Radical Hospitality In Action

Those who write about the life of a church have coined a phrase I love called “Radical Hospitality”. It’s about a church reaching out to those who need a community and bringing them in with a radical welcome. It’s something Jesus and his followers did. Jesus, while he was creating his ministry reached out to people on the margins of his society, women, gentiles, outcasts, etc. Then his followers did it too. Imagine yourself as a person being oppressed and then having the courage to listen to a call from God to help a man, now blind, who has been killing and torturing your fellow followers of Jesus. A man did; and that oppressor Saul, became Paul. His story is one of the reasons you’re reading this blog today.

Yesterday, I got to see some of that radical hospitality in action with our fledgling faith community and I am still glowing about it. We reached out to the folks of the Old West End via the Old West End Festival. To advertise our efforts we put flyers up on telephone polls in the Neighborhood and it brought us two unlikely groups to show radical hospitality. First, in the morning, as we gathered to march in a parade, about 8 or so neighborhood kids showed up at our house. They had read the flyers and heard we were going to march in the parade and have other activities and they wanted to help. Without blinking, Jessica Lucero, our children’s leader, and the members of our community present, got these kids doughnuts and Village T-Shirts and we added to our 17 or so marchers another group of people.

The night before, a team of four of us had put those flyers up in the neighborhood. Two days later my thumb still hurts from operating the high power stapler to put those up. But, it took a group of young girls only minutes yesterday afternoon to take out about a third of those flyers. They went up and down the parade route and took down over 50 of the flyers and brought it to our location as if it was funny. Despite my wanting to do something to them, not of the Christian variety, they were shown hospitality that you can not imagine. They were welcomed to our location, given free water and a re-useable water bottle, toys, and shown a little bit of Christian love.

Throughout the day, we exceeded the welcome expected by our visitors. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters and friends, the Village ran the Village Free Store during the festival. For those who have not come, the Old West End Festival has hundreds of garage sales going on. You have to experience it to understand the depth and the breadth of things that are for sale. But offering something for free, well you get strange reactions. That’s what we did.
We gave away hundreds of things.

Sure enough, the reactions were unreal. A woman drove up, as we were still setting up and asked what the Barbie Princess table cost. She cried when she heard she could just have it for her step daughter. “My husband doesn’t like it when I spend money on these kids, but I want to make their lives so special” she said. A group of tired and thirsty kids came up and could not understand why anyone would give them a bottle of free water when others were selling it down the street. Still others would not accept things for free and would insist on giving some token amount for things the rest us could not use. Another man who talked to me was almost angry we were giving things away. “In times like these, how can you give this stuff away”. I responded how could we not give away things we didn’t need in times like these. He walked off confused, and carrying two books he liked. My favorite thing we did was with the kids.

A friend of ours owns a business making funny political and social activism buttons. He loves puns and his business, Top Pun.Com, is filled with very “puny” social justice buttons. He rented us his button maker and created these small, blank, circular pieces of paper, ringed with our community’s name and website address. The kids then were able to draw, color, write or do what ever to the white space on them. For free, we then made those into buttons, a present for them, advertising for us. Dozens of kids made these things and walked off with the only thing they could afford at Festival. Some asked to make several for Mom or others and beamed with pride, even the cynical pre-teens, with their new creation for Mom, Auntie or Gram.

At 5 PM, we tore down the Free Store, cleaned out of toys and having given away hundreds, but not enough books, and turned our attention to providing some additional hospitality at the end of a long day. Joe Woods, our music leader had recruited a band and were to provide a free concert. Music is everywhere in festival. Bands of all kinds played in the parade from the Glassmen Marching Band to a rock band on a trailer behind us in the parade. People have bands set up in their back yards, front yards and we had our band on our porch. Joe and company played for two plus hours and as I sat in my chair in my living room, exhausted, I loved Joe’s reaction, “I loved that crowd. When I play in bars, they just sit there or go about their business. This crowd clapped, they danced, they sang along”. I know he’s right about that. I was exhausted at that point but found myself up and dancing despite shin splints, etc. I can’t wait to do that in worship this fall.

