BLESSED ARE THE POOR OR POOR IN SPIRIT

Jesus you dare us to imagine.
You invite us to imagine a world in which it is not status or riches that we place our trust in,
A world that doesn't play favourites.
And you challenge us Lord,
You plead that we'd endeavor to see the distance between ourselves and the poor become less and less.
With our hearts exposed by the company we keep and the things we pour our best energy into, you challenge us to a richer way.
You ask us to become poor 'in spirit'.
So may our comfortable existence be tampered with,
Our safe distance trampled on.
Lord grab us by the hand and take us wherever you're going,
To whomever you want us to meet,
Because following you is where we gain real treasure in this world.
And you want to show us where to find life, life to the full.
It might just be in the last place we'd expect to find it.
Teach us humility Lord. Help us to love more.
Amen.

Blessed Are They

On a hillside outside the town, this new Teacher from Nazareth has drawn quite a crowd. He doesn't look much, but he speaks authoritatively, in simple but poetic cadences that make his words easy to remember. But it's not his delivery that silences the crowd. It's his crazy, illogical, counter-intuitive, hope-filled message.

"I'll tell you who's fortunate," he says. "The really lucky ones are not the rich, the conquerors, the religious elites, the people with power and land and everything going for them. It's you - you who are poor and sad and at the bottom of the heap. You, who realy want to do what God requires, who care about others and stand up for what's right. You're the ones who make God smile."
Lyn Jackson

Come join us as we journey through the 'Be-Attitudes' each Sunday, 11am-12.30pm, over the next 8 weeks starting on the 31st of May. If you are interested in coming along, we would love to hear from you: Contact Jesse - mrjessesize@hotmail.com. The 8 weeks look like they will culminate in a contemplative-mountainous-beatitudes-picnic-bushwalk... tentative details:
Sunday 26 July, 11am @ Morialta Conservation Park
What better way to journey through the be-attitudes than in open space on a mountain trek (in the mode that Jesus delivered the original 'sermon on the mount'!)

Bless.

House Update

Dear friends and supporters of the White House,

It’s been a while! We’ve been busy. A brief update:

· Our forty days in the wilderness are up, how quickly time slips by. We’ve allowed this to be a time of finding our feet, a time of discernment, a time to be shaped. There have been some things to let go of, things to hold on to. We emerge focused on Jesus’ risky, engaged, passionate and personal way of being human.

· We have our first young person moving in this Friday which is great, almost a relief. You feel a little uncomfortable talking about what you’re doing when what you’re currently doing doesn’t involve any young people! Please pray that she’d settle in nicely and feel really at home.

· Sunday gatherings have been great. We had a commissioning service of sorts last Sunday which was really encouraging, we had lots of folk praying for us individually and corporately giving us a strong sense that we’re entering into a new chapter together as a house. We’re working through the beatitudes over the next eight weeks, can’t wait. Feel free to come along any Sunday, 11am at the house.

· We have our fundraiser this Thursday night at the Capri Theatre (141 Goodwood Rd). Come along and watch "The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas" at 6:30pm, $15 at the door. Come join us back at the house after (9pm-ish) to have a tour and hear a bit more about what we’re doing if you like (83 Quinlan Ave, Pasadena).

· We have a new house mate also moving in on Friday, keep Colleen in your prayers also, she’s a real answer to prayer and we’re really excited to have her be a part of things. It's been amazing seeing relationships develop in the house, everyone is so caring, i really love living with everyone in the house, they're great people.

In terms of practical needs, couches, fridges/freezers/frozen meals are our best friends, but prayer is even better. God has been incredibly faithful in answering all our prayers, it’s hard to get our heads around to be honest, but more importantly it shapes our hearts each and every time giving us a wonderful sense of gratitude and purpose. Please keep us in your prayers, especially as we begin the next chapter with young people in our midst!

Thanks for all your beautiful support,

God bless.

Jesse

COMMUNITY MEANS RESPECT FOR THE UNITY AND DIVERSITY OF PEOPLE IN A GROUP

Often with great curiosity people ask me what it is that holds the group together. They want to know what it is that will enable us to stick together and care for young people in the house over the long haul. Sometimes people will ask straight out if this is a ‘Christian thing' – and who knows exactly what people mean when they say something like that - but I hope on some level it’s a broader recognition that followers of Jesus are to seek meaningful connections with those who are disadvantaged in society. What holds us together is a shared hope in the dream that God has for this world, a hope that leaves us restless about the notion of sitting back and doing nothing at all. And for us to be able to do anything at all we need to come together. Partly we are bound together through the recognition that we need each other, that we are incomplete in and of ourselves and only truly reflect the image of God when we are in relationship with others.

