COMMUNITY MEANS CREATING A SAFE SPACE

Something we've been doing a lot together over the last four months or so is exploring what community means to us, the type of community we sense God is calling us into. And though this is something that we will no doubt have a far greater appreciation of over time, here's the start of some reflections that we feel are central to who we are and what we're about.

COMMUNITY AS A SAFE PLACE

• A place where hostility is confronted and turned into hospitality
• Creating a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy
• Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adopt the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find their own - offering space where change can take place
• The cost of our friendship is not people’s souls

We suspect that we'll know we're on the right track when there is a real sense of acceptance and forgiveness – freedom to be, freedom to make mistakes, recognition that we are weak at times and incomplete in and of ourselves.

The key we feel is respect, eyes that recognise the image of God in all people. Pray that we'd see ourselves and others through the eyes of God (like in the Rabbi's Gift).

THE RABBI'S GIFT

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of antimonastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage. Through their many years of prayer and contemplation the old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods again " they would whisper to each other. As he agonized over the imminent death of his order, it occurred to the abbot at one such time to visit the hermitage and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice that might save the monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot at his hut. But when the abbot explained the purpose of his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate with him. "I know how it is," he exclaimed. "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and quietly spoke of deep things. The time came when the abbot had to leave. They embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful thing that we should meet after all these years, "the abbot said, "but I have still failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me, no piece of advice you can give me that would help me save my dying order?"

"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you."

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?" "He couldn't help," the abbot answered. "We just wept and read the Torah together. The only thing he did say, just as I was leaving --it was something cryptic-- was that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant."

In the days and weeks and months that followed, the old monks pondered this and wondered whether there was any possible significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks here at the monastery? If that's the case, which one? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for somehow always being there when you need him. He just magically appears by your side. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And on the off off chance that each monk himself might be the Messiah, they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

Because the forest in which it was situated was beautiful, it so happened that people still occasionally came to visit the monastery to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even now and then to go into the dilapidated chapel to meditate. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery more frequently to picnic, to play, to pray. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then it happened that some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another. And another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.
You can find this story in M. Scott Peck's book The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

SUGGESTIONS FOR SIMPLE LIVING

The following is from Scott Bessenecker's book The New Friars, it's good stuff.


Simplicity is voluntary, free, uncluttered, natural, creative, authentic, focused, margined, diligent, and healthful.

Simplicity is not easy, legalistic, proud, impoverished, ascetic, neurotic, ignorant, escapist.

RELATIONSHIP
Cultivate a closeness with God
Practice regular hospitality
Help each other, emphasise service
Always speak the truth. Develop a habit of plain, honest speech. If you consent to a task, do it. Avoid flattery and half-truths. Make honesty and integrity the distinguishing characteristics of your speech.
Don’t judge.
Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.
Consciously seek to identify with the poor and forgotten - visit hospitals, prisons, nursing homes.
Schedule “simple” dates with your spouse.
Teach your children.

ACTIVITIES
Make your commitments simple.
Don’t overwork.
Fast periodically from media, food, people.
Elevate reading, go to the library.
Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you. Cut down on the use of addictive, non-nutritional food and drinks such as alcohol, coffee, tea, soft drink, sugar, chocolate.
Simplify Christmas and other holidays. Develop the habit of homemade celebrations.

PACE AND ATMOSPHERE
Slow down.
Do not exhaust your emotional bank account.
Give yourself permission to be uncreative, barren, inactive.
Say no.
Restrict/eliminate television watching. Turn off or mute advertisements.
Learn to enjoy solitude.

POSSESSIONS AND FINANCES
Cultivate contentment, desire less.
Resist covetousness and consumerism.
Buy things for their usefulness, not their status.
Learn to enjoy things without owning them. Benefit from places of “common ownership” (parks, museums, libraries, rivers, public beaches).
De-accumulate. Develop the habit of giving things away.
Offer others the use of your possessions.
Develop a network of exchange.
Avoid impulse buying.
Don’t buy now, pay later.
Avoid credit cards if they are a problem.
De-emphasise respectability.
Simplify your wardrobe – give away excess.
Learn how to make do with a lower income instead of needing a higher one.