Before the band played, we were at it again. Thanks to the efforts of our staff and a gaggle of volunteers, we served somewhere near, and this is a very rough count, 120 people, a meal of hot dogs, chips, and pop. Again, all for free, and again causing quite a stir. People were skeptical beyond all measure. They still could not believe anyone would do anything remotely like this.

Now, will we get members out of this? Who knows. I think we will. I know we will strengthen our members commitment to our community by it, as a member of our launch team came to almost tears talking about this being what she has always dreamed church would be like. I know I awake, having worked for 15 hours (for my day job and the Village Friday) and about 14 hours for the Village Saturday, and find myself not spent, but ready to go again. And finally, I know that a couple of hundred other people’s lives got brighter for one day for our efforts. That’s what radical hospitality is all about.

Wanna come be part of this kind of fun? Our next month or so bits of radical hospitality are June 20th , July 4th and July 26th. On Saturday June 20th, we will be helping the Food for Thought folks hand out food to the homeless at the Main Branch Library. Meet us at 10 AM at the corner of Adams & Michigan. It takes about an hour or so to feed several hundred folks in need.

On July 4th, right out the front door of where our offices are currently hosted (graciously by Park UCC), the Walbridge Park Board hosts a two hour festival for kids in the area. Kids ride in a bike parade, are then given prizes for playing games, and are generally shown some love and attention. Afterwards, we and our hosts Park Church, will be having a picnic together to say thanks for their radical hospitality for the last year in hosting our offices and small groups. Then on July 26th, we will be joining St Mark’s Episcopal Church serving a meal people in need from the Old West End. This is our first outing with them, but I am sure, given the folks at St Mark’s and their leadership, we’ll have a blast.

We would love to see you at any of these events. Or if you can’t make it, join our email lists, Facebook group, etc and find out what fun it is to, show the world the radical love of Jesus.

How can this be?

I just read a yahoo article about a homeless couple that had a storybook wedding, thanks to a caring congregation in Washington DC. (See the story here: http://tiny.cc/gBnMy.) I give thanks for their story of love, even while living on the streets. I applaud the generousity of a congregation that gifted them with a wedding. But I have to ask: How can a boy be thrown out of his mother's home at age 14, and be homeless in Washington DC for the next 14 years? Dante White, age 28, just got married. Dante and his bride, Nhiahni Chestnut, are still homeless. How can this be?
We live in the United States of America. The economy has tanked, and yet I am sure we are still the richest nation on the planet. Why can't we do better for our people?

I am outraged. I am ashamed.
God weeps.
And we go shopping.

How can this be?

Manna & Tamiflu

I remember as a kid learning the Bible story of the Israelites wandering the desert and thinking it was a pretty lame story. So, they got cranky, who doesn’t. I remember thinking it was pretty mean of God to make them wander so long. Forty years in the desert is pretty tough, then again, they were pretty whinny, and a golden idol to another god, after what God had done for them? Good thing I am not God, now that I think about it, I might have been a little more vengeful.

I also remember the whole Manna part of the story and thinking it was a weird story, bread from heaven, none on the Sabbath, but extra on the day before? Wow, “what’s that all about?” is what I used to think about it. But, now, I think I get it. It took way too long for me to get why this story was that important, but today I get it.

For those who know the story, skip this paragraph, for those who don’t, let me explain. The ancient Israelites, God’s chosen people, were slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to free them. They kinda got a little scared, and tried to go back, building a Golden Calf idol as a “sorry” present to the Egyptians and their gods. God, sent the Israelites on a little 40 year road trip in the desert. To say the Israelites were into whining is an understatement. You name it, they whined about it. They got scared about starving and God said, no problem, we’ll take care of that. For meat, I’ll send you birds each day to eat. For bread, God sent a white powder, easily turned into bread, called Manna. Now, they were not supposed to work on The Sabbath (think Sunday), but God sent them extra on the day before (think Saturday). Mind you, they were not to hoard any extra left over but instead to share. Any hoarded Manna went bad, yucky, horror movie bad. Ok, you’ve gotten your Sunday School Lesson, now you’re in with the in crowd. We can rejoin the rest.

