Here's to fabulous friends

Dear friends,
Thanks for reading along throughout the Lenten Season.  Some of you sent words of encouragement and stories from your own #withinonemile practice.  Some of you shared my reflections with others. Some even read the post on how things are going and groceries and came to my door with vegetarian meat options!  What a treat!

I've decided to keep up the practice.  In the next few weeks, I'll share my intentions for how to keep investing in my neighborhood.  I may have to make a few amends to the original rules- especially so that I can eat fake hamburgers and go to the coffee shop.  If you have suggestions for what/how to tweak the practice, please feel free to share.

Friends, high fives all around for the ways in which you choose to embody abundant community in your neck of the woods!

Lord, Why Did You Tell Me To Love?

Lord, Why Did You Tell Me To Love?

by Michel Quoist

Lord, why did you tell me to love all men, my brothers?

I have tried, but I come back to you, frightened....

Lord, I was so peaceful at home, I was so comfortably settled.

It was well-furnished, and I felt cozy.

I was alone, I was at peace,

Sheltered from the wind and the rain, kept clean.

I would have stayed unsullied in my ivory tower. 

But, Lord, you have discovered a breach in my defenses.

You have forced me to open my door.

Like a squall of rain in the face, the cry of men has awakened me;

Like a gale of wind a friendship has shaken me,

Stealing in like a shaft of light, your grace has disturbed me.

Rashly enough, I left my door ajar.  Now, Lord, I am lost!

Outside, men were lying in wait for me.

I did not know they were so near; in this house, in his street, in this office; my neighbor, my colleague, my friend.

As son as I started to pen the door I saw them, with outstretched hands, anxious eyes, longing hearts, like beggars on church steps.

The first came in, Lord.  There was, after all, a bit of space in my heart.

I welcomed them.  I would have cared for them and fondled them, my very own little lambs, my litle flock.  

You would have been pleased, Lord; I would have served and honored you in a proper, respectable way.

Until then, it was sensible...

But the next ones, Lord, the other men--I had not seen them; they were hidden behind the first ones.

There were more of them.  They were wretched; they overpowered me without warning. 

We had to crowd in, I had to find room for them.

Now they have come from all over in successive waves, pushing one another, jostling one another.

They have come from all over town, from all parts of the country, of the world; numberless, inexhaustible.

They don't come alone any longer but in groups, bound one to another.

They come bending under heavy loads; loads of injustice, of resentment and hate, of suffering and sin....

Lord, they hurt me!  they are in the way, they are all over.  

They are too hungry; they are consuming me!

I can't do anything any more; as they come in, they push he door, and the door opens wider...

Ah, Lord!  My door is wide open!

I can't stand it any more!  It's too much! It's no kind of a life!

What about my job?

My family?

My peace?

My liberty?

and me?

A, Lord!  I have lost everything; I don't belong to myself any longer;

There's no room for me at home.

*

Don't worry, God says, you have gained all

While men came in to you,

I, your Father,

I, your God,

Slipped in among them

The Wire Fence

The Wire Fence

by Michel Quoist

The wires are holding hands around the holes;

To avoid breaking the ring, they hold tight the neighboring wrist,

And it's thus that with holes they make a fence.

Lord, there are lots of holes in my life. 

There are some in the lives of my neighbors.

But if you wish, we shall hold hands,

We shall hold very tight,

And together we shall make a fine roll of fence to adorn Paradise.

Maundy Thursday Family Prayer Liturgy

Maundy Thursday

Family Prayer Liturgy

Please fill a bowl with water and collect a towel, candle, crayons, and matches.  Place the bowl and towel on the family table.  Gather around the table.  Pray the following words together, aloud.  An individual may read the plain text and the bold, in unison.  As you are praying with words, you may also pray with color.  Use the crayons to fill in the drawing below.  Pray that God will speak to you through all of the different elements: family, light, words, colors, and feelings.

Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus : and deliver us from fear.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not
so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Light the candle and sing:  Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen. Amen

Silence for meditation

Our Father…

“To wash the feet of a brother or sister in Christ, to allow someone to wash our feet, is a sign that together we want to follow Jesus, to take the downward path, to find Jesus’ presence in the poor and the weak.  Is it not a sign that we too want to live a heart-to-heart relationship with others, to meet them as a person and a friend, and to live in communion with them?  Is it not a sign that we yearn to be men and women of forgiveness, to be healed and cleansed and to heal and cleans others and thus to live more fully in communion with Jesus?”  ~  Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness and justice, for great is their reward.

Lord Jesus Christ, you knelt to wash from our feet the dirt out of which you made us.  Teach us to humbly serve one another so that the world may know we are your disciples.  Amen.

Take a moment to wash and dry each other’s hands.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me;  body of Christ, save me;  blood of Christ, inebriate me;  water from the side of Christ, wash me;  passion of Christ, strengthen me.  O good Jesus, hear me;  within your wounds hide me; suffer me not to be separated from you; from the malicious enemy, defend me;  in the hour of my death, call me,  and bid me come to you
that with your saints I may praise you forever and ever. Amen.

Through our lives and by our prayers : may your kingdom come!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

*adapted from www.commonprayer.net  

Dealing with other people's opinions of my neighborhood

A couple of weeks ago, I received this email message:

I hope you and the Family Tree are doing well. I wanted to invite you to a meeting on March 12th at 7pm at the Bette Rae Thomas Center. The meeting will be to gain feedback around research that stemmed from Enderly Park's Women's Safety Audit. Students at UNCC have taken the salient themes identified by residents during the Safety Audit and engaged in deeper research around these themes. The hope of this portion of the Safety Audit is that subcommittees of residents can be formed to work on these topics. Your input is valued and we hope you will consider attending. We appreciate the work that you do and hope to see you there.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me or call our CHARP office 

Intrigued, I went to the March 12th meeting.  What I witnessed at the meeting was both surprising and disappointing.  

Let's start with a little background.  According to the CHARP website, "The Charlotte Action Research Project (CHARP) forges partnerships between the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and marginalized communities in Charlotte. We take our starting point in recognizing a neighborhood's assets. We consistently and proactively seek  to integrate teaching, research, and action to work towards a larger agenda of social justice, enable neighborhoods to advocate for themselves, and create sustainable neighborhood coalitions to implement structural change."  

My first encounter with CHARP was last September when two young white male college students knocked on my door for a survey.  They asked me questions like, "Where do you feel unsafe in your neighborhood?  Do you feel like you can go out of your house at night?  Do you feel like there is enough street lights at night?"  I tried to steer the questions toward a more positive outlook of the neighbor.  I explained that we take care of each other in our neighborhood and tried to challenge the students to rethink their biased questions.

Fast forward to March: Four UNCC representatives greeted me at the door of the presentation room. They explained that the students had been doing research on the themes that had come from the safety audit results. Small groups of students were set up with table displays, presenting their research and action plans.  My role, along with other neighbors, was to hear the students' presentations and give feedback.  

The first presentation I witnessed was on the topic of water quality.  The presenting student asked me, "Is the water in this neighborhood dirty?"  I was so confused.  Perhaps, I thought, he was talking about the creek near the park.  I told him that sometimes there is litter in the creek bed.  Then, he asked about the quality of the water coming out of our pipes.  I explained to him that we receive the same city water as everyone else and that our water was clean and clear.  He acted surprised and didn't know what to say next.  Puzzled, I moved on politely to the next booth.

The next presentation was on crime.  The student explained to me that she had done research about the levels of crime in our neighborhood.  She studied the days that crime happened, looking to see if there was a particular day that more crime occurred.  She looked at the times of day to see if crime took place more often at a particular time.  She could not identify a trend.  So, she said, she tried to think through what causes so much crime in this neighborhood.  She explained that she and her partner decided that perhaps because our neighbors have so much idle time, that is why there is crime.  Her solution: create programs that occupy people's time so that they do not have so much idle time to devote to criminal activity.  She suggested that perhaps an organization should come in and host after school programs and sporting teams for our neighborhood.  I noticed that these activities were geared toward children.  I asked her if her research concluded that there was a lot of juvenile criminal activity.  She explained that she had also made some suggestions for adult programs and that no, children were not the ones participating in the most criminal activity.

