Suitors

I think it will take my whole life to truly understand the Church.

I love the Church, the Bride, the Fiance' of Christ, what's not to love?

I make a distinction between the Bride in all her glorious diversity, this exotic beauty, and the cultures, traditions, systems, vocabulary and governance she's inherited.

Often times, I'm saddened, even sickened by the ambitions of man that ultimately limit the Bride from her intended freedoms. 

I love that Christ always took the law, and the traditions of men and shined His light deep into the caverns of our intentions and motivations. As if the say, see? this was never meant to be a dead practice but a meter of our hearts with encouragement and forgiveness at the ready.

Man is fearful and builds systems and traditions, like cities, around life, he then looks generous, thoughtful and innovative when he reintroduces a controled example of life back into the manscape. A park, a pond, a tree, a lively worship service, a joke, or casual clothes.

Jesus came into this world completely surrounded by this manscape, all in the guise of a godly society. The perfect model of love an life came and the experts of false religion killed Him.

In reading the Odyssey, I noticed the parallels in Odysseus, the returning king and Christ the returning King. Penelope (greek word for fidelity) his bride was convinced of his returning, even after 20 years.

As the story goes, the false-ones smelled a power gap and their insatiable ambitions took over. By the end, over 500 hundred suitors had done more than just suggested that Penelope give up her hope and devotion. They had the audacity to move into the palace.

Their message? The king is dead, the land needs leadership, make me king, choose, a king. Penelope, the truest of brides, stayed the course, as we are to do. The suitors, wanted control, power, command, order. 

What should have the suitors been doing? Encouraging Penelope to keep her faith in her husband's return, quietly serving the kingdom as faithful friends and subjects of the king, deferring peoples loyalty to their king and their citizenship.
Instead they vied for the bride's devotion, they said, "follow me!" "fashion your lives after mine, be subject to me as the king's representative".

The king, Odysseus, returned, it didn't turn out well for the suitors. He tested them first, by taking on the lowly estate of a beggar, then, when they had abused him, showing their evil hearts, he slew them all. Judgment day hinged on treatment of the poor.

Again, the Church, the Bride, the Fiance' has plenty of suitors. When I get into conversations about "biblical authority" and hierarchy within the ministry, it only takes a reflection of the judgment day to find balance. We won't be able to defer our faith, or assign blame to misled leaders, as in: "I followed that religious expert, you know, the pastor, talk to him about my beliefs". It's all on us, and hinges on our treatment of the poor.

My first week at The Haven

For those of you who don't know, I've taken a full-time position at The Haven. A day-shelter that serves the homeless and under-served in the Charlottesville area.

I have been serving there in a volunteer capacity since they opened their doors in January of last year, along with my family and our extended community.
I couldn't be more happy about the opportunity.

I began my week with getting acquainted with my new digs.
Desk, office-mates, duties, talking over the philosophies that drive the work there and the need for a safe place to process with each other as staff.

I have been most impressed with the level of compassion, true care, that under-girds the whole affair. The staff is made up of truly caring people.

"Before the Haven I had nowhere to go. I couldn't get a shower, or take a simple nap. There was nowhere to go that was safe for me".
From one of the many conversations I've had this week with my new friends.

I have had a dozen or so conversations this week, that have marked the start of deeper friendships, and found myself thinking: I can't believe this is valued!
I'm learning so much.

I've had the privilege of knowing many members of the homeless community for 2-3 years, from conversations we've had around town.

Aptly named, there is this overriding understanding that The Haven is a safe place where there is no judgment, no glaring eye or sense of being the "other".
It is ours. We are a community. We are all in need.

At every turn I've found that the philosophies adopted at The Haven, reflect my own approach to healing.
Time, patience, facilitating safety to allow deep, natural, healthy growth. To begin a process that is not easily lost or destroyed, a path to real health.

It is a place where anyone can come and get their physical needs met, their personal stuff and rhythms sorted out, and then begin to cultivate hope for the future.

