazy sometimes.”
A month and a half later I approached the door again with a checkbook. Keys were handed over and polite handshakes were exchanged with Jose, Salvador, Angel and Jessica (the teenage girl I had spoken to earlier). I stood in the empty apartment calculating the work it would take to make it clean and livable. The children, so glad to be “home” after six months of staying with friends and sleeping on floors, took off their shoes and ran up and down the narrow hallway. Moments later Lisa stopped them, when she noticed their white socks were now dark with stains, and said, “You’ll have to wear shoes until we have new floors.”
We began bagging up the trash that had been left behind. In the makeshift windowless room that Jessica shared with her a thirty year-old boyfriend Salvador, we found a few soiled stuffed animals, candy wrappers and a note from a clinic explaining post-operative instructions for a first trimester abortion. A forgotten student I.D. revealed that Jessica was actually only fourteen.
The back bedroom, where the children would sleep, was Jose’s room, where he had often sat on a single bed drinking beer and watching Spanish T.V. Bonita, the woman upstairs, told us that Jose got a little crazy when he drank. “One time a young prostitute ran up the steps to my back door screaming--Jose was chasing after her with a knife, trying to stab her to death. We had to call the police. But other than that, Jose was a very nice neighbor,” she said.
The bathroom was covered in black mildew. The small back yard, a plot of cement, was filled waist deep with garbage: old auto parts, broken bicycles, bags of beer cans, and rotting food in Styrofoam Chinese take out cartons. A dead fish floated in a bucket of water. It would take months to discard the trash, tear out the carpets, knock down the shanty room, repair the mildew damage, repaint and carpet to make the apartment and yard safe for our children.
“Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins,” I mused while bagging up the garbage. “… and will raise up the age old foundations,” I repeated as I knocked down the shanty room walls with a sledge hammer. “You will be called Repairer of Broken walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” (Isaiah 58:12)
We learned many painful lessons about the practice of presence as we were confronted by violence, theft, loneliness, hostility, and many sleepless nights. We found out that entire refugee families were living in single bedrooms and that the streets were not safe for children or older people because of drug trafficking. The problems of a neighborhood were now our problems as well. “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” wrote the prophet Isaiah (53:4). Jesus modeled the practice of presence by identifying with the struggles and sufferings of the people of his day. We become healers by also joining the sufferings of others.
One day an undercover narcotics officer stopped at our door. Flashing his badge, he asked, “Do you realize what was going on in this house before you moved in? The former tenants used this place to traffic guns, drugs and prostitutes and to harbor fugitives. Your move here really helped clean up this neighborhood.” At a Christmas party, our neighbor Grandma Lupe told everyone: “This block used to be really bad, with lots of shootings. Mark and Lisa have brought peace to this corner. Mark even makes the sleeping drunk men leave our front door so we can go outside.”
It is clear that Jesus didn’t heal every person, and that his mighty acts were signs of a kingdom that is still being revealed. He once said, “The poor you will always have with you,” (Mark 14:7) leading us to consider, “How can we welcome the poor to share life with us?” As long as spiritual darkness is at work somewhere in the world, there will be physical, emotional and spiritual poverty produced by scarcity and greed. So what difference do our efforts make and how do we measure success? Perhaps it would be best to ask, “Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?” and, “Are we doing all that we can?” Jesus said that if we abide in his way, we will bear the fruit of love in our lives. Until the completion of all things we seek the path of a healer, holding to this promise:
If you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.(Isaiah 58:9-11)
Posted at 11:50 AM
Wed - September 6, 2006
THE JESUS DOJO: FALL '06 VOW OF SERVICE & PROJECT BARRIO LIBRE
THE JESUS DOJO: CONTRACT OF
PARTICIPATION
We believe that there are certain patterns or rhythms of living that will enable us to love God and His creation in a more holistic and deep way. We are committed to opening ourselves to God's movement and leveraging our personal kingdoms to collaborate with the Creator in the restoration of creation.
Learning to live in The Way requires a willingness to become an apprentice of Jesus and a commitment of mutual submission. We understand that transformation is the work of the Spirit. Our role is to make ourselves available and to engage in disciplines that allow for that work to occur. A Japanese word, Dojo literally means "place of the Way", with this in mind The Jesus Dojo is a 7 week transformation process designed with the intent of moving us closer into the life God envisioned for us individually and communally.
Transformation is difficult to undergo outside the context of community and as a result we have certain expectations to help us maintain a sense of solidarity and mutual respect as we journey together for the next 7 weeks. We believe there is power in committing ourselves to goodness and making vows, whether they be temporary or permanent, and ask that you sign this contract, publicly acknowledging your commitment.
The schedule will vary each week depending on the particular Vow that is being examined. In general each night there will be a simple meal of soup provided with a short time (~30 min) of introduction followed by the exercise for that night and a wrap up discussion.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU:
As advocates we have committed ourselves to do whatever is necessary we can to help you along in your quest for wholeness and formation in the way of Jesus.
YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE JESUS DOJO:
I understand that the Jesus Dojo is a spiritual formation group focusing on taking action to cultivate Christ-like character. Thus I am committing myself to fulfill the following expectations of participation.
* I have read this contract and the accompanying exercises for this Dojo Vow
* I will be at 6 of the 7 Dojo meetings
* I will arrive on time
* I will complete each weekly assignment
* I are open to having an advocate speak into my life
* I will make a donation of $25 - $50 (sliding scale) to the work of ReImagine
* I will help in provide a meal one week
Signature of Apprentice/ Participant Date
_________________________________ __________________Signature of Advocate Date
THE VOW OF SERVICE SERVICE - one of the 7 vows of SEVEN SOCIETY
As apprentices of Jesus, we are given the privilege and responsibility of becoming agents of healing. We work for the restoration of Creation on behalf in cooperation with the agenda of the Creator. We give our bodies and minds, our whole selves, to a life of service.
We are told that Jesus emptied himself. He humbled himself. He gave himself away in order to serve. Beyond teaching this way, He modeled it. His patterns of living, and eventually the cross, remind us of the sacrifice of a servant, one who gave up his life for the benefit of others. Jesus is the ultimate picture of unselfishness. He is the Suffering Servant, the Great Advocate for all mankind. We seek to pattern our lives after His by serving in the ways that make sense in our times and places.
With healing hands, Jesus embraced people rejected or forgotten by society. As a sign of the kingdom of love Jesus touched those shunned because of infectious diseases. He put his hands on the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf to heal them. He welcomed and held little children in his arms, even while his disciples looked on disapprovingly. He also made himself vulnerable to people in the streets, allowing them to touch him-- like one woman who had been bleeding for many years who reached for his clothes and was cured, or another woman who worked as a prostitute who, weeping, touched his feet, washing them with her tears. He invited the poor and oppressed into a community of hope.
We love God by loving the people around us. We enter into the struggle of those who are hungry, thirsty, lonely, naked or in prison. Through these acts we serve Jesus himself. Day by day, minute by minute, we make the decision to welcome Jesus instead of turning him away.
While we will enter into specific projects or acts of service, we remind ourselves that our whole lives are to be full of love that fills the holes of despair around us. We seek to first be healers within our families and our communities. We begin the struggle first as sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, friends, neighbors and co-workers, and we continue this work to the ends of the earth.
We believe that there are certain patterns or rhythms of living that will enable us to love God and His creation in a more holistic and deep way. We are committed to opening ourselves to God's movement and leveraging our personal kingdoms to collaborate with the Creator in the restoration of creation.
Learning to live in The Way requires a willingness to become an apprentice of Jesus and a commitment of mutual submission. We understand that transformation is the work of the Spirit. Our role is to make ourselves available and to engage in disciplines that allow for that work to occur. A Japanese word, Dojo literally means "place of the Way", with this in mind The Jesus Dojo is a 7 week transformation process designed with the intent of moving us closer into the life God envisioned for us individually and communally.
Transformation is difficult to undergo outside the context of community and as a result we have certain expectations to help us maintain a sense of solidarity and mutual respect as we journey together for the next 7 weeks. We believe there is power in committing ourselves to goodness and making vows, whether they be temporary or permanent, and ask that you sign this contract, publicly acknowledging your commitment.
The schedule will vary each week depending on the particular Vow that is being examined. In general each night there will be a simple meal of soup provided with a short time (~30 min) of introduction followed by the exercise for that night and a wrap up discussion.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU:
As advocates we have committed ourselves to do whatever is necessary we can to help you along in your quest for wholeness and formation in the way of Jesus.
YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE JESUS DOJO:
I understand that the Jesus Dojo is a spiritual formation group focusing on taking action to cultivate Christ-like character. Thus I am committing myself to fulfill the following expectations of participation.
* I have read this contract and the accompanying exercises for this Dojo Vow
* I will be at 6 of the 7 Dojo meetings
* I will arrive on time
* I will complete each weekly assignment
* I are open to having an advocate speak into my life
* I will make a donation of $25 - $50 (sliding scale) to the work of ReImagine
* I will help in provide a meal one week
Signature of Apprentice/ Participant Date
_________________________________ __________________Signature of Advocate Date
THE VOW OF SERVICE SERVICE - one of the 7 vows of SEVEN SOCIETY
As apprentices of Jesus, we are given the privilege and responsibility of becoming agents of healing. We work for the restoration of Creation on behalf in cooperation with the agenda of the Creator. We give our bodies and minds, our whole selves, to a life of service.