Stunned, I decided to ask some more questions.  "I see here that you've suggested team sports and afterschool programs will reduce the level of crime in our neighborhood.  Have you been able to discover whether these programs already exist in our neighborhood and whether they are helping to reduce crime?"  She explained that she had not researched what programs already existed in our neighborhood and that in fact, this night was the first time she had ever stepped foot in our neighborhood.  I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  I gave her my card and told her about the programs that already exist and moved on to the next presentation.

There was a presentation on neighbor interaction with and perspective of the police force.  The presenters shared that we need to improve neighborhood opinion of the police.  Their suggested solution was for police officers to participate, in uniform, in community outreach events.  There was a presentation on housing improvements.  The students explained that they drove around the neighborhood and recorded all their observed problems with the houses.  They indicated things like: old roofs, broken fences, boarded up houses, trash piled on the street.  Their suggested solution was a neighborhood education program to teach folks about how to call 311 to ask for trash pick up.

I stepped outside to talk to the event coordinators.  Nervous, because I'm not a professional in their field, I hesitantly asked questions about the program- Had they considered teaching from an asset based model?  Had they connected with neighbors to become more informed and engaged?  The CHARP representatives assured me that they had coordinated this event with our neighborhood association members and that they taught a whole course on Asset based community development.

I walked away disturbed.  I know that they are still learning, but how can it be that our future's leaders are presenting such narrow minded and ill-informed research and solutions?  What positive results could come from such a project? 

A friend of ours suggested that I need to write a letter to the department chair of the University to share my concerns. I want to, but I’m nervous about what to say.  I know that what I experienced was not right or just, but I don’t know exactly how to explain this to someone else. The Abundant Community book gives some helpful thoughts for reflection:

Some simple principles can guide institutions toward community-friendly positions:

·          Understand that people’s gifts are more valuable than their deficiencies and needs.  Social services could approach residents as through helping them to manifest their skills, gifts, and capacities were one of the primary functions of each agency.

·         Understand that the economy and community each derive their power from maximizing opportunities for all the local residents to use their skills and contribute all their gifts.  Government funders and foundations could make their grants to local communities that include marginal residents as productive citizens in their proposals.

·         Ask the following questions in the following order:  1)  What functions can neighborhood people perform by themselves?  2)  What functions can neighbors achieve with some additional help from institutions?  3)  What functions must institutions perform on their own?

*     Ask yourself:  "What can systems and institutions do to help citizens recover the power of their families and neighborhoods?  What can systems do, other than trying harder and doing more of what they now do?"

A Birthday Party within one mile

In Recovery #withinonemile

For many of us, one way in which we have built a barrier to abundant community is by blocking creativity.  Somewhere along the way, we forgot that the Creator encourages creativity.  We started to think, or fear, that creative dreams are egotistical, something that God wouldn’t approve of.  We forgot that our God is the Creator, the Great Creative Energy of the Universe.  At the heart of creativity is an experience of Mystical Union with the Divine. 

Practicing creative recovery and discovery is a process by which we may regain a sense of Kingdom reality, abundant community.  It is also an empowering way to combat the myth of scarcity. 

Basic Principles of Creative Recovery

• Creativity is the natural order of life.
•  There is an underlying, in-dwelling, creative force infusing all of life—including ourselves.
•  When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the creator’s creativity within us and our lives.
•  We are, ourselves, creations.  And we, in turn are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.
•  Creativity is God’s gift to us.  Using our creativity is our gift back to God.
• The refusal to be creativity is self-will and is counter to our true nature.
• When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God.
• As we open our creative channel to the creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
•  It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.
• Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source.  As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.  [1]

In your devotional time this week, complete the following sentence:  

“If I didn’t have to do it perfectly, I would try….” 

Every day, write the sentence again.  And write a different ending to the sentence each time.  At the end of the week, compile your sentences.  

What has this practice taught you about yourself, about your creative recovery?