This approach is difficult to quantify as far as results are concerned, but that's the mysterious working of love. Hard to track and ultimately affecting.

Springtime post

This is an excerpt from an email that went out to our community this Spring, I was reminded of it this morning and thought it worth posting.

John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener"

All metaphors about God break down eventually.
The Shepherd, Lover, Warrior, Vinedresser, on and on, Elohim is infinite.
I find myself oftentimes reaching for a couple of these within a single conversation, as I attempt (as we all do) to describe some aspect of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
When it comes to the will of God, I find describing His tending us as a Shepherd helpful.
When it comes to the crossfire we find ourselves in sometimes, the spiritual warfare, the picture of the Warrior/Avenger as in Ps. 18 speaks well.
When it comes to our desire to do the "good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them", being fruitful, the Vinedresser, or the Gardener sheds a lot of light.
When it comes to our unfulfilled longings and our desire to know and be known, the Lover is behind it all.
This short list doesn't even touch the many metaphors that speak to who we are, our experiences or the part we play.

As for our gatherings, mostly, I find the garden is my favorite picture.
With a garden, there is a preparation of the soil, building a fence, seeding, weeding and watering.

A gardener facilitates a safe place for growth. Tends to the life that is in the garden. Relies on greater, outside forces, in the Sun and the rains to give life what it needs to grow and produce. Understands the cycles of hard, dry ground (hardship) that produces certain strengths in the plants, and the soaking rains that refresh and give life. Is skillful in nurturing transplants from the greenhouse. Rejoices in the beauty of each seed bearing fruit of it's kind. And, of course, the honest gardener will never take credit for a tomato, a cucumber or sugar-snap peas.


This is where this particular metaphor breaks down: though we are all in the garden, we are also tending the garden as a community. Though we are the ones that are bearing fruit, we are tending and encouraging each others' health as well. Maybe we could say (as Daniel and Robin taught us last year) that certain plants help in each others growth, like basil in proximity to tomatoes.
We have been learning who we are as a community, as a family, and seeing certain values take shape and solidify. This is exciting.
I love that we are in no hurry (another aspect of gardening!).
So, what was so affecting for me on Thursday? We witnessed the priesthood of believers, a high value for the Curach. All of us stepped forward together. There was no one dominating voice, but a beautiful feast of voices.
Simplicity, (another high value) in that we simply facilitated a safe place, and each seed reached up a little more, spread their leaves out a little more, bloomed a little more.
What a blast! We exercised the freedom to reach up in our own way.
It helps to know that we are not building something, but producing what God has put in us. Naturally.
Thanks to Daniel, Ian and Patrick, as they tended to us well, it was beautiful to witness the freedom they brought.

Thank you for the cornucopia everyone, and Happy Springtime!

Love always,
Chris

Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Last week we watched this short and discussed the beauty of being set free, and restored to our intended path. The Butterfly Circus
Enjoy it!

Priviliged

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)

In our culture, weakness has been bundled with our picture of the spiritual person. As if pursuing spiritual matters is for those who have retired from ambition. Those who have given up their strength and critical mind for a fantasy life. So, for many of us, our spiritual lives look like the emaciated and war-torn. We have third-world spirits.

I believe deeply in kindness as it puts a familiar face on nothing less than Love, the greatest power in the universe. Who of us needs less kindness in our lives?

I had the privilege of caring for one of God’s children the other night. Half blind, scared and smelling of urine, he was lost in my neighborhood. I got to spend about 45 minutes with him as we looked for his sisters’ house. He had made a couple of wrong turns walking home from the store and darkness fell before he could figure it out.

A gentle person, burdened with more than any of us could imagine. Rejected by this efficient world, he seemed positive. he had faith, and I didn’t hear a hint of blame or bitterness. Heroic passage through a world that holds nothing for him, to a place that holds everything.

Why me, I thought, why did I get to experience this gift? We shared kind words and encouragement, as each of us is fighting a hard battle, it became clear to me, that he occupies a place on the battlefield that requires far greater strengths and skills than any I possess.