The Israelites were scared. They were in a dangerous situation. They needed something and didn’t think they could rely on God to get it for them. They had to have it. They needed to hoard it. You can’t rely on God to keep giving that to us. Bad things may happen. Sound familiar? Think Flu treatment meds, enough money to pay the bills, or possibly at some point food.

Sadly, it took a fellow Christian not getting the point of this story, for me to get it. I was talking to a friend, a fellow attorney & believer. He and I both have the stress filled job of representing the working poor & middle class during the economic collapse of our lifetimes, and were venting (No, say it ain’t so, Kurt venting). However, his frustrations weren’t about the injustices we were both seeing done to our clients. Don’t get me wrong, he was frustrated by that too. No, his frustration was against the President allowing the tax rate for the upper 5% of the country to go from 36% to 39%. Mind you, even we, two very skilled lawyers, don’t qualify for that. Also, he was mad at the media for blasting people of means from getting the Tamiflu treatment from doctors, before being sick. “So, they’re just supposed to wait until there is no more of it, when they can afford it now”, he railed, expecting me to join him.

That’s when I truly got it: Why the story (of the gift from God of Manna and the silly point about hoarding, and that which you hoard going bad) had to be in the Bible. Because we’re all basically scared about not having enough. We all think we won’t have the money for what we need when the time comes. That we won’t have the medicine when the time comes. We can’t rely on God to provide. We’ve all said it, thought it and/or lived it. Believe me, and my wife Cheri can vouch, I’m the king of “Knowing About Bad Scenarios” (I watch all of the cable shows on doomsday scenarios, check out the “End Day” for my favorite).

But, when the chips have been down in my life; When it was about keeping what I wanted, but about what I truly needed, God has been there. It has been since college that I have missed a paycheck. Oh, sure, I’ve taken pay cuts, not had enough to pay bills, faced layoff, gotten a pink slip, etc. It’s not like I’ve been without worries. I’ve even been the boss to layoff 25% of a workforce during the holidays. But, as to survival, God has provided. Believe me, I am not the “trust in God and everything will be fine” type. But even I am there. I am even there about really bad things like the Swine Flu (it helps the CDC has doses of treatments for Millions of us ready to roll), Asteroid strikes, etc.

Well, my family and I sat down, thanks to Cheri’s leadership (sounds better than prodding) and looked at our lives. We discovered we’ve got quite a bit of extra Manna, and there is no sense hoarding it. My children have toys, games and books they don’t need. My wife and I have been blessed by many books that we’ve read and have not passed on. So, we decided to do something about it.

On Saturday, June 6th we’re are going to host a “free store” out of our front yard. That’s the Saturday of the Old West End Festival. For those of you have not experienced it, something like 30,000 to 50,000 people will descend on our neighborhood for Victorian/Edwardian/Arts and Crafts home tours, an art fair, and hundreds of garage sales.

But that day, we’re not going to be selling anything. We’re going to stay home and share our, and any of the Village folks or friends, Manna in the form of books and toys. No costs, no proving you need. Just giving folks what they need or want as a gift of God’s love. A little hospitality in a scary world. Also, at the end of the days events, The Village’s Music Team is going to play a free concert and we’ll be giving away food.

Wanna share some Manna too? Or maybe just help give some away? If so, call me at 419-215-9550 or email at kmy@kmylaw.com and we’ll get you signed up to help, figure out a time to let you drop off your toys or books or sign up to volunteer that day. Also, if you wanna be part of starting a church that thinks like this, we could use a little manna too in the form of your prayers, your presence, or a small amount of that extra money. Even the equivalent of a couple of beers or a Starbucks latte’ or two a month, could help change the world for the better.

Easter Blessings

One of my favorite songs is Rachel Lampa's Blessed. When I want to reflect about how blessed I am, or when I'm discouraged and I need to find a way to pull myself out of that hole, her gentle song of blessing brings joy to my heart.

Tonight, my heart is full once again.

The Village Church has been a dream, that God has been working on in my heart for several years now. The journey to become the "church planter" of The Village was arduous at times. I understand, now, why the apostle Paul would sometimes give thanks for the physical pains and the tribulations of his life. You see, the obstacles I faced, as I tried to make a way to plant The Village Church, just helped deepen my sense of call. The perseverance made the project all the more holy to me.

