Waiting On The World To Change

I’ve got a real problem. I have a Superman Complex. There are times I believe that if I try hard enough, I can fix anything. Of course, I can’t fix everything, it only took a few therapy sessions to get there. But I can take off the cape, I don’t have to change the world alone.

In our scripture for the worship celebration this week, John 5: 1-9, we read about a man who spent most of his life, 38 years, at the Bethesda Pool. He was unable to walk and the pool at Bethesda was supposed to have healing properties. The problem is that you have to get someone to put you at the right time, after it had been properly stirred up. Jesus walked up to the man and said “do you want to be healed?”. Seemingly a silly question, but the man had spent his life waiting on this, without making it happen. When the man said yes to this, Jesus said simply pick up your mat & walk, and so he did. Sometimes, it’s just that simple, choosing to make it happen.

Part of our progress towards turning the old Colony Restaurant, Pancho’s Mexican Restaurant, the Doctor’s Inn, etc into the Village has been thanks to our sister UMC & UCC churches. Last week I spoke about a UMC, so this week let me tell you about a UCC church, North Congregational Church in Columbus. We had a great group from North Congregation join us thanks to the work of Lesle Eppler at a UCC Conference. She met Skylar, a member of North Congregational.

Skylar is a member of one of the teams at North Congregational. He and his team met with me, heard further about this crazy adventure of ours, and decided to come north a couple of hours drive and help us. As I met with this group, I met Skylar’s wife Angie. Angie was very enthusiastic about the project and ready to help. But Angie had a concern. She did not want to slow down Skylar and the other handy members of the team.

Angie is not that terminally unhandy like I am. No, she’s in a wheelchair. But Angie did not have to worry about slowing anyone down. She worked for hours painting our children’s room. In addition, she and another member of the team, Marilyn, solved a problem we had been agonizing about, how to turn an inaccessible bathroom, into an accessible one. The group wanted to help change the world by helping get the Village off the ground. Angie didn’t wait 38 years for healing, she just rolled into it.

Cheri faced a similar decision in her career. When Cheri was growing up, she couldn’t decide if she really wanted to be a minister. She never doubted she wanted to serve God, it was not that. It was fights about what color the choir robes should be, arranging chicken bar b cues, and whether to use inclusive language or not. But she went to seminary anyway, and then had the experience that convinced her she could.

During seminary, she got a job at Trinity United Methodist in Atlanta, Georgia. Trinity is a mission center for all of Atlanta. It is a place where the poor and homeless get some of the help they vitally need. It is also a place where all are included, one of the first fully inclusive United Methodist churches in the south. There is where she fell in love with urban ministry and welcoming all.

Cheri decided if Trinity could be a United Methodist Church, She could be a Methodist pastor. She could have waited for the Methodist Church to heal itself of it’s various wounds on not including all, but that would still be happening. Instead, she decided to help heal the Methodist church from inside.

Many of us who are progressives have had our share of concerns about organized religion. I know that I have had struggles with the denomination that I grew up in. To not fully include women, even those clearly called to ministry, to demand celibacy of clergy, to tell couples not to use available technology to control the size of their family, or to tell couples they should be open to having children but can’t use the technology available to help, was just the start of my problems.

Jim Wallis is an activist and writer who help found Sojourners, an organization that works for the poor and outcasts of our society. Jim has seen the “Religious Right” dominate the political discussion for a long time, while the “Religious Left” remain ignored. But Jim has given us all an interesting call. He has suggested that the alternative to bad religion isn’t no religion, it’s good religion. He has called on us all to reclaim the faith that led to some of the great social justice movements of our nation’s history; the Abolition of Slavery, Voting Rights for Women, and the Civil Rights of Movement; and start changing the world with it again.

In his book, “God’s Politics”, Jim tells the story of Lisa, a community organizer he worked with at Sojourners. Lisa died relatively young, but she made a huge difference. She spoke once about the struggles of her generation to make a difference. Her peers bemoaned the lack of the great leaders of generations past. They want to know when the Martin Luther King, Jr’s; John F. Kennedy’s; the Robert Kennedy’s, etc. are. Lisa’s eloquent response was simply, “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.

So, if we are the ones we’ve been waiting for, how are we working to change the world? It doesn’t have to be huge. One of my favorite poems “Success”, talks about how we can change the world, by the simple things we’ve done and said. Now, imagine what you need to let go of to start making that change. Today in worship, we poured a cup of water, prayed about what we needed to let go, then poured into a larger container, releasing those things. That water is helping grow the beautiful flowers outside the Village as I type.

If you’re ready to start letting go of what is holding you back and find others who will join you in making the world a better place, come to the Village. Our worship celebrations are Sundays at 10:30. We’ll help you find that first step to pick up your mat and starting walking down the path to changing the world, from the corner of Central & Monroe.

NOT LOSING HOPE

Do you ever have those days? The days when hope is the last thing that is on your mind; when all seems lost. Usually it is on a Monday for me in the Football season, but we’re not talking about the pains and joys of being a football fan of a team known for losing now, we’re talking about the really important things in life. Believe me, the man known as Eeyore to his wife, knows those days.