We are told that Jesus emptied himself. He humbled himself. He gave himself away in order to serve. Beyond teaching this way, He modeled it. His patterns of living, and eventually the cross, remind us of the sacrifice of a servant, one who gave up his life for the benefit of others. Jesus is the ultimate picture of unselfishness. He is the Suffering Servant, the Great Advocate for all mankind. We seek to pattern our lives after His by serving in the ways that make sense in our times and places.
With healing hands, Jesus embraced people rejected or forgotten by society. As a sign of the kingdom of love Jesus touched those shunned because of infectious diseases. He put his hands on the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf to heal them. He welcomed and held little children in his arms, even while his disciples looked on disapprovingly. He also made himself vulnerable to people in the streets, allowing them to touch him-- like one woman who had been bleeding for many years who reached for his clothes and was cured, or another woman who worked as a prostitute who, weeping, touched his feet, washing them with her tears. He invited the poor and oppressed into a community of hope.
We love God by loving the people around us. We enter into the struggle of those who are hungry, thirsty, lonely, naked or in prison. Through these acts we serve Jesus himself. Day by day, minute by minute, we make the decision to welcome Jesus instead of turning him away.
While we will enter into specific projects or acts of service, we remind ourselves that our whole lives are to be full of love that fills the holes of despair around us. We seek to first be healers within our families and our communities. We begin the struggle first as sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, friends, neighbors and co-workers, and we continue this work to the ends of the earth.
THE PRACTICE OF
ADVOCACY
Jesus modeled the ancient command and practice of advocacy: “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17) He recognized that human suffering is related to systems of power and inequity and thus advocated on behalf of the weak. He confronted the dominance of civil and religious authorities and their oppressive control over the poor and simple. And he taught his followers to live subversively under foreign occupation—paying taxes and carrying the packs of Roman soldiers, but honoring another kingdom and king. And Jesus warned adults that they would be held responsible if their choices lead children into sin. The struggle for justice ultimately led to his persecution and death. Through his example Jesus invites us to be healers through the practice of advocacy.
Immigrants and poor people struggle to make ends meet and often don’t have the language, skills or confidence to advocate for themselves. The wealthy and educated advocate freely on their own behalf, even hiring lawyers and politicians to preserve their status and safety. For instance ,the affluent neighborhoods in San Francisco have disproportunately more services and police presence that the poorest neighborhoods with greater needs. Our neighbors need us to speak for them so their voice can be heard.
Living in a time of increasing mobility and international trade, the call to justice is both local and global. A friend who works with Latin gang members in our neighborhood discovered that the young men dealing heroin on our street corners are from a city in Honduras where a U.S. company opened a factory that tainted their water supply and destroyed the local economy. What appeared to be a neighborhood problem was related to corporate power and greed. Our friend works to help these young men discover a better way of life, but also meets with government officials to address corporate responsibility.
Jesus modeled the ancient command and practice of advocacy: “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17) He recognized that human suffering is related to systems of power and inequity and thus advocated on behalf of the weak. He confronted the dominance of civil and religious authorities and their oppressive control over the poor and simple. And he taught his followers to live subversively under foreign occupation—paying taxes and carrying the packs of Roman soldiers, but honoring another kingdom and king. And Jesus warned adults that they would be held responsible if their choices lead children into sin. The struggle for justice ultimately led to his persecution and death. Through his example Jesus invites us to be healers through the practice of advocacy.
Immigrants and poor people struggle to make ends meet and often don’t have the language, skills or confidence to advocate for themselves. The wealthy and educated advocate freely on their own behalf, even hiring lawyers and politicians to preserve their status and safety. For instance ,the affluent neighborhoods in San Francisco have disproportunately more services and police presence that the poorest neighborhoods with greater needs. Our neighbors need us to speak for them so their voice can be heard.
Living in a time of increasing mobility and international trade, the call to justice is both local and global. A friend who works with Latin gang members in our neighborhood discovered that the young men dealing heroin on our street corners are from a city in Honduras where a U.S. company opened a factory that tainted their water supply and destroyed the local economy. What appeared to be a neighborhood problem was related to corporate power and greed. Our friend works to help these young men discover a better way of life, but also meets with government officials to address corporate responsibility.
OVERVIEW OF PROJECT BARRIO DE SEGURROLIBRE! —NEIGHBGORHOOD FREEDOM!
Why?WHY? To apply the vow of service and advocacy to current issues in our city.
This summer marked a dramatic return of violence to the Mission District and Portrero Hill with night-time gunfire, thefts & assualts and weekly homicides. In the Mission District violence and hopelessness have become ways of life. People are shot and killed in broad daylight, and nothing is done about it. We will be advocates for this neighborhood. We will educate citizens. We will challenge the status quo. We work for a Barrio de Segurro (Safe NeighborhoodNeighborhood Freedom).
