Author Archive for Joshua

the new kid and considering the other

Published
by
Joshua
on September 3, 2008
in Community, Dialogue, Family and Planning
. 0 Comments

I forget what it’s like to be the new kid.  I live in a neighborhood where I am pretty familiar, in a community where I practically grew up (got connected to Circle of Hope 11yrs ago this month!), I have a family, I have an office, and have a general sense of living in my own skin.

Today I began taking two classes at Temple, and I have a new yet strangely familiar sense of being the new kid.  Other students are rushing around anonymously.  Most people in my class seem to understand how to go and buy the book we need or ready a syllabus or the etiquette for finding a seat in class.  I don’t, really.  I forgot.  It’s been 10yrs since I was in college, and everything seems a little different. One of my profs (yeah, I call them “profs” now) said something to the class this morning about “eh, you all are upper classmen and know how this stuff works…”.  Not really.

I’m grateful for how much effort we as a church put into considering the “other”.  At the Public Meetings we try to speak in ways that the next person coming off the street can understand and connect with.  We acknowledge that people even at this meeting might be from a different background than us-class, ethnicity, age, and even faith journey.  The “empty chair” at our cell meetings that we keep is to make room for the next person.  We worship in styles and languages not necessarily familliar to all of us…it keeps us considering the other.   We want all to be welcome without implying “you’re welcome if your just like me.”

Thanks for thinking about the other and considering those who may feel like the new kid around Circle of Hope right now.

the church is not a building, or several buildings

Published
by
Joshua
on August 10, 2008
in Action, Circle Venture, Community, Creative Arts, Dialogue, Friends Projects, Partnerships and Planning
. 2 Comments

It’s funny sometimes to me when a church known for our paradigm adjustments talks a lot about buildings-and rehabs a lot of buildings.  By paradigm, I mean we understand that the church is people and we are the church.  Our buildings are practical, and they are used for much beyond just our Public Meetings or offices.   Over the past few years, we’ve done major rehabs for 3 meeting sites, Circle Counseling, Shalom House, a basement for CT on Broad, and the mezzanine for offices and kids.  Whew.  As much as that is, we have several more on the near horizon.

 

(photo of 2233 Frankford, future home of Circle Thrift by Carina Romano)

This season is filled with many opportunities for us to rehab some buildings.  We even happen to own two of them.  There is a lot of opportunity to serve, to hang together, share money, and to build in some more capacity for God to work in our neighborhoods.  Still, the church is not a building-or even several buildings.  Like we talked about at our recent Love Feast, we are part of that dwelling that God has been building for 1,000’s of years with all kinds of peoples with Jesus as the cornerstone.

So go ahead and keep being built into the place where God lives, where God can be seen and known.  It also seems good to keep practicing resurrection in our neighborhoods by making good use out of castaway structures. 

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be focusing on 2233 Frankford Ave-Circle Thrift’s new home less than 2 blocks from her current spot.  Hopefully, on Labor Day we’ll have our human chain to move the CT inventory up a block.  Then we’ll be getting the new setup of 2007 Frankford for the next rendition including meeting/venue space on the first floor, expanding childcare capacity, a music/arts school run by psalters, and some sort of retail storefront.  We may even need to get a spot ready for our next congregation to launch in October/November in Camden!  We need a lot of prayer, a lot of togetherness, a lot of help, a lot of money, and a lot of love. 

So even as we are the church-God’s presence in the world in people-we can make some practical steps so God’s love can be felt and known by not only having more surface area…but how we renovate.   Go get ‘em! 

 

punk rock happiness

Published
by
Joshua
on June 26, 2008
in Dialogue, Family and Friends Projects
. 2 Comments

Andrea and Kelly are really inspiring to me. I prefer in person, but also through the award-winning blog Punk Rock Mommy. These two friends have a special parking space in my heart. I love that hanging with them, I always know that they are going to listen as much as they are able. They are definitely going to shoot me straight with what they think, even if I don’t want to hear it. The special thing is, I can hear the truth from them because they speak it in love.

