There was a lot going on in the meeting. We had an historical overview of the Israel/Palestine coexistence/conflict, instruction about illegal settlements, about the infamous separation barrier, about unequal access to resources, about house demolition,  about militarization.

We tried to keep it played out on a backdrop of hope, since the delegation met some of the most amazing people ever, in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories, who are keeping their hope and acting with peace in their hearts every day, with some remarkable results.

Hopefully, some people will comment who want to inform us about further resources and what MCC and others are doing to follow up on what we saw.

Art Bucher for the Prison Connections Team writing

Thanks to everyone who participated in Angel Tree Christmas gift-giving to children with a parent in prison this year.  Here’s how a few of the gift deliveries went:

When I first telephoned Le, she sounded suspicious. There was a language barrier and I could tell we weren’t quite getting through to each other.  I asked her to wait while I went across the street to my Vietnamese neighbor, who agreed to hold the phone and translate. He explained about the Angel Tree gifts to her in Vietnamese, and reassured her.  She finally said “OK,” and told us what her three kids really needed.  We didn’t say much to each other when the gifts were delivered last week, but she did say, “Thank you” and “Merry Christmas!”

Another story:  When Karen’s door opened to my friend Joe Ryan and me last Friday, she looked very surprised. When we showed her the gifts and told her they were for her two small children from their dad, she immediately clasped her hands over her face and burst into tears.  She kept saying “Thank you,” and then told us “I had surgery today.”  The children, a girl and a boy, smiled and said, “They’re from daddy!”

At another home, a teenage girl heard us at the door talking to her mom and saw us handing over the gifts.  Smiling and her eyes tearing, she rushed to the door and blurted out, “These are from my dad? How did he do that?!”  She also looked surprised, perhaps not expecting anything at all from her father this year.  I gave her a brief explanation; she still looked a little confused, but she said, “Thank you.”

Lastly:  I got a phone call last week from a woman in South Philly who had somehow missed getting on the Angel Tree list this year for her twins.  She had my number from a previous year and asked us for help.  I was able to tell her right there that Circle of Hope had people who wanted to do this for her and her twins.  She held my hands when I came to the door later in the week and she said, “They [the twins] are gonna be so excited.  Thank you.”

I wanted to pass on these thank yous to all of you.  These families were genuinely touched by our offering to show a little love this Christmas despite the very difficult and real barrier of prison walls. Together we were able to help a parent show their care for their children, and show our care as a church for the caregivers of these children.  All of this helps God to show his love for everyone.

Forty-five children in our region received Christmas presents that their incarcerated parents asked us to purchase and wrap on their behalf. Thanks again to all of you who purchased and wrapped gifts, and thanks if what you did was to give to the common fund this year which partially goes to make compassionate things like this happen.  I hope you also had a touch of joy this Christmas.

Art Bucher for the Prison Connections Team

The total US consumer debt as of a year ago was $2.42 trillion. A trillion has 12 zeroes – it’s a million million. Two years ago, the penalty fees from credit cards reached an all time high at $20.5 billion. As if the weight of consumer debt wasn’t bad enough, we’ve paid over $20.5 billion just to keep it!

For several years, some people at Circle of Hope were throwing around the idea of doing something about all this debt, locally and actually, with real people, real sharing, and real hope. I’m proud to say that the Debt Annihilation Team (DAT) is nearing its one-year anniversary of annihilating debt and accessing abundance in Christ.

The purpose of the DAT is to offer practical solutions to the slavery of consumer debt by building community trust, sharing, and providing capital, in order to annihilate consumer debt in our community. Our inspiration is Romans 3:18: “Do not owe anything to anyone besides love.”

The DAT consists of Group Members (with consumer debt), Personal Finance Coaches, Group Administrators, and the Team Leader. After an intake process, we chose 5 people from all of our four congregations with similar levels of debt to be part of the first Debt Annihilation Group for a period of time, using the seed money and an agreed upon strategy to pay off one another’s debt. Here’s what you should know:

November 1, 2010:

5 of our friends

9 lines of credit

$22,744.76 total in consumer debt

September 30, 2011:

5 of our friends

$7,99.94 seed fund from the Compassion Fund and our network-wide “Test” in early 2010

5 lines of credit

$8,223 worth of payments made by group members to their own cards and each other’s

October statements will total only about $9,000 in debt

That means we’ve annihilated $13,744 in 11 months!