Our young people are dying, but we can stand up and work together to end the violence. Small acts matter. Clean the streets. Call when you see suspicious activity. Your involvement can save lives. Have courage. Take the freedom to walk the streets without trash, without fear, without violence. Together we can make our neighborhood safe, a place of faith, hope and love.
Where?WHERE? Mission to Bryant and Cesar Chavez to 21st Street
Overview of Assignments PROJECT DETAILS AND EXERCISES:
• Join a Project Team
• Join an Area Team (specific streets/blocks) for beautification, posters, flyers, etc.
• Read weekly Scripture and complete a half page reflection for each Dojo meeting
• Read Gandhi’s autobiography and complete a half page reflection by October 31
• View one of these three movies with others in the Dojo: City of God, Rise Clown Dancing, Born into Brothels
• Optional but helpful reading: Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed , Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov
Project Teams:PROJECT TEAMS:
1. Research & networking
1. Finding all murder sites
2. Statistics on violence
3. Best practices we can promote – phone numbers, etc.
2. Propaganda crew
1. Public service announcements (flyers, posters, etc.)
2. Web site
3. Art team
1. Mural project/Graffiti project
2. Day of the Dead
Everyone:WEEKLY TUESDAY EVENING PRACTICES:
Neighborhood Beautification Project with Area Team
1. Pick up trash, clean, etc.
2. Patrol and advocacy
3. Meet neighbors and store workers/owners whenever possible
4. Paint over graffiti or contact city officials to paint
JESUS DOJO MEETING AND PROJECT SCHEDULEDojo Meeting Schedule – :
WHEN? Tuesdays fromnights 6:30-9:00 PM (will start and end on time)
Each week will include a simple dinner of soup and bread with a short introduction to the night before entering the neighborhood on foot to work on our projects. We will usually close the night with a short conversation.
Sept 12th
1. Orientation
2. Creating teams (Project Teams and Area Teams)
3. Creative discussion
1. What are posters and fliers going to look like?
Sept 19th
1. Neighborhood assessment in Area Teams and reflection
1. Mark details on Neighborhood Maps (people loitering or sleeping, trash, defecation, urine, graffiti, etc.)
2. Take photos when appropriate
3. Trash pickup
Sept 26th
1. Put up posters
2. Trash pickup
Oct 3rd
1. Put up fliers
2. Trash pickup
Oct 10th: No meeting--Skip – Off due to Emergent Gathering in New Mexico
Oct 17th
1. Complete murals at mural sites
Oct 24th
1. Start day of the dead preparation
Oct 31st
1. Final prep for day of the dead
2. Bring half page reflection on Gandhi’s autobiography
Nov. 2nd
1. Day of the Dead finale in front of 3166 25th Street
2. Mural, posters, fliers, etc.
3. Costumes
WEEKLY READINGS & REFLECTIONS
Each participant will read the selected
passage and complete a half page reflection to be turned in at the Dojo Meeting
and discussed when time allows. *Please note that there are two passages for
October 17 since we are not meeting October 10.
WEEK 1: THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
(September 19)
Matthew 25
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will
sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before
him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on
his left. 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you
invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked
after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37"Then the righteous
will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and
give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in,
or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and
go to visit you?' 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever
you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are
cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was
hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you
did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or
a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one
of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46"Then they will go away
to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
WEEK 2: MY NEIGHBOR (September 26)
Luke 10
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he
asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26"What is written in the Law?"
he replied. "How do you read it?" 27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 28"You have answered
correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29But he wanted to
justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30In reply Jesus
said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the
hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away,
leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and
when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he
came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan,
as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on
him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he
put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The
next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look
after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra
expense you may have.' 36"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to
the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37The expert in the law replied,
"The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do
likewise."
WEEK 3: ISAIAH THE PROPHET (October 3)
Isaiah 1:17
“Learn to do right! Seek justice. Encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 42
1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 58
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Luke 4
16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
WEEK 4: THE TORAH WAY OF LIFE (October 1710)
Deuteronomy 16
20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 24
17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. 19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
WEEK 5: TRUE RELIGION (October 17)
1 Timothy 5:4
“that they should learn to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”
James 1
27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 2
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
1 John 3
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
WEEK 6: HEALING (October 24)
Matthew 9
18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. 23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region. 27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" 28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. 29Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. 32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." 34But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons." 35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
WEEK 7: THE SERVANT (October 31)
Mark 10
41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
John 13
3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." 9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" 10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. 12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Philippians 2
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
WEEK 3: ISAIAH THE PROPHET (October 3)
Isaiah 1:17
“Learn to do right! Seek justice. Encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 42
1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. 3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice. 4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 58
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Luke 4
16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
WEEK 4: THE TORAH WAY OF LIFE (October 1710)
Deuteronomy 16
20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 24
17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. 19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
WEEK 5: TRUE RELIGION (October 17)
1 Timothy 5:4
“that they should learn to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”
James 1
27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 2
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
1 John 3
16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
WEEK 6: HEALING (October 24)
Matthew 9
18While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." 19Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. 20Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. 21She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." 22Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. 23When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, 24he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. 25After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26News of this spread through all that region. 27As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" 28When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. 29Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; 30and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows about this." 31But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region. 32While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." 34But the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons." 35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
WEEK 7: THE SERVANT (October 31)
Mark 10
41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
John 13
3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." 9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" 10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. 12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Philippians 2
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Posted at 12:40 PM
SEVEN
HISTORY
In December of 2005 a group of people who met through the Jesus Dojo began meeting for a retreat once a month to explore starting an intentional community dedicated to pursuing a common way of life inspired by the example and teachings of Jesus. For six months we casually experimented with various rhythms and practices and in May of 2006 twenty-two of us committed to a list of six general vows based on the teachings of Jesus: community, simplicity, service, creativity, obedience and prayer.