The truth for me right now is, I am not going to be able to have too many more of those truth-in-love moments with one of my friends. She’s been living with Inflammatory Breast Cancer for the past year and change, and the experts think that it’s about time her body got a break. I’m soaking her in while I can, though, and I’m grateful to know and love Kelly and the rest of the family.

I’m glad that I wrote down nuggets of wisdom that Andrea has says, often in passing when we get together to pray or eat tacos. Most of them are pretty funny, some just plain old profound. One thing she told me the other day was that she has spent the past year laughing. I’d say not laughing because everything is silly, as a defense mechanism, immaturity, or lack of understanding the gravity of her situation.

We laugh together, because it’s like she says…”happiness doesn’t come from us getting what we want, it comes from God working in us.”

Work on, God.

responding to God

Published
by
Joshua
on May 30, 2008
in Action, Community, Dialogue, Family, Peace and Resources
. 2 Comments

‘ve been trying to keep up with my daily dose of Brennan Manning since my friend Kim gave me a copy of The Ragamuffin Gospel:  Good News for the Bedraggled, Burnt Out, and Beat Up.
Today I read an insight of his that casts some light on what I think a lot of us are working through this season:  trying to do enough, or the other side-feeling bad about not trying enough.

“American spirituality still seems to start with self, not with God.  Personal responsibility replaces personal response…The emphasis is always on what I do rather than on what God is doing in my life.  In this macho approach God is reduced to a benign old spectator on the sidelines…We become convinced that we can do a pretty good job of following Jesus if we just, once and for all, make up our minds and really buckle down to do it.”

How freeing it is, indeed, to not put off letting Jesus work until we have it all put together.  I can think of a million reasons why I’m not firing on all cylinders right now-and if I can only___________ than I’ll get right with Jesus.

We can almost instinctively talk about our debt, having small kids, not kicking our bad habits, our living situation, our poor diet, or lack of exercise as if they are God’s major barriers-not just our struggles or limitations.  Let’s own the limitations as ours (not God’s), and let our redemption come from Christ (not us).

Jesus works beyond circumstance.  If you’re having a hard time right now, that’s okay.  We all do, we’re not there yet.  Rather than overly dwelling on limitations we can own them/admit them, let Jesus in, and follow him on to new life.

I think Christ has a lot to say about it beyond our circumstance/need/limitations/sin/brokenness/struggle.  How are you responding to what Jesus is doing  in you?  How are you responding to what Jesus is doing in your cell?  How are we responding to what Jesus is doing in theWhat is Jesus trying to do in you?  What is Jesus doing in your cell?  What is Jesus going to do in the megalopolis?

There’s no substitute for being in love

Published
by
Joshua
on May 2, 2008
in Action, Community, Dialogue and Family
. 2 Comments

I’m grateful for my cell. They are people full of opinions and questions, they listen and they share as we live trying to be together, following Jesus on mission.

Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer, and something subtle-seeming set me off. The theme for the day was “Prayer! America’s strength and shield”. It sounds vaguely Christian, right? You might even think that it’s basically what the King David wrote in Psalm 28 (the theme verse) “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.”

Big difference between the theme and the theme verse, I noticed. The LORD was substituted with the word prayer.

This got me thinking, what else do we substitute for God? Could it be that we even use good things that we do to try to fill parking spaces reserved for God?

It’s easy for us to trade justification for being in love (with Christ). We’ll use all kinds of other things: substances, affirmation from people, success at our job, comfort, sense of safety…we also will substitute a sense of justification where we feel good enough about ourselves (or bad enough) to not need to be in love.

When we are in love with Jesus, we are justified, life is full of color, and the closeness we have is so sweet that there is no substitute. My hope is that we would live as lovers of Jesus who would be excited to develop that closeness and celebrate the transformation that comes with it in us and in the world.

paying attention to the Rising

Published
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Joshua
on March 28, 2008
in Community, Dialogue and Peace
. 0 Comments

We’re post resurrection, and I am already easily distracted from living in the Rising. I can get so busy that I can even miss the rising of apparently dead or dying things.