After all of the debt is paid off, the group members will be freed up to practice generosity and trust while giving back to the Seed Fund, in order to launch another group of Debt Annihilators.

Although this is inspiring, counter-cultural work, it hasn’t always been easy. Here are a few things we’ve learned along the way:

• “What you dream alone remains a dream, what you dream with others can become a reality.” (Edward Schillebeeckx)
• Money and debt always get to core identity issues, and God’s Spirit can be part of that discussion.
• We will face resistance in this process, but when we push deep enough, there’s always a lesson, and grace for a new behavior pattern.
• Shame with debt is often connected with expectations or dreams that have not been realized.

Lastly, I’ve learned that “annihilate” is hard to spell. It was never part of my vocabulary before, and now I write it on a weekly basis. The only way I’ve been able to get it right is by saying, each time, “ANNI, HI you’re LATE.” I look forward to the day when I don’t have to scold Anni anymore.  Until then, let’s keep annihilating debt!

The first of many gatherings happened the other night at the NEW Marlton & Crescent meeting space (we don’t own it yet, but we’re working already).  It’s said that “many hands make light work,” and we found this to be true as 2 full cells and another 4 or 5 people beside gathered for pizza, cookies, soda, and our Ceiling Tile Party!

The goal was to replace the many brown, worn out, and damaged ceiling tiles in our new space (in order to ease the initial inspection).  As we worked cutting and replacing tiles, we chatted about what is to come, about how we envisioned the space changing, and how that change would help change us.  With something as simple as tiles, we started the transformation from old firehouse to new Circle of Hope location.  Our action moved the space from ideas in our minds and thoughts on a page to something real and tangible; a space that will help connect the next person to the work of Jesus in South Jersey.

Christ’s Economics
Redistribution celebration
Seeing God’s kingdom here on earth

…these are just some of the phrases that come to mind when I think about describing the Baby (and Kids) Goods EXchange that was hosted for the first time by the 19G congregation (the newest church plant of Circle of Hope that meets at 19th St and Girard Ave).

God had provided a free empty storefront through a connection that our pastor, Jonny Rashid, had in Brewerytown. The storefront used to be a toy store, which I felt was very fitting. I could feel the excitement and energy in the place. About 60+ families attended the exchange. The 19G volunteers were joyful in serving and meeting people from the neighborhood and from around Philadelphia. There were people of many different backgrounds, religions, and races;  women, men, and children, young and old were all having a great time. People trickled in, bringing what they didn’t need anymore and taking goods that were desired.

At one point, there was a wane in the flow of people coming to the exchange. I felt like I had to “go out quickly to the streets” of Brewerytown, like mentioned in the parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14:21 and bring in people of all types and share with them, that there was a special free event going on just for that day. 

A lot of people came in and were able to take what they needed. So, another person was sent out to go and invite some more people from the streets of Girard Avenue to come and it filled the place up, again! We were so please that at the end of the event, in that final sweep, that most of the items had been taken. We knew needs had been met.

There are so many wonderful stories that I haven’t mentioned. So, please feel free to share your experience if you were there!

It was a profound evening! You really had to be there. If you missed it this time around, keep your eyes out for the next one, hopefully, coming late May 2012…

So, what were your favorite memories from this year’s festival?!

Check out Shalom House’s upcoming Monthly Peace Talks on Monday June 27th at 401 S. 51st at 7:30pm, where they will be reporting on their experience walking the Migrant Trail!

Hicks Street Garden is making a tile mosaic mural! The mural deign by local artist Kayti Didriksen features a  4 seasons urban garden theme.

Tiles and materials were donated by many people from Circle of Hope’s community and from neighbors and friends of the garden.  Local tile shop owners Jay and Tiffany  Ferraro trained volunteers to place the tiles on the South-facing wall of the garden.  Garden organizer and Circle of Hope covenant member Mary Ward-Bucher expects the mural to be finished this year.  If you’d like to participate in the creation of this mural, the next instructional Tile Mosaic Workshop is Saturday, May 14, 9am-noon, and free open tile mosaic nights are Tuesday evenings in May (beginning May 3), 5pm-dark. For more details, contact Mary Ward-Bucher by email at : marywb@temple.edu.  The Hicks Street Garden in South Philadelphia is an affiliate garden of Circle of Hope’s Urban Farm Network.