 “This is what I have to stay to you. You know all that you need to know. You already are all that you need to be. It remains only for you to recognize and acknowledge who you are, what you know, and the powerful presence that is awake within you. You think of yourself as fragile, but you are, in fact, strong. You sometimes feel alone, but you are, in truth, connected through Spirit to all beings. Believe in this connection. Believe in yourself. That is all you need to do, for all is well.”

~ by Danna Faulds

---

[1] The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Thoughts on Limiting our Consumption

As believers, we are called to a life of worship- to love God and love neighbor with our whole being.  We believe that the Kingdom of God is an abundant community.  Therefore, ours is also a work of resistance- opposition to the Empire, scarcity, consumerism, and corruption. Resistance requires friction.  Friction involves heat.  Practicing resistance is a fierce and fiery vocation.  It is not easy.

Society trains us to believe that satisfaction can be purchased.  We are taught to believe that our identity is attached to our capacity to purchase.  “Consumer society begins at the moment when what was once the province or function of the family and community migrates to the marketplace.  It begins with the decision to purchase what might have been homemade or neighborhood produced.  This is how citizens begin to yield their power to the lure of consumption.  To overstate it a bit, consumption is like an addictive drug, one cultivated not in foreign poppy fields but in brainstorming sessions on Madison Avenue.”[1]

The strength and longevity of our economic system is so great that often times, we find ourselves forsaking our calling to abundant community for one of consumer culture.  In order to break through our barriers to the abundant community, we must take seriously our life’s vocation of Divine worship and Resistance to evil. 

“For many of us, raised to believe that money is the real source of security, a dependence on God feels foolhardy, suicidal, even laughable.  When we consider the lilies of the fields, we think they are quaint, too out of it for the modern world.  We’re the ones who keep clothes on our backs.  We’re the ones who buy the groceries….We want a God that feels like a fat paycheck and a license to spend as we please.  Listening to the siren song of more, we are deaf to the still small voice waiting in our soul to whisper, ‘You’re enough.’”[2]

We are not the only ones being lured by the temptations of consumerism.  The Israelites kept being drawn back to the narrative of Totalism too.  In Exodus 16, they take 2 verses into the wilderness after crossing the Red Sea and then say “let’s go back.”  We tend to do the same thing.  The Church is partially to blame for our entrapment.  She generously repeats Pharoah’s predatory economy by complacence and conformity. 

What would it be like if the Church chose to:

·         Respect and enhance life on a small scale

·         Understand that people’s gifts are more valuable than their deficiencies and needs.

·         Recognize that the power of community grows out of ever-increasing cooperative local relationships and connections

·         Understand that a local place called neighborhood has unique, irreplaceable value.

·         Recognize that local resources are vital to the well-being of a community.

·         Understand that the economy and community each derive their power from maximizing opportunities for all the local residents to use their skills and contribute all their gifts.[3]

---

[1] The Abundant Community by John McKnight and Peter Block

[2] The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

[3] The Abundant Community

Lesley-Ann Hix's pictures from our walk

Last week, we walked a portion of our circle.  Here are Lesley-Ann's spectacular pictures!

The answer to "So how's it going?"

Several folks have asked me how the #withinonemile challenge is going.  Allow me to take a moment to interview myself on this topic.  And go...

What is the hardest thing about the #withinonemile challenge?
For me, there are two tricky things about this challenge.  The biggest challenge is entertainment.  There isn't a whole lot to do in my neighborhood.  There's also not a whole lot of pretty things to see.  There's no cute coffee shop.  There's no art gallery.  There's no hiking trail.  There's no creative space.  At least, I haven't found theses things yet.  So, entertainment thus far has consisted of DIY family fun or many trips to the playground.  The playground is fun for my boys, but it's not all that exciting for me.
The other hard part is that our grocery stores do not carry fake meat.  You see, I'm a vegetarian.  My go to quick eat is a fake hamburger or fake chicken.  I love to use fake meat in just about every entree I cook.  Since I haven't had the luxury of grabbing fake bacon or tofurkey lately, I've had to take extra time to prepare food that is healthy- either that or I grab something completely unhealthy.  Hello, potato chips!