Let me share one of them with you. A few weeks ago as we were rehabbing the space that will become the Village’s home. One of our work crews could not come. There were illnesses, chaos of life, etc. As it was, the project was a daunting one to begin with. Then we had contract/lease snafu’s and lost a weekend, a holiday weekend when we had lots of volunteers lined up and lots of energy. Enter tons of a little problems, nothing we should not expect rehabbing an old building that sat vacant for five years. Another group came up with a fraction of their volunteers (mind you they made huge contributions with a small group). Then nobody shows. No work group and very few folks from the Village either. And the work went horribly that day. A few dozen light bulbs changed is all I had to show for my aching, throbbing body & day.

I going to tell you, hopeless was where I was. I came home from that day, curled up in a ball and cried. But as Cheri made us repeat several times in worship this week “Some days, I feel hopeless, but Jesus never loses hope.” That really is what we are trying to do with the Village, spread this message. That’s what are logo shows, hope growing in the city. And we are all about that, hope from hopelessness. I mean, come on, who else but a bunch of people who are crazy about hope would start a church during the “Great Recession”.
Thankfully we have some great models of hope. We have a president who started out as a community organizer in Chicago. He knows something about hope. This week he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. Prematurely many say, but in the words of the committee, "[o]nly very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future”. By the way, in case you’ve not heard this, it is not unusual for the Nobel Committee to award the peace prize to those whose work is just beginning or incomplete as a way to encourage what they believe to be worthy efforts, but we’ll leave defending their decision to them.

Also, while I am glad to have helped gotten President Obama elected, we are going to focus on a little bit different leader here. Another leader who people choose to follow. Another leader that caused people to have hope. Let’s see him in action from our scripture this week, from the Message Translation: Mark 1:16-20 (from The Message) 16-18Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed. 19-20A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.

So the question is why did these men literally drop everything and follow Jesus? Did they have a need. Well that’s part of it. Being a fisherman is not an easy life now, and it was even harder back then. Did they sense a leader who could give them hope and whom they could trust. Probably true. Did they just have incredible faith? Or did they choose to say yes, knowing they could change the world?

With The Village our Vision is simple: “Follow Jesus and Change the World”. It’s on our sign out front of the building. It’s on our advertising. And, most importantly, it’s in our hearts. We ARE going to change the world. It’s going to start with this one corner, Monroe & Central. We’re going to bring back a historic building. But it’s not going to end there. Our church is not a building. Church is not supposed to be a building. It is a verb. It is going out into the world and changing it.

And right now is a time where hope is needed: two very difficult wars are being fought by our country’s military at a time they need a rest; Our economy may be turning the corner, but it’s not there yet and we live in one of the bottom ten poorest towns; we have so many angry, hopeless people here, we are seeing gunfights like the Shootout at the OK Coral in our local bars.

Do you know someone who needs hope? Is that you? A friend? A co-worker? A neighbor? A relative? We all need signs of hope. We can be that sign of hope. We can be that hope by changing a building, by feeding the hungry, but raising some money, or just giving some inspiration. Come join us a get a little hope, then reach out to others invite those other people in need of hope. Come become a fisher of people.

We don’t have to give in to despair and hopelessness. It’s not what God wants for us and it’s not what followers of Jesus are all about. So, are you ready? Are you ready for this great adventure? Join us on Sundays at 10:30, starting October 25th, and become part of putting Hope back into the world.

And those building issues? Well, thanks to 13 new friends from Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio, we’ve got a chance to make this great adventure happen. And that silly football team. Well, even they’re winning. Come see hope come alive in all kinds of ways, especially the important ones.

Where The Rubber Hits the Road or WHAT YOU DOING SATURDAY?

My apologies for not updating sooner loyal readers. We are hitting crunch time here with the Village. Our launch months of October & November has hit and things are getting really exciting. Dozens of hours of volunteer work were done, by Villager and non-Villagers (I'm not falling for the Village People tag some of you want) alike today alone. We had tile & carpet installers, electricians, handy men & women, etc all over Cheri's office, the kids room and the main room, we are now calling the Village Commons. The Launch Team and the Worship Team met today and the band had practice to warm up for Sunday, our first just for us preview service, yesterday.

Things are shaping up great for our new faith community's home, which if you aren't in our Facebook or email group, is going to be at the Old Colony Restaurant, later known as the Doctor's Inn. This was Toledo's original shopping mall at the turn of the Century. We are all getting very excited for the start of our next phase, weekly worship together. Our worship center is going to be like nothing else out there in Toledo. Imagine the experience of sitting at comfortable table or booth, listening to incredible music, drinking great coffee or tea, watching great video presentations, do art and discussions, and hearing an incredible message of God’s love and call on us all to change the world. I’m very excited for this to get started. This is the church I have dreamed of attending for years.

