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The Practicing church

Anything Is Possible

2/20/2020

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Photo by Benjamin Sow on Unsplash

Last night we gathered for our neighborhood dinner where every week we gather with around twenty of our neighbors to share a meal and our lives. One of our newest attendees is a vivacious 6-year-old girl who loves it so much that she convinced her aunt who was watching her for the evening to bring her! Of course, the big draw are the little friends her age who live in our downstairs apartment. However, I have to believe that this is only a piece of the puzzle — for we are all hard-wired for community.

​You see, there is also Fred, the doting grandpa, who doesn't yet have grandchildren of his own, but who brings treats for the kids every week (and the dogs for that matter) and kindly engages them in play while their parents eat. And we can't go without mentioning Patmon, the sweet golden retriever who serves as a therapy dog by day and the consummate playful companion by night. You add in delicious and plentiful food, raucous conversations, and the warmth and energy of fitting twenty people around the table — and it's no wonder this is becoming a beloved event even for our smallest members.

One thing I know is that when the community comes together, anything is possible. You can feel it palpable in the air. Already, the gifts of the community are being activated. We have gardeners and want-to-be gardeners. We have cooks and those who aspire to. We have tired parents and doting aunts and uncles. We have students who struggle with homework and teachers who offer guidance. We have those with construction skills and those who panic at the sight of a hammer. We have neighborhood activists, marathon runners, cyclists, and beer connoisseurs. We have engineers, therapists, doulas, and business owners. Ours is a diverse community — and one can begin to sense that when we come together, there is nothing we can't solve.

And this is where the dreaming happens. When we begin to grasp that we are not consumers, but citizens, with the power to create a community where everyone can thrive. And I am beginning to hear this around the table these days. For the conversation is subtly changing from what can I do? to what can WE do? And the slightest of shifts brings about an entirely new set of possibilities. For when we move from powerlessness and the overwhelming feeling that there is little we can do — we are filled with a fierce and burgeoning hope that when we offer our gifts in concert with the gifts of the entire community, dreams really do come true.

And so I encourage you this week to let new imaginations stir within you. What are you dreaming about? What good in the world would you like to see that seems currently out of reach? What injustices around you tug at your heart? Like Jesus, what moves you with compassion? What hopes keep stubbornly rising?

And before you censor yourself and give yourself every good reason why this won't work, and quit before you begin — get in a room with your community, some friends, some pilgrims, some neighbors. Share your dreams and see if there might be a collective dream that arises.

Because like my 6-year-old neighbor and her aunt, who taking it all in, told me she was inspired to think about how she could do this in her own neighborhood, you too might begin to appreciate the abundance of riches found in community and realize that anything is possible.

by Jessica Ketola

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Salt, Light & Bodies

2/6/2020

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Photo by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash

We've been talking about the revelation of God in human form, Jesus in flesh and blood, who walked the roads of Galilee and now the streets of our neighborhoods -- within us and through us and perhaps in spite of us.

It is preposterous that God chooses to reveal God's nature through us - the body of Christ meant to embody love and light. Not as islands but together as a community. This is the mystery of the incarnation and an affront to everything we know to be true about ourselves. Cause let's face it — we are all too well acquainted with the often sordid smallness of our souls and the ways we fail in love. Or at least we recognize it in our neighbor!

This week, the gospel lectionary reading is pointed. 

​Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. [Matthew 5:13-16]

But what does this mean? Some have taken this out of context as license for grandiosity, self-righteousness, imperialism, or judgment. But remember these words are found in one of the most important pieces of scripture, the Sermon on the Mount. And here Jesus describes the nature of God's kin-dom and what we are to embody as followers of Jesus.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of justice, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

This is how we are to be salt and light to the world.

Somehow I don't think Jesus was talking about praying a prayer, attending church 1.7 times a month, going to church activities or being a "good person". This was a complete reversal of the world's systems. This was about becoming people of humility, presence, mercy and grace.

This was a revolution of love and Jesus offered an entirely different way to live.

If we truly are to be salt and light, we must live differently. We will have to go beyond attending meetings and assenting to a set of beliefs and actually begin to live a way of love in our neighborhoods. We are going to have to figure out what it means to fit together as a "body" working together, every part valuable, every gift needed, to embody love.

And to the best of my knowledge, embodiment happens in bodies — in real life and real places, around dinner tables and bus stops, community forums and coffee shops, soccer games and study groups. And it happens best in proximity, when we are literally bumping up next to one another in our everyday lives.

This was so evident this week as I walked with my neighbors Kathy and Becky, as I ran into my favorite grocery clerk, Matt; as I conspired with another neighbor over coffee; as I met with my friend Senait about a community project we're working on; as my neighbor Courtney spontaneously popped over to help prepare a meal; as we gathered on Wednesday for a neighborhood dinner and gobbled up made-with-love cookies from Juanita; as we brought soup to our neighbor Diane who's been sick; and as we schemed about a new gathering place in the neighborhood.

We are experiencing firsthand that there is another way to live.

We don't have to live under the tyranny of fragmentation, anxiety and materialism. Jesus offers us the good life. A life of love and connection, simplicity and sacrifice, forgiveness and peace-making.

And maybe, just maybe, we are beginning to taste of God's dream for us and our neighborhood. Where everything and everyone is pulled into the centrifugal force of Love that is making all things beautiful in their time. 

by Jessica Ketola
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