We wanted to take a step together toward fleshing out what these vows might mean for us-- essentially promising to explore the meaning of this commitment over the next year. Over time a core of people began work on fleshing out how we could be more concrete in our commitments to God and each another—and the following is a summary of what we have found to be the most helpful practices from our experiments over the past year, since the first Dojo segment began in October of 2005.
A NAME: SEVEN
For a while we were calling what we were doing “common life” and some of us have spent hours brainstorming different names and approaches to a name for the community of people who are exploring vows together. We looked over the six vows and realized that the intent of all of them is to LOVE—God and people. If we added love, that would make seven vows. There were seven days of creation and there are seven days in a week and we seek the way of Jesus seven days a week through the seven vows we make. (As an added curiosity, many of us live in or near a principle city that is 7 by 7 square miles.)
We decided that it might be better to use a name that requires some explanation, because a lot of our attempts at a name that fully explained things was cumbersome or had the wrong connotations. So we are proposing SEVEN as a name to describe the activities and gatherings of our community.
WAYS TO BE INVOLVED IN SEVEN:
There are a variety of ways to be apart of the SEVEN experiment:
FRIEND. A FRIEND of SEVEN is welcome at any of our weekly public gatherings (Sunday’s group meeting, Thursday’s hospitality meal, and other random happenings). FRIENDS are invited to explore any of the rhythms associated with our vows. FRIENDS can visit a Jesus Dojo cohort once as a guest, (provided the cohort is notified in advance). After an interview with an advocate, a FRIEND may choose to join the next Jesus Dojo cohort.
APPRENTICE. After going through one Jesus Dojo segment a FRIEND may wish to become an APPRENTICE to more fully explore the rhythms and commitments of SEVEN. An APPRENTICE makes a formal commitment to meet with an advocate once a month and is invited to participate in SEVEN retreats and prayer times. After participating in a Jesus Dojo cohort for at least six months APPRENTICES are invited to go through a discernment process with the current members of SEVEN to take VOWS.
MEMBER. A MEMBER of SEVEN makes a year-long commitment to live by our SEVEN VOWS, participates in the weekly rhythms of the SEVEN, and contributes financially. A MEMBER is committed to serving, offering hospitality and supporting the initiatives of ReIMAGINE as a center for spiritual formation. Together the MEMBERS of SEVEN are involved in making decisions about the functioning of SEVEN, help with discernment and create new initiatives.
ADVOCATES: SEVEN is led by a group of ADVOCATES: MEMBERS who fully embrace the values and mission of SEVEN, demonstrate competency in their life management and have adequate time and resources to contribute. ADVOCATES serve as MENTORS, take primary responsibility for various dimensions of our life together and represent SEVEN publicly. ADVOCATES meet weekly for planning and go on a quarterly retreat.
WEEKLY RHYTHMS:
SUNDAY: Seven Gathering 5-7 P.M. (including soup)
MONDAY: Men’s transparency group
TUESDAY: Advocates Meeting (1:30-4 P.M.) Jesus Dojo Cohort (6:30-9 PM)
WEDNESDAY:
THURSDAY: Hospitality night (with rotating open house)
FRIDAY: Morning prayer—2nd and 4th Fridays (6-8 A.M.)
SATURDAY: Recommended Day of Sabbath
ON VOWS/COMMITMENTS
A vow is a solemn promise made, before God and people, to take or refrain from a specific action. A vow expresses sentiment and intention, but also a commitment to a tangible action. (Paul of Tarsus, for instance once made a vow and did not cut his hair until his commitment was completed). Below are some examples of precedents for vows from the Judeo-Christian scriptures:
“Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me." (Psalm 50: 14-15)
“From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you [a] will I fulfill my vows.” (Psalm 22:25)
“For you have heard my vows, O God;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name… Then will I ever sing praise to your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.” (Psalm 61:5,8)
“Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5: 37)
Through common vows we make our intentions to follow the ways of Jesus concrete and tangible. When a group of people make promises together they are able to support and encourage one another in their resolutions. We see making common vows as an earnest attempt to obey Jesus in the details and direction of our daily lives. The vows are an improvisational experiment. At the end of one year we will ask ourselves, “Which of the practices we adopted together were helpful?” and “Which practices should we keep and which should we stop?” So by making temporary vows together we hope to learn, over time, what are most helpful to seeking to love God and people in the way of Jesus.