What is the best thing about the #withinonemile challenge so far?
I run into people I know everywhere.  I went into the grocery store and saw a family that used to live down the street from me.  I went into the restaurant and got invited to join a neighborhood family at their table.  The waitress saw me twice during Lent and knew my drink order.  When I walked to the beauty supply shop and the thrift store, neighbors hollered out the front door to say hello.

What are you learning?
Tomorrow is my oldest Son's birthday.  I thought long and hard about what to do.  There's no toy store, no hardware store, no bakery, and no party supply store in our neighborhood.  I nearly justified an outside the radius purchase.  But then, it came to me.  We have supplies to make something! I ran over to the grocery and got the ingredients to make an ice cream cake.  (quick 30 minutes round trip).  My younger son helped to make the cake.  My neighbor is making a pinata.  My husband grabbed some scrap wood and we made a bike ramp.  Lesson learned:  we have what we need.

Today, I was scheduled to preach in a town 30 minutes from here.  When I got to the town, I realized that my gas tank was empty.  Thankfully, gas outside the mile is not on my list of Lenten restrictions. When I swiped my card, though, I noticed.  I took note of where I was, how I was spending my money, and my surroundings.  Limiting some things has made me more mindful of other purchases as well.  It has made more more thoughtful about what I spend and where I spend it.

Do you think you'll keep this going after Lent?
Maybe so.  I really enjoy being more deeply invested in my neighborhood.  I enjoy walking to places.  I enjoy passing and speaking to my neighbors.  I enjoy the challenge of restricting my purchases.  The lessons I have learned and the adventures I have experienced have far outweighed the challenges.  Honestly, though, if I do decide to keep some sort of restriction, I may stretch my radius to 1.5 miles.  That way, I can include the nearest coffee shop and taco joint.  I'll also be able to grab fake meat from the freezer section of the further grocery store.

Now, questions for you who are reading and/or practicing:
What are you learning?
What questions would you like me to answer?
Do you think you'll keep this practice after Lent?

so far so good, an overview

Pictures from 1/6 of the pie

Divide my one mile radius circle into 6 pieces.  Lesley-Ann and I started out walking on the north north-east part of the pie today.  Our mission was to take in our surroundings and to also take some pictures.  Lesley-Ann is a darn good photographer.  Here is one of her pics:

Here are a couple of mine:

The power lines run straight through our neighborhood.  When I see power lines, I am reminded that we are all connected.

After our walk, I met a church member at Gardenia, a blue plate special type restaurant within one mile of our house.  Gardenia is a good down home type place.  You can see in the picture below, that joining us in the restaurant was a lady in a leprechaun hat and a TV playing "Family Feud."  Notice all the take out food orders waiting for pick up.  

Placemaking

In August 2005, we planted ourselves in the Enderly Park neighborhood of Charlotte, NC.  We didn't know at the time that we were a part of a wider movement of faith called New Monasticism.

The "Twelve Marks" of new monasticism express the common thread of many new monastic communities.^[9] These "marks" are:

• Relocation to the "abandoned places of Empire" [at the margins of society]
• Sharing economic resources with fellow community members and the needy among us
• Hospitality to the stranger
• Lament for racial divisions within the church and our communities combined with the active pursuit of a just reconciliation
• Humble submission to Christ’s body, the Church
• Intentional formation in the way of Christ and the rule of the community along the lines of the old novitiate
• Nurturing common life among members of an intentional community
• Support for celibate singles alongside monogamous married couples and their children
• Geographical proximity to community members who share a common rule of life
• Care for the plot of God’s earth given to us along with support of our local economies
• Peacemaking in the midst of violence and conflict resolution within communities along the lines of Matthew 18
• Commitment to a disciplined contemplative life

[copied from the wikipedia page]

When we planted ourselves in Enderly park, we thought of ourselves as "relocating to the 'abandoned places of Empire.'"  These days, we talk about ourselves being rooted in the "Good Soil" of Enderly Park.  QC Family Tree's belief statements say, "We believe the people and places surrounding the Enderly Park neighborhood are the good soil in which we desire to be planted.  Because the soil where we are planted bears the wounds of racial oppression, we will always be working against the legacy of racism.  We look to our neighbors for wisdom, guidance, and mutual care.”    

