Luigi's

On my way home from Mexico last Saturday, I stopped off for dinner at Luigi's in Golden Hill. It's right across the street from the Turf Club. The crowd was a real mix... some younger, a few older, and a couple of families. The young lady working the counter seemed to know many the people coming in. Had a real small-town feel to it. The calzone wasn't bad either!

— Jon

La Posada Sin Fronteras

Also recently posted on the Eccelesia Collective blog, was a heads up about La Posada, on Dec 15th. I was actually in Mex that day, but couldn't swing my schedule to make it there (I was stuck on a 3 hour line to get back across the border), though it sounded like a very cool time. It's a traditional Mexican religious event, whereby they celebrate hospitality with a party, as there was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn.

La Posada Sin Fronteras is a gathering that happens at Border Field State Park, at the border between San Diego and Tijuana. People from both sides of the border gather there, on both sides of the fence, for La Posada. This year, they honored all those that died crossing the border.

I stumbled across some photos of the event posted by Scott Bennet on Flickr. Check it out here.

border issues

I’m really getting eager to join these kinds of conversations! :

http://ecclesiacollective.org/neighborhood/theological-implications-of-border-issues

And the truth is, I would not even characterize my calling as a calling specifically to Latino people.  But for me, these conversations, these associations, these partnerships, and the acts of kindness and activism that ought to flow out of them, taps more into that essential vein of justice and mercy that is part of who we are at our core.  When I hear about these kinds of conversations, I hear a little of what N.T. Wright calls the “echo of justice” that all of us who follow Jesus are compelled to pursue until it’s heard more clearly.  And that’s a bigger, broader calling than a calling to any particular ethnic group.

When I think about moving to San Diego, I get excited about forming young leaders in a koinonia of friends fighting for justice and extending mercy.  I think that'll probably take us to the border and even way beyond it!

The AJA Project

In one of our earlier visits to the Golden Hill area, we walked Balboa Park and came across the outdoor art exhibition by a group called The AJA Project. They use art to work with refugee children from impoverished and worn-torn regions of the world, that have relocated to the San Diego area. They provide cameras to the kids, who in turn photograph their world, experiences, hopes, fears and more. It was a powerful, powerful exhibit.