THE VOWS OF SEVEN
We seek to love the creator and creation
By following the way of Jesus
And helping others discover life in the way
We commit ourselves to pursuing a way of life that is fueled by the Spirit
and characterized by love. To do this we pursue these seven rhythms:
In December of 2005 a group of people who met through the Jesus Dojo began meeting for a retreat once a month to explore starting an intentional community dedicated to pursuing a common way of life inspired by the example and teachings of Jesus. For six months we casually experimented with various rhythms and practices and in May of 2006 twenty-two of us committed to a list of six general vows based on the teachings of Jesus: community, simplicity, service, creativity, obedience and prayer.
We wanted to take a step together toward fleshing out what these vows might mean for us-- essentially promising to explore the meaning of this commitment over the next year. Over time a core of people began work on fleshing out how we could be more concrete in our commitments to God and each another—and the following is a summary of what we have found to be the most helpful practices from our experiments over the past year, since the first Dojo segment began in October of 2005.
A NAME: SEVEN
For a while we were calling what we were doing “common life” and some of us have spent hours brainstorming different names and approaches to a name for the community of people who are exploring vows together. We looked over the six vows and realized that the intent of all of them is to LOVE—God and people. If we added love, that would make seven vows. There were seven days of creation and there are seven days in a week and we seek the way of Jesus seven days a week through the seven vows we make. (As an added curiosity, many of us live in or near a principle city that is 7 by 7 square miles.)
We decided that it might be better to use a name that requires some explanation, because a lot of our attempts at a name that fully explained things was cumbersome or had the wrong connotations. So we are proposing SEVEN as a name to describe the activities and gatherings of our community.
WAYS TO BE INVOLVED IN SEVEN:
There are a variety of ways to be apart of the SEVEN experiment:
FRIEND. A FRIEND of SEVEN is welcome at any of our weekly public gatherings (Sunday’s group meeting, Thursday’s hospitality meal, and other random happenings). FRIENDS are invited to explore any of the rhythms associated with our vows. FRIENDS can visit a Jesus Dojo cohort once as a guest, (provided the cohort is notified in advance). After an interview with an advocate, a FRIEND may choose to join the next Jesus Dojo cohort.
APPRENTICE. After going through one Jesus Dojo segment a FRIEND may wish to become an APPRENTICE to more fully explore the rhythms and commitments of SEVEN. An APPRENTICE makes a formal commitment to meet with an advocate once a month and is invited to participate in SEVEN retreats and prayer times. After participating in a Jesus Dojo cohort for at least six months APPRENTICES are invited to go through a discernment process with the current members of SEVEN to take VOWS.
MEMBER. A MEMBER of SEVEN makes a year-long commitment to live by our SEVEN VOWS, participates in the weekly rhythms of the SEVEN, and contributes financially. A MEMBER is committed to serving, offering hospitality and supporting the initiatives of ReIMAGINE as a center for spiritual formation. Together the MEMBERS of SEVEN are involved in making decisions about the functioning of SEVEN, help with discernment and create new initiatives.
ADVOCATES: SEVEN is led by a group of ADVOCATES: MEMBERS who fully embrace the values and mission of SEVEN, demonstrate competency in their life management and have adequate time and resources to contribute. ADVOCATES serve as MENTORS, take primary responsibility for various dimensions of our life together and represent SEVEN publicly. ADVOCATES meet weekly for planning and go on a quarterly retreat.
WEEKLY RHYTHMS:
SUNDAY: Seven Gathering 5-7 P.M. (including soup)
MONDAY: Men’s transparency group
TUESDAY: Advocates Meeting (1:30-4 P.M.) Jesus Dojo Cohort (6:30-9 PM)
WEDNESDAY:
THURSDAY: Hospitality night (with rotating open house)
FRIDAY: Morning prayer—2nd and 4th Fridays (6-8 A.M.)