As with any neighborhood, the good soil of Enderly Park is full of wonderful people and resources. As with any neighborhood, Enderly Park is a place that could stand to be improved.  Because the soil where we are planted bears the wounds of racial oppression and economic injustice, the work of healing requires a great deal of diligence and time.  The work of healing also requires our cooperation and engagement.

Several years ago, I stumbled across The Great Neighborhood Book: A do-it-yourself guide to placemaking created by the Project for Public Spaces.  Here's an excerpt from their article on Placemaking:

WHAT IF WE BUILT OUR COMMUNITIES AROUND PLACES?

Placemaking is a quiet movement that reimagines public spaces as the heart of every community, in every city. It’s a transformative approach that inspires people to create and improve their public places. Placemaking strengthens the connection between people and the places they share.

Placemaking is how we collectively shape our public realm to maximize shared value. Rooted in community-based participation, Placemaking involves the planning, design, management and programming of public spaces. More than just creating better urban design of public spaces, Placemaking facilitates creative patterns of activities and connections (cultural, economic, social, ecological) that define a place and support its ongoing evolution. Placemaking is how people are more collectively and intentionally shaping our world, and our future on this planet.

With the increasing awareness that our human environment is shaping us, Placemaking is how we shape humanity’s future. While environmentalism has challenged human impact on our planet, it is not the planet that is threatened but humanity’s ability to live viably here. Placemaking is building both the settlement patterns, and the communal capacity, for people to thrive with each other and our natural world. 

Over the years, we have worked alongside neighbors to build a sense of place on our little corner.  We have created a garden oasis of beauty- our little way of practicing resurrection.  We have created an environment of care for one another- family life.  We look out for each other and try our best to help one another when someone has a need.  We enjoy table fellowship together at Community Meals and other neighborhood events.  Indeed, this place is good soil and there is still more we can do.

Questions for consideration:

What are the ways in which you are working with others to create a strong sense of community in your neighborhood?

How does your life overlap with the lives of your neighbors?

Think about transportation in your neighborhood?  How can transportation create a sense of community?

Are there public spaces in your neighborhood?  How do they reflect your community?  How could they be transformed to create a deeper sense of community?  

In what ways could you refocus your daily routine to regain a sense of place?  

How can you encourage others to regain a sense of place? of community?

Antidotes to Scarcity

The lie of scarcity is perhaps one of the most toxic poisons I encounter on a daily basis.  I convince myself that I don't have what I need- I don't have support, I don't have the resources, I don't have the confidence, I don't have the know how.  This is not true.  For one, I am not an island.  I am not doing life by myself.  I have a community and a neighborhood to share this life with.  The neighborhood does have all we need.

I need a good reminder every once in a while so that I won't get stuck in the despair of scarcity. I have learned to carry with me some scarcity antidotes.  For today, these are my antitoxins:

Geese appear high over us,

pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here. 

Wendell Berry

--

Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now

David Whyte, Where Many Rivers Meet

--

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting- over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

Mary Oliver, Dream Work, Grove Atlantic Inc., 1986 & New and Selected Poems, Beacon Press, 1992.

Our life's call: A Liturgy of Departure

In November, Greg and I attended the Neighborhood Economics Conference where Walter Brueggemann and Peter Block were keynote speakers.  At the conference, Brueggemann described the way of faith to be a "liturgy of departure" from the economy of Pharoah.  As I walk through this journey of Lent, I am reminded my own desire to resist the consumer culture around me and to live into a way of departure from or resistance to the lies of scarcity and consumption.  

So that I might share with you what I learned at the conference and what I continue to learn now, here are some highlights from Walter Brueggemann's keynote address on the Liturgy of Departure  I'd like to invite you to read and reflect on the following question:  "What does this mean for me? My neighborhood?" 