Tonight, my heart is full, because yesterday we celebrated Easter joy as The Village Church. We gathered in the shelterhouse at Walbridge Park in South Toledo; through the windows we could see the beauty of God's creation, including the Maumee River. During the months that God was showing me the vision for The Village, I took many prayer walks in Walbridge Park. The place became one of those holy places where I felt the presence of God, as I struggled and listened and discovered the call God was making upon my life.

Yesterday our celebration included amazing music from a six piece band that was playing together for the first time. A visual artist, with a passion for helping others express joy and creativity, painted her expression of joy while we were watching and celebrating. We shared a meal of delightful food; then we shared the common meal of Holy Communion, and experienced a bond with followers of Jesus all over the world. We read the Easter story from John's Gospel and celebrated the amazing grace of God's love revealed in Jesus. We remembered that when Jesus returned to see his friends, (we wondered why he was not angry with them), that Jesus just kept loving them, encourging them to cast their nets again, and then he fixed breakfast for them. Jesus never failed to love them; and he never fails to love us.

Yesterday as the pastor of The Village Church, I was blessed to see faces of those who have been with me since we first gathered in my living room in October of 2007, to dream about what The Village Church might look like. Yesterday I was also blessed to see faces of those whom I had never met before.

We were blessed to be a group of 62 persons gathering for this worship celebration, young and old, black and white, financially wealthy and those who are struggling to pay the bills. Our common bond was our willingness to be open to the mystery of God, and the desire to come together with other people to celebrate the gift of God's love in Jesus.

I feel so blessed tonight. I am blessed to be a follower of Jesus with the privilege of being a pastor. I am blessed to have the wonderful challenge of working with a group of people to create a new faith community for a new day. I am blessed to have a husband and two children who are as excited about The Village as I am (well, at least Kurt and Becca are -- Jamie is only six so he comes along for the ride.) I am blessed to have two young staff partners to work with: Jessica Lucero, our Children's Leader and Joe Woods, our new Band Leader. I am blessed to have friends and colleagues all across the country and beyond who are praying for me and for The Village Church, who encourage me when I get discouraged, and who kick me in the butt when I need that too. I am blessed to be doing the work that I believe God put me on this earth to do.

I pray that with The Village we can be God's instruments -- and that all of us who follow the way of Jesus might have the gift of living out God's desire for our lives. Tonight, I am simply thankful for my many blessings. If you want to hear a good song, go find Rachel Lampa's Blessed, and give thanks to God for your blessings too.

Time of My Life

I am truly in the “Time of My Life”, for the David Cook generation or “Your Life is Now” for the John Cougar generation. For those who are close to me, I didn't just lose my mind. Yes, I remember what I've got going bad in my life.

Personally things are crazy. My mother's health is sinking slowly but surely and her financial future is like everyone else who was trying to retire. I have had a series of potentially serious, but thankfully fluke, health things myself that have included an otherwise healthy forty-something having had two multi day admissions to hospitals in the last five years. Cheri suffered a serious head injury almost two months ago and is not yet completely well. Thanks to the break up of my past business, I have been sued three times in the last decade. My Mother In Law is in remission, but has battled cancer in the last few years. We have had to say good bye to a church family we loved for almost a decade. And, all of that has had all kinds of effects on the kids.

Professionally things are equally rocky. I'm a small business owner trying to keep two single mom's, a pregnant mother with a new house & two other kids, and a soon to retire man with jobs. All of this, with no ability to get credit, and a shrinking, often unstable cash flow. Meanwhile my clients, who are the bottom rung of the economic ladder, are being crushed by this collapsing economy. They are the “canaries in the coal mine” and this started happening to them a few years ago and will continue to do so for awhile after the rest of us are back on our feet as we value their CEO’s bottom lines more than them.

But as I drove to my Mom's house a few weeks ago with nothing in the tank, mine or the cars, I came to a realization. This is the “time of my life” or “my time is now”. This is what all of the wonderful things in my life have been leading to. This is the time where the talents, the gifts, the blessings, the advantages all come together and I am supposed to fulfill that promise.