SATURDAY: Recommended Day of Sabbath
ON VOWS/COMMITMENTS
A vow is a solemn promise made, before God and people, to take or refrain from a specific action. A vow expresses sentiment and intention, but also a commitment to a tangible action. (Paul of Tarsus, for instance once made a vow and did not cut his hair until his commitment was completed). Below are some examples of precedents for vows from the Judeo-Christian scriptures:
“Sacrifice thank offerings to God,
fulfill your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me." (Psalm 50: 14-15)
“From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you [a] will I fulfill my vows.” (Psalm 22:25)
“For you have heard my vows, O God;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name… Then will I ever sing praise to your name
and fulfill my vows day after day.” (Psalm 61:5,8)
“Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5: 37)
Through common vows we make our intentions to follow the ways of Jesus concrete and tangible. When a group of people make promises together they are able to support and encourage one another in their resolutions. We see making common vows as an earnest attempt to obey Jesus in the details and direction of our daily lives. The vows are an improvisational experiment. At the end of one year we will ask ourselves, “Which of the practices we adopted together were helpful?” and “Which practices should we keep and which should we stop?” So by making temporary vows together we hope to learn, over time, what are most helpful to seeking to love God and people in the way of Jesus.
THE VOWS OF SEVEN
We seek to love the creator and creation
By following the way of Jesus
And helping others discover life in the way
We commit ourselves to pursuing a way of life that is fueled by the Spirit
and characterized by love. To do this we pursue these seven rhythms:
Service Simplicity
Creativity Community Prayer Obedience Love
Service:
1. We account for and leverage our time to serve others through evaluating our commitments and developing a written schedule we share with one another that reflects our most important priorities.
2. We give priority in our schedules to seeking the presence of God with orphans and widows and people who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, lonely or in prison.
3. We seek to do work that provides income and fulfills our true vocation with dignity and in ways that promote equality, sustainability and justice.
Simplicity
1. We keep careful account of our personal finances and live budget that reflects sustainability and intentional conscientious priorities, and we share our income and expense budgets with one another in a yearly members meeting.
2. We give away 10% of our income; (5% to the common work of SEVEN and 5% to the charities of our choice).
3. We seek to live lives that are focused, content, sustainable, and generous. As a general principle we are mindful not accumulate possessions and, once a year, (on the day after thanksgiving) we collectively take an inventory of our belongings and evaluate what to keep, share, sell or give away.
Creativity
1. We cultivate divine imagination by reading the scriptures daily with our family or household.
2. We seek to find God in all of creation and our humanity through intentional and reflective interactions with nature and cultural artifacts.
3. We create cultural artifacts (recipes, poems, paintings, songs, stories, etc) and share them with each other once a month leaving a trail for others to discover and learn from. (The fourth Sunday evening of each month)
Prayer
1. We begin and end the day with 15 minutes of prayer.
2. We take an annual three-day silent retreat.
3. We participate in cooperative morning-prayer the second and fourth Fridays of every month.
Community
1. We are active in Jesus dojo cohort exercises.
2. We participate regularly in Sunday night SEVEN gatherings.
3. We practice hospitality on a weekly basis (Thursdays suggested) with neighbors, coworkers, travelers and strangers on a weekly basis.
Obedience
1. We keep our vows.
2. We meet with a trusted mentor at least once a month to talk about personal growth. (either someone within or another local person.)
3. We seek community discernment on major life decisions (ie. change of vocation, marriage, relocation, personal crisis, etc) through a listening meeting (scheduled for the 4th Sunday of the month).
Love
1. We seek to meet one another’s needs.
2. We seek to be reconciled one with another and with all people.
3. We seek unity, cooperation and goodwill with all groups and people locally and globally seeking God in the way of Jesus.
What is the relationship between ReIMAGINE, Seven and The Jesus Dojo?
Seven is a community dedicated to inhabiting and teaching the way of Jesus through common priorities, practices and an intention rhythms of life. Together we work as advocates for holistic and integrative Christian spirituality through the initiatives of ReIMAGINE.
ReIMAGINE! is a center for spiritual formation in San Francisco that sponsors community development projects, city-based learning experiences, and The Jesus Dojo, a year-long intensive formation process inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus. ReIMAGINE! also creates resources, and provides teaching and consulting to leaders and groups regionally and nationally. ReIMAGINE! is a non-profit organization governed by a local board of directors and funded through individual donors, churches, honorariums and program fees.
Posted at 12:36 PM
Tue - July 18, 2006
NEIGHBORHOOD BLOCK PARTY! THIS SATURDAY
Neighborhood Block
Party!
a conversation with a few of Yahweh’s kingdom-communities in our neighborhood . . .
we are neighbors
we are friends
we are fellow-travelers
we are neighborhood poets, prophets and practitioners
who have discovered life and laughter together along the way.
please join: ReImagine!|Church of the Sojourners|InnerCHANGE
for an afternoon of interaction and companionship around
· new-monastacism & schools of conversion
· life in a church community
· life in an order among the poor
· reimagining a way in the life of Jesus
our conversation will be structured around getting to know these three communities through the lens of a few personal narratives.
DETAILS:
WHEN?:
SATURDAY, July 22nd 1:00 – 2:30 (open forum for anyone interested)
WHERE?:
“The Well” – 2960 21st Street (between Folsom & Treat in the Mission) all the way upstairs. Please walk or take public transportation as parking is extremely limited.