Pharoah’s economy (and by the way, Herod’s way is just a re-performance of Pharoah’s economy) is an economy of “Totalism”.  Pharoah’s economy is, “Make bricks.  Make more bricks.  Make bricks without straw.  Make more bricks.  Do not take a break.  Keep working.  Keep producing.  Keep making bricks.  These bricks will benefit Pharoah and the building of Pharoah’s reign.”  Totalism is defined by scarcity, anxiety accumulation, monopoly, and violence.  Pharoah’s law for the predatory economy is “be more productive.”  Those who are not more productive do not get resources.  It is coercive productivity.

The narrative of Totalism always leads to violence toward people who do not submit.

Pharoah is so anxious about losing his status, belongings, and authority that he chooses to kill his own work force, Hebrew baby boys. 

The Bible is the narrative of departure from Pharoah's economy of Totalism.

Interruption to the narrative of Totalism #1- Fearing God:  Two midwives, we even know their names, Shiprah & Puah, in the face of Totalism, they choose another way.  They choose to birth babies even though Pharoah’s decry is death.  The midwives feared God.  They did not accept the narrative of Totalism.

Interruption to the narrative of Totalism #2-  Ferocious Confrontation against Totalism:  Moses angrily kills the Egyptian slave driver. 

Interruption to the narrative of Totalism #3- The people brought their suffering and pain to speech.  They grieved a life that was not right. 

Interuption to the narrative of Totalism #4- The emancipatory God of the Bible heard and responded.  God does not appear until chapter 3 but when God does, we learn that those who confront Totalism are allied to God.  God’s preferential option for the poor is evident.  Human agents who run the risk of thinking, asking, and trusting outside the narrative of Totalism are God’s chosen ones.

When God’s people left Egypt, they arrived at Sinai (10 commandments).  These were 10 rules for neighborliness.  “Do not make God into a usable object.  Do not make your neighbor into a commodity.”

The story of the Exodus from Pharoah’s Totalism economy - What does this mean for us?

·   Walter Brueggemann:  “Our society has a deep hatred for poor people because they do not produce enough bricks to justify their existence. 

·    The church is generously repeating Pharoah’s predatory reading and not highlighting the generous neighborhood texts. (ex. Deut)  Why have we kept the Deuteronomical vision of a generous neighborhood hidden in our society?

·   The work of the church in departing from the narrative of Totalism includes:

o    Bring pain to speech.  Help the local community grieve the arraignment of power that is not acceptable.  Pain brought to speech brings energy.  Not bringing pain to speech=violence.

o   Ask yourselves the question, How do I/we participate in the narrative of Totalism?

o   Explore the ways in which there is meaning and human possibility outside of the narrative of Totalism.

o   Even the best of us are children of the narrative of Totalism.  We carry along in our bodies the burden of this tug of war between the dominant narrative from which we were born and what we know is of God.

o   Blessing:   Encouragement,  Affirming the other, Acknowledging God’s work.  The power of blessing is outside the narrative of Totalism.

o   The vocation of our common life is the endless capacity to depart from the narrative of Totalism.

o   How do we speak about sustenance of life outside of the narrative of Pharoah?  If you use Pharoah’s language and structure to describe, you’ll be co-opted back into Totalism.  So, the Bible uses imaginative images to describe hope and possibility.  The words we use reinforce our structures.  What language do you use to reinforce a narrative of Departure from Totalism?

o   Create liturgies of departure into an alternative world.  This can take place in a number of ways: routine, worship, the ordering of life, the work of the people.

o   Ask yourself, “What are the ways of performing the narrative of departure that we haven’t thought of?”

o   What are the ways in which Totalism seduces us and keeps us from the narrative of Departure?

o   Your work is the negotiation between two societies- Totalism and Departure/Neighborllness.  One of these societies has been made plainly visible in the church and society and one has been kept hidden.Why have we kept the neighborly economy texts (Numbers, Deut, Lev.) hidden in the church and society?   Read Deuteronomy 23-24 to refresh your memory on some of the neighborliness texts.

                  o   Articulate with utter clarity what the vision of God is, the radical vision.  Then and only                       then we can/will do the hard work to get there.  Name the future and show where it                              exists in the present.