Brittney's Mokkatam poem

A poem from Brittney Yackley written from the garbage city of Mokattam, Egypt:

This place is dirty, rank, filthy.
I think mostly now about the flies.
They love the putrid smell,
The decomposition, the heat.
They rise, circle, swarm.
I think of this village, of these people:

Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world To be rich in faith?
Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the kingdom
He promised to those who love Him?

And I think you and the flies
Have similar ideas about
What makes perfect living conditions.
The babies’ faces are crawling with flies –
In the doorway of Om Ibrahim’s one-room
Hovel they pass freely.
They dance in the stairwell of the school.
Flies love stench, decay, neglect.

The flies love poverty, it’s where they thrive.
Where the flies go, so too do you.
The poor are your chosen people
Your Israel, your Covenant.
Among the poor you move, you abide, you alight.
Your spirit surrounds your people
Like a swarm.

Is it about them? Or us? Or... both?

Jason Evans recently posted some terrific thoughts based on the passage 1 Kings 17:8-16, on what it means for us, as followers of Christ, to engage those in need.

"In this passage, Elijah is instructed to ask a poor widow for assistance. She has barely enough to feed herself and her son. She believes they are on the brink of death. Yet, God prompts Elijah to ask the widow to make him a meal. Can you imagine asking someone in a bread line to make you a meal?! There is a profound lesson for people of privilege to learn from this passage of what it means to be with people in need. Conversely, there is a profound lesson for people in need to learn from this passage of what it means to be with people of privilege."

Read his entire post here. Great stuff that should inform us a bit in how we need to engage those on the margins.

/jon

telephone

telephone, originally uploaded by hallywood.

Chaz and Rebecca recently moved into an apartment complex, South Park Villas, on A street, and have already been making some stellar connections with the neighbors. They conspired with a neighbor to throw a mini block party among some of the families in their complex last weekend. Hilda, who lives in the apartment just below Chaz and Rebecca, speaks no English, and Rebecca speaks no Spanish, but that didn't stop anyone. Somehow, they figured it all out, made great food, and got everyone to the same place at the same time.

The South Park Villas (a misnomer on a many levels) has a bunch of kids living there. Seeing as how we've got kids, Rebecca and Chaz invited us to join the shindig. It was a great time. Food, jumprope, tag in the park, and even a game of telephone.

After the brutal beating I took in a game of freeze tag (old and slow don't begin to say how bad I was at this game), I sat down and soaked in the scenery. Chaz was playing soccer with some of the local latino guys (he's really good). Rebecca was coordinating a game of telephone with the kids (she definitely has a way with kids). The afternoon was perfect, and I realized how blessed we are to have opportunities like this. Hanging out with friends. Making new friends. Playing games. Submerging into the neighborhood. Being the church. Whatever you want to call it, I sensed God in all of it, and it was good.

/jon

Broken ...

Last night was a good night. As a community we discussed lots of great stuff. Rob led a talk based on Luke 5:17-26, the story of a paralyzed man and his 4 mat carrying friends who were willing to break through a roof to get their friend to Jesus so that he could be healed. Not only did he receive healing of his body, but Jesus forgave his sins and healed his soul.

It's a great story about how we all need to be carried at times and how we can be "roof crashing" friends and carry others through their times of "paralysis" or pain.

Back in June I had posted a song on my blog as something I loved, not exactly explaining why. So after last night, and Jon asking me why I liked the song. Here's a little more explanation.

The group is Jason Zerbin, the song is Into Your Arms. I like the type of music, especially the string parts. Also, the video itself is very artistic and I like the setting. But the main thing I like is the message, we are all broken people and even though we are in a missional community seeking to find and love the broken in the world, we ourselves are broken and need God to hold us in His arms so that we can show that kind of love to the unloveable in our world. I guess, mostly I like the message. It's not just a song for your ears, it's also for your heart. - Sophia

Psalm 146 comes alive

For our Sunday night gatherings, we've been taking turns sharing our favorite Psalm. This past Sunday night, Derek shared Psalm 146 with the group. We read it through a few times, pulling out some of our favorite lines and text. Then we did something completely unique. Derek led us in a rapid-fire effort to write a song based on this Psalm. It was a true group effort, as we brainstormed key lines and verses, then assembled them into a song. Chorus, verses and a bridge all came together, making the Psalm into something more than just words on a page. It made it more real, more true.

The following recording is rough (recorded from my phone). The song is unpolished and unedited, and our backup voices don't exactly help Derek and Christiana's wonderful pipes. Still, there was something good in all this. Like Derek says in his closing prayer, "I believe that God is pleased by things like this... when we do it together."

(Derek, please forgive me for posting this without your polish and excellence, and from my hack recording, but I just had to!)

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NC San Diego and Vancouver at the beach

Our friends from NC Vancouver came down for a few days, and we hit the beach at Coronado for some Coronado Rules beach football and bonfire. (make sure and click the full-size icon in the lower right)

4mat

A handful of us from NieuCommunities San Diego and Vancouver attended an intensive one-day workshop on a very cool teaching curriculum called 4mat. Some good hands-on, interaction, and a headful of information that should really help us in our time of teaching and coaching. Thankfully, there were elements of drawing as well, which saved those of us who sometimes numb with so much information.