APPRECIATION
Be grateful for things large and small.
Emphasise a joyful life.
Appreciate creation.
Send cards of encouragement and appreciation when others are not expecting it.

SPIRITUAL LIFE
Make the Word central.
Meditate and memorise Scripture.
Pray.
Encourage simple worship.
Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God.

Cleaning House

We are in the White House, well okay, right now I'm not at all, I'm at my old house because they have the internet and we haven't quite made it that far at the White House, but that aside after weeks of negotiating and planning we have the keys, most of our rooms have been unpacked, we've had our first house meetings and meals and junior sporting trophies have been placed in far too prominent areas. We're just finding our feet at this stage, actually people have hardly been home. Just quietly it's a little scary when you're there all by yourself. It's been fun though. I like coming home and reading the notes that have been left behind for each other on the kitchen counter.

Already there's a great sense of community, community pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, community that's been shaped by a call to trust God and each other as we ask God to help us to love one another as if our lives depended on it. We hear the call to travel with a deep consciousness of God as he shifts things in us and guides us with his love. And while we're sure that God cares deeply about the house, there's a sense in which God is asking each one of us to clean house, our house, our lives - life that begins now, not when we're done and dusted.

And what is community if it doesn't reach beyond itself? Initially, at least, we will take some time settling before we take some young people in (though there are several waiting and ready). We feel that it is important to develop some rhythms and practices that will guide the house and to continue to form community. It seems right to do some time in the wilderness together before we embark on the next chapter.

We are going to meet on Sunday's from 11-12 to read some scripture and pray followed by lunch at the house, if you'd like to be involved you're more than welcome, drop any of us a line and we'll make sure there's some food for you too!

Also, if you feel strongly, like a flame shut up in your bones to be a part of something like this then let us know, maybe you should be in the house with us, so think, pray, act, but don't let the thinking get in your way too much.

Bless you all,
Jesse on behalf of Obama and the White House

Update

The lease is coming - that's what we're hearing every day! And while we're all itching to get into the house and some times feel a little impatient, we can rest in the pretty amazing fact that the lease will come and we have scrapped together enough for the bond! Once again it's been the generosity and support of people that keeps getting us over the line, whether it be donations, words of encouragement or prayer. We've always known that we need to go beyond our own resources to make this work - sometimes this is something to be celebrated, a real tangible experience of the kingdom in our midst. At some points, however, if we are really honest, it has felt like a burden. It's funny that we would think light that - burdened by not being able to do something in our own strength, particularly when God is so faithful - but I guess that's human nature. The bottom-line though is that whether we celebrate God's faithfulness or rue our own limitations it doesn't change the reality, only our experience. The reality is that God is faithful and Jesus is Lord. So thanks to all of you who have supported us, we're becoming less and less surprised (but ever grateful) by how caring people are. Keep us in your prayers as we enter the house by Easter, pray that we will continue to make space for each other and others who will be a part of the house at a later point.
Peace, courage from Jesse on behalf of the house xo

Love is for the blind

Sometimes, when we look out before us, we see so little
We scan the horizon searching for something, anything, some kind of sign of life
But in the mist and the fog all you can do is see one step in front of you
Sometimes you are forced to step out into the unknown
The reason you are there though is because some things, terribly important things, are known.
With each step you take, your foot sinks into God-terrain, God-country - you can't flee from his kingdom company
If we only stopped to be silent we might hear the divine breathes.
Even as we take each step we are beckoned to remember that we have been gifted with a God-given energy for a God-given task
An involuntary valve allows the courage-building presence of God into our fearful hearts, pumping his life-giving blood into every sphere, carrying all that we need ever so faithfully time and time again.
Faith tells us that we'll be okay in the fog and mist.
Hope tells us that we'll find our way through the fog and mist, eventually.
But love is really important, love is what must guide each step.
Love never eliminates mystery, love can mean a million things.
But love will pave the way.
When we're so lost that we can hardly put one foot in front of the other
When we have no idea where we are,
Or where we're going,
Love will pave the way.
It might be all we have, and all we know
But that's great, because it might just be all we need
And love never fails.
So come fog, mist, rain or snow, love will lead us home.