It’s not just a line from a superhero movie (actually movies Spiderman 1 & 2), it’s scripture. With great power comes great responsibility, with greater power greater responsibility. God has blessed me in so many ways. Again, yes, I get the list above. But, I have been given so many talents, so many friends, a loving family, more than enough (not by our culture’s standards) money, and the ability to make a difference in some many lives.

There was a time where I thought that meant I needed to hold a title like Mayor or Governor or President to do that. Bringing all the trappings of power, of part of or the whole of the most powerful nation on Earth, to bear on a problem. But, now, I get it. We all have that power. We can all change the world. But Right Now (and I’m feeling very musical today, that’s from a Van Halen song that is very on point too), is when we have to do this.

The Village Church is how I am going to help change the world. By creating a place where other followers of Jesus, those who have been turned off of church by other “Christians”, can find that they too are God’s beloved child; That God has given them all that they need to change the world for good; That there is a need or needs out there they can help fix; That there are others who will stand up with them and guide, comfort and support them while they change the world.

Come, join us this Easter Sunday at 9:45 in Walbridge Park’s Shelter House as we celebrate God’s love overcoming the darkness, the fear the hopelessness of two thousand years ago. Maybe you’ll find out that your time (life) is now too and help us change the world one person at a time. If not then, come join us Monday Night or Friday night this week as we share a little food and a little love with the homeless families of Family Promise (Interfaith Hospitality Network). Call me at 419-215-9550 if you want to know more.

HOPE FROM HOPELESSNESS

Despair really seems to be all around these days. I’m sad to say I have reached the point that I am numb when I hear a news story of a hopeless person killing themselves, worse their whole family or complete strangers, in a fit of despair from losing jobs, homes, etc. Worse still, I’m even starting to get numb when I see such losses (thank God not the suicides) for my clients. A few weeks ago I counted and I had to tell ten different people that if I am your hope for financial rescue, the house, the car, your life savings, etc are gone. There is no hope. The economy is imploding; we are in the midst of two devastating wars at once and could with any wrong move find ourselves in two or more additional ones at any given time; Mother Nature continues to throw us her usual spate of disasters and then some.

Despite the fear and despair many of us feel, some of us almost daily today, few of us can imagine what the early Christians must have felt on Good Friday. By the way, I still can not get my kids to see the day as Good Friday. “Dad, what’s good about the day Jesus died?” is the usual response. Admittedly even I struggle to find the words to make this a good day, but I guarantee you the earlier believers didn’t call it that.

Just put yourself in the disciples’ shoes for a minute. Imagine there you were, just a few days before. Your beloved teacher and mentor entered Jerusalem, the center of your world, not to jeers, but to cheers. People waived tree branches or whatever else they could to celebrate. They did everything to welcome him as a hero. Yourself, Jesus and the rest of your friends had gathered for the traditional Passover meal. Other than some strange talk from Jesus about the bread and the wine, a great meal was had. Great fun with friends, a great celebration of one of your faith’s greatest days. Unless you were one of that group he took to the garden, you went to bed full and happy, unaware of what was to come.

Then, you were awoken in the middle of the night. The soldiers have come for Jesus, and worse one of your own, Judas led them to Jesus. The powers that be, whom Jesus has taunted for too long, have struck back. Jesus has been drug off. Even worse, word is that he has been taunted and tortured. You have heard a kangaroo court was convened and yet even with that, the religious leaders who feared him, could not convince the court of any legitimate charge. Still Jesus was to be put to death. You watched your friend and teacher be forced to drag the implement of his horrible torture and death (and dying on a cross makes modern execution look kind and gentle) through the streets. And if you had the courage, and few of your fellow early believers did, you watched him die slowly, horribly. And now, you wait for them to come drag you away. Kind of puts the whole, I have no money for retirement, to pay the bills, etc into perspective for me.

But if it is not for Good Friday, and having typed this all up, I see the kids’ point, it seems like pretty much the opposite of good., we don’t get to have Easter. Without utter despair and hopelessness, the miracle of Easter does not happen. That day when unbelievable joy and hope emerged from a tomb, until then the ultimate in depressing ends, would not have happened. Without loss, there can be no rebirth.