There are these trees on Frankford Ave, one pretty close to the front door of my office. On Sunday, my friend from out of town asked a local friend to take a picture of the blossoming branches-I don’t know what kind of tree they are but they are reminiscent of the cherry blossom. Three days later, after walking by the trees without yet noticing the blooming, I saw my friend about to take a photo and he pointed out the new life to me.

This morning, however, sitting in my backyard with my mug and my book, I was overwhelmed by the harmonies of the chorus of dozens of birds singing. There was no not-noticing here. I was actually paying attention, looking for signs of the Spring, affects of Resurrection in Kensington.

May you not be too busy to notice as I was, yet I hope we can be open to others pointing it out. May we all sit in the glowing newness even in the face of the dirt and grime and know that Christ is indeed Risen.

I sit in a swirl
Of the whole of creation
Singing out to You.

Identity: Who Are You?

Published
by
Joshua
on March 1, 2008
in Community, Creative Arts, Dialogue and Family
. 1 Comment

My cell took a field trip this week, and it got me thinking about identity. Vicki is a 5th grade teacher at Grover Cleveland Elementary School at 19th & Erie Ave, and she helped organize a celebration of Black History Month called “Identity: Who Are You?”.

It was pretty amazing, full of great moments in kids performing songs, dances, readings, and skits. There were lots of meaningful readings mixed in, even a singing of Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing (not quite as good as this Kim Weston version)-which was quite moving for me to hear children singing out “We have come over a way that with tears have been watered/We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered”…man. It gives me goosebumps thinking about it. We have a long way to go, but we sure have been on the journey a while.

The question was repeated several times in different contexts- “who are you?” I’m grateful for the students and teachers of Cleveland Elementary to be so boldly asking and the students for offering such brilliant responses.

Who are you? Who do you identify with? What do you identify as? Is it your occupation? Your role in your family? Your relationship status? Your ethnic group? The brand of clothes you wear? The sports that you’re good at? In some comparison to others?

I don’t always know how to answer that question well. Even as I’m sorting through who I am, I find peace Jesus’ words in John 15. I want to find who I am not just living in Christ, but Christ living in me. I want to find who I am through us living in Christ, and Christ living in us.

Through lifting our hearts,
Through lifting our songs we learn
A new way to hear

finding God in the ER

Published
by
Joshua
on January 18, 2008
in Community, Dialogue and Family
. 1 Comment

I will often reflect on an event, especially a difficult situation, and look to see how God was working. It’s helpful for me to even get parabolic, even to break down the roles of an interaction and imagine who was God in the parabolic version of the situation. I learned a lot about the character of God on Wednesday when Helena broke her finger and needed medical attention.

Our little first grader was in the cafeteria about to eat her lunch. While getting onto the bench of the table she lost her balance and a pillar in the room awkwardly broke her fall when she caught her left pinky finger on the way down. It hurt. She went to the nurse for a cold pack and her finger started to swell big time. It was also quite bent. Helena told me that it looked like she had two thumbs on her left hand.

Martha picked her up and took her to the E.R. with Lily in tow. Six hours later they were ready to leave the waiting room (what a drag!), and when waiting for the doc to see her I got the call to bring up some dinner and relieve my wife. It turned out to be a fracture right above where her finger extends past her palm. She needed a cast, and to get the cast on they needed to manipulate the “new thumb.”

By 1am, the doctors were ready to put the cast on. They needed to give Helena local anesthesia by giving her several little shots into her knuckle (not a six year old’s favorite moment, as you can imagine). She was scared and it hurt (even though they sprayed her hand with “the cold stuff”) and I sat next to her and told her it was going to be okay, to breathe through it, that I was with her, and that it’s almost over. She made it, showing quite a bit of courage. She even got a pink cast (that matches all her clothes).

I think of God as the healer. We’re broken and God is the Great Physician who is going to come and heal. When healing comes, I don’t want a shot and I don’t want a cast. I want a miracle!