As we share life together we recognise the importance of:

• Having a common goal/ethos – as a group we’re guided by a common purpose and identity that shapes the way we operate and ensures that we don’t drift too far from what we know to be good and true. We seek to follow Jesus at all costs and lay down our counter-agendas.
• The willingness to co-exist – commitment is crucial, when withdrawing from community remains an ever present option we adopt a real willingness to hang in there when things get rough.
• Diversity in Unity – while we place a high importance on protecting the unity of the group, within that unity must be a genuine freedom to be different.
• Equality – despite our differences - our gifts, experiences, resources and so on - we're all in the same boat, eat at the same table. This critiques our efforts to establish hierarchy or pecking order.

Pray that we'd hold tight to what we know we are called to, that we'd have the courage to hang in there with each other at all times, that we would value the unity that we have as a community without alienating individuals in the process.

Wilderness Time (Luke 4:1-13)

In a world that puts forward an array of lifeless promises,
A world that values might and power,
And seems to be satisfied with cheap thrills,
You offer another way.
A way that makes sense of who we are as human beings,
Even if everything we hear in society seems to suggest otherwise.
But you show us the way.
You are the way.
Deliver us from the temptation to build a life around things,
Things that take more than they give,
Free us from lives dedicated to futile offerings that have no lasting significance.
Deliver us from the temptation to offer concern without compassion,
Welfare without care,
Aid divorced from love, trust, relationship, sacrifice.
Jesus, deliver us from the temptation to reduce our life of faith to another form of escapism,
A mere reprieve from the ordinary.
May we part company with popularity, prestige and party tricks.
Yours is a way of sacrificial love,
A risky, engaged, passionate and personal way of being human.
Your way is life.
You are life.
Amen.

COMMUNITY MEANS HAVING A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WELFARE OF EACH PERSON IN THE GROUP

“Those who love community destroy community, those who love people build community” (Bonhoeffer)

From the beginning we recognised that for all the ways things could blow up in our collective faces, if we managed to draw nearer to God in our walk with him then it would all be worth it. It was apparent to us that the group exists to help people grow as people. For all the grand visions we have it is people that matter. If people are becoming burnt-out, over-burdened casualties of some greater mission then we have missed the point. So part of what community means to us is that individuals are cared for, looked out for, and that we have a sense of responsibility for each other. We think of the story of the lost sheep in Luke 15 where Jesus hints at God's concern for the individual even at the expense of the broader community. People matter. Some of the things we seek to make central to our life in the house are:

• Grace - Freedom to disappoint, to let down, to follow God at all costs
• Connectedness – seeking and creating genuine relationships. Only when people are actually remembered,acknowledged and recognised as people do they feel part of a group.
• Authenticity – having openness, honesty, grace, providing a place where people can be heard
• Blessing – encouraging and lifting each other up, letting our words be gift
• Rest and play - enjoying each others company and ensuring that the community does not become all-consuming, exhausting or wearisome

Pray that we'd love like our lives depended upon it, that no-one would be slipping through the gaps, that there would be a sense of vulnerability with one another and that we would help each to draw nearer to the love of God, that we would sing, laugh, dance, delight.

God's Kingdom is Here (Mark 1:14-20)

Jesus you come with a radical kingdom invitation, a radical welcome.
You don't restrict your invitation to those who have ticked all the right boxes, those who are worthy, the elite - not by the world's standards anyhow.
You redefine and rename. You transform. You add new meaning and life.
You call those with ears to hear, eyes to see, those hungry for a new way of being human.
Those restless and longing for change delight in your kingdom call, people disenfranchised with lives dictated by greed, comfort, security, fear, alienation and so on...
You search for actors willing to audition for parts in the kingdom - God's drama being staged here and now.
A way of righteousness and justice,
A way of peace,
A way of joy.
Lord may we be those who drop our nets immediately - our agendas, our fears, our excuses - and instead pick up your agenda as we follow you wherever you lead us.
May we delight and long for your kingdom.
Give us kingdom eyes and kingdom hopes.
May we in some sense be your kingdom, together offering both a challenge and invitation to all that you love deeply, to all who hear your call.
In Jesus' name, amen.