Need a little dose of what seems like unimaginable to you right now, Hope? Come join us on Sunday April 12th as we celebrate a day when Hope overcame fear and hatred and even death. Our Easter Service will be at 10 AM in Walbridge Park’s Indoor Shelter House and we will be offering a worship experience unlike other Easter Services, no pipe organs, no ancient liturgy, but music and a message to renew your hope. Come join us and watch hope come back into the world.

Cheri Update

Ok, so finally it’s not Kurt causing the medical crisis for once, but Cheri. So for those tuning in from around the globe, here’s the deal. On Thursday 2/5 Cheri took Rebecca (our 9 year old) ice skating at the outdoor rink about 2 minutes drive from her school. Rebecca has developed a real love of ice skating over the last few weeks and we just purchased her a membership for the season.

Now, those who have known Cheri for decades should know we are headed for disaster. She ice skated once as a child, fell and broke her leg. However, Becca asked Cheri to come with her on the ice and Cheri complied. As they were skating and having a great time, she lost her balance and fell backwards hitting her head on the ice and knocking herself out. The other skaters and rink people tended to Cheri and Becca, who was naturally freaked out, and called 911 and me.

Fortunately, I was not that far away, 5-10 minutes drive, and I got there as the rescue squad were ready to load her into the ambulance. I collected Becca, and hopefully all of their things, and drove to get Jamie at a friend’s house nearby. So, we got to the ER at Toledo Hospital, 2 minutes by ambulance away, and went to Cheri room. She has a 2 inch gash in the back of the head. And they were getting ready to do a whole bunch of tests of CT Scans etc.

I took the kids to the cafeteria, Becca still assuming all responsibility for her mother’s lack of coordination. Jamie’s only expressed concern was the Toledo Hospital Cafeteria no longer has the McDonald’s it had years ago (guess the health people won out). The kids hit the wall soon afterwards, but thankfully our good friend and neighbor got them and another set of good friends got Cheri’s car home from the skating rink, while still another good friend who is a medical person and was in the hospital made sure Kurt had his medical stuff right.

So, now is when I report that Cheri officially has a 66% batting average at breaking things ice skating. The doctors in the ER reported to me that Cheri has fractured her skull, but if you’re going to fracture your skull, this is the fracture to get. No brain damage, it’s just a crack. She does have a concussion, and may already be showing some signs of a post concussion syndrome, but mild. She also got several staples in the back of her head. The ER doctor was very impressed with our Cheri’s toughness. She declined the pain meds as he described it as “I can give you the pain of two bee stings (the numbing meds) and then staple you or give you the equivalent of two bee stings with the staples”. When he was done, he noted he has had street and motorcycle gang members come up off the table after him for the pain, but she did not even flinch.

So, they have transferred her now to the Neurosurgical ICU for the night to monitor her. Unfortunately, she is not the first member of the Young Holdridge family to spend a night in such a unit in the last 6 years. Jamie started us with a night on his date of birth as he thought breathing was optional when he was born and came out purple. My mom decided it was time to give it a try last year during spring break after her kidneys decided working for them was optional post flu. I, of course, had my little fun with the header into the toilet and heart that thought beating in rhythm was optional for 3/4 of a day in December. So, Rebecca and Cheri’s mom are our holdouts and we hope they break the trend for a few decades.

Cheri will recover and should be out by the time most of your read this. Becca may need a trip to a doctor or two for her psyche and probably will not be on the ice for a while. Drats, I had hope to be married to a hockey mom without the lipstick on a pit bull references and dead moose.

I typed this in her Neuro-surgical ICU room, they even have WiFi but Facebook is strangely not able to work. And I can tell you almost weirder than watching my wife in a hospital bed is the fact she is sleeping with the TV on and Justin Timberlake’s prior SNL episode (W Administration still in effect) on. But she is, other than she is sleeping right now, alert and with us.

More when we know more and thanks for all the well wishes, prayers, offers of help and suggestions of bubble wrapping us all (thanks Kevin, my Mom’s buying it now).