MORE INFO:
Darren.prince@innerchange.org
Timlockie@churchofthesojourners.org
a conversation with a few of Yahweh’s kingdom-communities in our neighborhood . . .
we are neighbors
we are friends
we are fellow-travelers
we are neighborhood poets, prophets and practitioners
who have discovered life and laughter together along the way.
please join: ReImagine!|Church of the Sojourners|InnerCHANGE
for an afternoon of interaction and companionship around
· new-monastacism & schools of conversion
· life in a church community
· life in an order among the poor
· reimagining a way in the life of Jesus
our conversation will be structured around getting to know these three communities through the lens of a few personal narratives.
DETAILS:
WHEN?:
SATURDAY, July 22nd 1:00 – 2:30 (open forum for anyone interested)
WHERE?:
“The Well” – 2960 21st Street (between Folsom & Treat in the Mission) all the way upstairs. Please walk or take public transportation as parking is extremely limited.
MORE INFO:
Darren.prince@innerchange.org
Timlockie@churchofthesojourners.org
Posted at 05:25 PM
Mon - July 17, 2006
JESUS DOJO THIS WEDNESDAY
Hey everyone,
We had a great time last week picking up garbage and meeting neighbors around the mission, and we enjoyed 18 flavors of Ice cream from Adam's Birthday.
This Wednesday night we will be working on a community mural project along with a few friends who are visiting from Riverside. The students will begin working on the mural on Tuesday afternoon, and anyone who has time is welcome to come collaborate. Give me a call if you are interested in helping on Tuesday.
As you know, murals are an important part of the culture in the Mission and mural-making in the mission began with a desire to create beauty in the midst of blight. Hundreds of people a day walk by the murals we have on display at our house, and the tour guide from Precita Mural arts center told me that our mural is on her stop for daily tours.
What we have in mind is a photo-based mural incorporating stencils that we can also use to tag sidewalks around the neighborhood (don't worry its not illegal because we use water soluable spray paint).
So we will work on the mural from 7-8:30 and then do a scripture reading/and prayer.
Hope to see you Wednesday evening.
We had a great time last week picking up garbage and meeting neighbors around the mission, and we enjoyed 18 flavors of Ice cream from Adam's Birthday.
This Wednesday night we will be working on a community mural project along with a few friends who are visiting from Riverside. The students will begin working on the mural on Tuesday afternoon, and anyone who has time is welcome to come collaborate. Give me a call if you are interested in helping on Tuesday.
As you know, murals are an important part of the culture in the Mission and mural-making in the mission began with a desire to create beauty in the midst of blight. Hundreds of people a day walk by the murals we have on display at our house, and the tour guide from Precita Mural arts center told me that our mural is on her stop for daily tours.
What we have in mind is a photo-based mural incorporating stencils that we can also use to tag sidewalks around the neighborhood (don't worry its not illegal because we use water soluable spray paint).
So we will work on the mural from 7-8:30 and then do a scripture reading/and prayer.
Hope to see you Wednesday evening.
Posted at 12:17 PM
Wed - July 5, 2006
SENSITIVITY
Those of us who are sensitive, fear
strength. The relative safety of our society has allowed us to become soft to
the point that we call any slight inconvenience, altercation, act of discipline
or honor a great feat of courage. Paralyzed by timidity, we are afraid to
displease or offend, entertaining the fanciful notion that one can behave in a
way that satisfies everyone. We believe our sensitivity is a sign of altruism,
when, in fact, it may actually be self-worship. It might be that we are more
concerned with the feelings and opinions of others than the pursuit of truth,
beauty and goodness. Love is not soft or tentative, but resolute, powerful and
decisive.
Decisive people are at no less risk of being self-interested. Those of us with strong voices and opinions have learned to expect getting our way by subtle or not so subtle bullying and manipulation. Our confidence does not make us infallible, and we often squelch the quiet guidance of mercy. The strength of the decisive person is their lack of hesitancy, which is often accompanied by the weakness of non-reflection.
To all people, we are called to abandon, to surrender our sensitivity or decisiveness to imagine the new possibilities of humility before the Maker.
Decisive people are at no less risk of being self-interested. Those of us with strong voices and opinions have learned to expect getting our way by subtle or not so subtle bullying and manipulation. Our confidence does not make us infallible, and we often squelch the quiet guidance of mercy. The strength of the decisive person is their lack of hesitancy, which is often accompanied by the weakness of non-reflection.
To all people, we are called to abandon, to surrender our sensitivity or decisiveness to imagine the new possibilities of humility before the Maker.
Posted at 01:08 PM
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Published On: Nov 08, 2006 04:36 PM
Published On: Nov 08, 2006 04:36 PM