That night I learned a deeper sense of what God’s love as a Parent is. The miraculous healer was even understood by the people Jesus was talking to. When he scandalously referred to God as Father-even OUR FATHER-it was considered pretty much heresy.

God is not merely the delivery mechanism for a quick fix out of hard situations. I have learned this time and again. God doesn’t respond to our suffering with “ok, I’ll just make it better right now” all the time. Jesus helped bring God much closer than the stranger doctor who comes in at 1 in the morning and sticks us with needles. Jesus brought God so close as our Father who is close to us, who loves us, who suffers alongside us, and sees us through even the hardest of times. Especially in the hard times, rather than seeing myself just a patient in some cosmic doctor’s waiting room, I want to be God’s child.

working with Jesus during Advent

Published
by
Joshua
on December 14, 2007
in Action, Community, Dialogue, Family and Planning
. 2 Comments

I can’t believe that we’re half way through the season of Advent-it’s gone by quickly for me.  There are a lot of themes going on, surprises (see earlier post), as well as Jesus looking to make a home in us/looking to make a home in Christ.  I hope you haven’t been missing out, and it’s not too late for something meaningful to transpire by any stretch.
I have been talking to a lot of people this week about how they are preparing for Jesus to come or where Jesus needs to come.   I’m really interested in how we’re helping this child get birthed, kinda like like Mary & Joseph all those years ago.

Some people are new to having a season that means more than their family traditions (some meaningful, some not so much).  For others it’s the highlight of the year.  This year I started off kinda rough, with some sick extended family and other reminders of how broken I am.  After those first couple days, I am deciding to let the hurting places, the broken relationships, and my hope for restoration be the landing pad that I pray for Christ to come.

Everything might not get put back together the way that I want, but me changing me-going from hopelessly sitting with my hurts to being where I’m broken and giving it to God is transformative.  Wherever and however he comes will be miraculous, and I hope to do my part to help with the birthing process.

Where is the baby coming this year in us?  Where in you does the baby need to come and bring healing, hope, and new life?

Dec 24, at 10:45pm we’ll get together at 1125 s. Broad to welcome in midnight, to welcome in the Savior (see earlier post) .

In the autumn, in a season for changing

Published
by
Joshua
on November 16, 2007
in Community, Dialogue, Family and Planning
. 1 Comment

Wind blows the dry leaves
Accenting the rich scarlet
For its time has come

Last week I got to go spend 30hrs or so at my favorite local hermitage. I’m still learning how to retreat well, and how to keep my regular discipline about getting away to be alone with God.

Sitting on the little deck of the hermitage, I was right on the edge of the woods. The wood was magnificent, leaves in the midst of changing color and falling off into a winter blanket for the earth. The air was crisp and cool, I was really in full readiness for Jesus to deliver to me my theme for the retreat and for the next couple months so that when I was asked by my friends “how was it” I wouldn’t just talk about how nice the bathrooms are there or something and talk about what Christ is saying.

Well, I waited for a while, journaled, read a couple books, drank tea and slept a bunch. I couldn’t get away from these trees (they were everywhere! kind of like Kensington!) and what they might be meaning. I didn’t get my one-liner, though…so what am I do? What can I do but wait on God, and be where I’m at.

It wasn’t until a week later that I began to understand the image a little more. The trees were being trees in a season of change, part of the ecosystem and doing their part. And it was beautiful. I want to be there, too.

The past few years I’ve been going through a lot of changes, especially 07 and looking at 08 it’s time to change more. It’s a season for Circle of Hope to change again. In the season for changing, I’m praying through a few statements.

1. I don’t want to fight to hang on to what I think I was like or the church was like during last season (try to be the green leaf tree in the middle of winter).

2. God is taking us into a new season, and I want to be that change and trust the Spirit’s ecosystem to put it all together.

3. We are like the forest. Letting things fall off and die is part of living. Spring will come, but first we must winter.

Our mapping process and Discernment Group meetings give us a lot of opportunity to process what we’ve been doing well and what we can do better. With that sense of God dwelling in us and the Spirit leading us we can be present to the changes and move to what’s next.