Voices: Mapping the Hood

On Sunday we visited the North Park Festival of the Arts, and stumbled across "Voices: Mapping the Hood." It's an interactive art installation in North Park that invites people to join the conversation on what makes a great community. Some really terrific concepts here that are provocative and engaging. Really great use of the medium.

I describe the photos in my Flickr set.

Our First Road Trip

April 2-5 was our first Beyond Borders Road Trip. We set aside the weekend to invite people into our rhythms of communion with God, community with each other and missional life in our neighborhood and city.

The weekend started off with a day in Golden Hill and our surrounding neighborhoods. We explored, engaged in conversation about what God is doing in San Diego and feasted on street tacos in Logan Heights.

Saturday morning we left for Ensenada, Mexico. We spent the day at Casa Esperanza, a homeless shelter for women and children. After some painting and playing with the kids we enjoyed a meal together and ended the day by sharing our life stories with one another.

We were introduced to Casa Esperanza by "Reflejo," a collective of Mexican Christ followers who share life together as they serve Jesus in their own neighborhoods and city. One of the most exciting things about the relationships we're building in Mexico is the partnership that's beginning to form between NieuCommunities and Reflejo. We've found a common heart beat with them and are beginning to link arms and dream about how God might be bringing us together for ministry.

The Road Trip ended on sunday evening after a fairly long wait to cross the border at Tecate. Individually and collectively God planted some significant seeds in all of us that are already beginning to grow and produce fruit. The best is yet to come! :)

Listening to the streets

A couple of Saturday's ago, Emily, some friends of hers from church, my buddy Bobby and I spent a fascinating day exploring and listening to a side of Golden Hill and downtown that I haven't had much exposure to, the homeless. The kids had made blankets that they handed out to people in Ocean Beach, in Golden Hill and on 16th street in downtown, where the homeless tend to gather. It was a real learning experience, as we walked and talked with folks living on the street (got some great insight, as well as some cautions from them). We also spent time in the morning helping pack gleaned groceries with an amazing local group in Golden Hill called City of Refuge.

City of Refuge is located in a back alley off 25th street in GH. They have a room with sofas where kids can hang out, and an outdoor area with killer street art.

Can't wait to do more!

Diving Deeper ...

posted by Sophia




This past Tuesday night we started a new conversation that will take a few weeks to unwrap, we started the night off by exploring the meaning of "deep culture" beyond the visible surface; way down deep were we find behaviors, values, beliefs and perceived world view.

I'm really finding all this fascinating since I'm still processing even what I know about my own culture, having been raised as both an American and Mexican. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of learning how to ask the right questions and how not to assume to know why people of a certain culture "do what they do" and to make sense of what is seen as true and good, and most importantly was is real.

So on that note, I thought it appropriate timing to share this cool little animated short, "The Return of Superbarrio" (La Vuelta de Superbarrio), in Spanish with English subtitles.

Superbarrio Gómez is a "living superhero" in Mexico. According to Wikipedia he's a real guy named Marco Rascón Córdova, who seeks to fight injustice and corruption on both sides of the US/Mexico border through protests, civil disobedience, and political action.

I also read an informative essay about SuperBarrio's life, and it concluded with this great summary;

By implication, to believe in Superbarrio is to believe in a collective struggle that functions regionally and operates as a social movement across borders. To believe in Superbarrio is to believe in us as transnational social agents. Beneath the mask, we are all Superbarrio.

So with that in mind, I hope you enjoy this video that presents some interesting perspectives.

ps. You get extra points if you pick up some new spanish vocabulary words!

listening prayer

We've been thinking and talking about hearing God's Word through all the ways God might want to communicate. Last night we practiced listening to God as a community. Here is some of what we heard, sensed, imagined, and felt last night as we listened for God's Word to come to us and guide us as we consider our presence south of the fence:

• Jeremiah 29:11-13: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
• Matthew 25:35-36: For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
• 1 Corinthians 13:13: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
• Matthew 22:39: (2nd greatest command): "Love your neighbor as yourself."
• The image of a thread of leaders weaving it's way down the coast.
• James 1:27: Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
• Bringing 2 worlds together
• Being both here and there through the bigger church, the community of believers, through the Body straddling the border
• Reflection (Reflejo)...the image of a mirror...seeing ourselves through others...with others
• New sojourners...people joining us who would not have come before
• Mark 2: Making our way through the crowds; being willing to cut a hole in the roof or to go against what is normally accepted in order to get people to Jesus.

We don't know what all this means. But somewhere in there is God's gentle voice. So lets keep listening. Lets seek understanding. And then lets respond.

A day in Ensenada

We had a great day yesterday in Ensenada. Met some great new friends that are part of the intentional community of Reflejo in Ensenada. Visited Yugo, and La Casa de Esperanza, a home for abused women and their children just south of Ensenada, near Punta Banda.