But that also means we are that key point, where the rubber hits the road, crunch time, insert your own appropriate cliche' here. This Sunday we have our first “preview” service at our new home. This is not something we are publicizing. You can bring friends, but this is not the one for the public. It’s going to be rough. Running sound in a new space, etc is a rough process. The walls WILL NOT be painted, there will be rough spots in the bathrooms, exterior of the building, etc. Call this a dress down rehearsal, cause we don’t want you to dress up.

To get ready though, we need a big push. One of our sister churches, which was supposed to send a work crew up, has had a crisis or two and can not come this weekend. So we have just lost dozens of volunteer hours to clean tables and booths, sweep floors and apply other touches to make sure we are ready to roll.

So, if you have even vaguely considered volunteering to help. Now’s your time. We will be there Saturday morning at 9 AM and hope to have volunteers going from 9 AM to 5PM or more. Grab your work clothes, any tools for things you like to do like paint or clean, and come to the Village. We’ll put you to work helping to create not just a new church home, but hopefully a model for a faith community for the 21st Century and a movement to create welcoming, progressive, world changing churches around the area and beyond. I hope to see you there. I’ll be the guy in the old, black Bengals hat. If you know you can come, please call Cheri at 419-297-8031 so we can make sure we’ve got work waiting for you.

WATCHING THE SIGNS

I hate to say it, but God has gotten a bit too subtle for my tastes over the last few thousand years. Remember the Old Testament, when God spoke to people? No doubts on the signals there. Burning bush says go get my people out of Egypt. Go to Nineva or enjoy some swimming in the fish belly. Even in the New Testament, things were pretty over the top, the sky opens up and “this is my son, with whom I am well pleased”, the rending of the curtain in the Temple, etc. Not exactly subtle.

And when you’re trying to guide people, subtle is not good. Now is when my fellow members of the Village Biking Group will cringe, cause they know the story that is coming. Our group, which started with Pat Groves, suggesting that a few of us get together and ride to train for Bike to the Bay, has blossomed into our largest and must active small group. We gather to ride together for fun, and do some good. To that end, we ride in fund raising bike rides like the recent Mad Anthony’s River Ride, where a group of us rode 31 miles.

Now, when we ride for fun, we do them on a bike trail. Pretty easy to navigate really, you park at the one end of the trail, mount up, and ride to the other end. Pretty hard to get lost, really. However, on these fund raising, do gooder, rides, they send you out on the roads too. Sticking to trails can be fun, but getting out in the world is better, and no one trail in our area is 31, 62 or 100 miles (the most common distances). So, a map becomes necessary. Also, the organizers usually give you a little more help than that. They mark the course with special marks on the ground (e.g. on the Metroparks Bike Tour, they had M’s with arrows pointing the way for each distance, spray painted on the ground on the route) However, let me tell you, we’ve had some map issues and signs issues.

First, when we did the Metroparks Bike Tour, we discovered a slight problem about nine miles into our ride. One group of us were going the sane 31 mile route (I know, for non-bikers, you’re saying “Sane” to 31) and the other group was going the insane 62 mile route (they disagree with the lack of sanity allegation). There were maps for all distances. The problem is that they gave those of us on the 31 mile course the wrong map. Thankfully, my fellow rider and friend Janet is a quick study and wrote down our turns from the only copy of the 31 mile map available at the 9th mile rest stop. Also, there were those M’s on the ground and they were well painted.

But, and you know there has to be a but, right, that was not what happened to us on the Mad Anthony Ride. First, you need to know that we all got good copies of the right map (thanks for trying Maria). But, well, we had an equipment malfunction (my odometer went down and I had the group’s only one) and well, we had a not bright moment. We were cruising along, about 12-13 miles into the ride and generally loving life. Great weather, good friends, we were making good time, and at the 17 mile mark were the free pancakes (a great way to ruin the couple of thousand calories of exercise we were getting). Ah, but then the rub. We were on a long trail (yes, love the trails), passed a rest stop (no stopping for us, pancakes were within reach, just 4.6 miles to go). Things seemed going great, but oops, aren’t we past 4.6 miles and no pancakes. Nah, we must be just under estimating the distance (remember no odometer). Well, we kinda missed a turn, and I kid you not it was about a tenth of a mile from that 4.6 miles ahead sign (they meant on the course, not on the path, bad organizers, and not bright riders). Not only no pancakes, but the 31 mile distance (my longest to date, as my bike broken down and mildly hurt me at mile 28 on the last 31 mile attempt) became about 40 (think extra hour and again, NO PANCAKES). As we retraced a way back onto course, I saw that subtle, missed sign. A circle with a line the direction we were to turn. UGGHHH!. Subtle signs = BAD.

Like I said, my problem is that God has gotten like that. I don’t know about you, but the heavens have never opened up, no “well pleased” for me, and while I have seen a burning bush, at a church event no less, it didn’t speak to anyone. Don’t get me wrong, God has spoken to me, lots of times, but man, God has gotten subtle.

For example, on our ride for the Metroparks, Janet & I had just about hit the wall. There was a huge hill. Near the top, we were both ready to give up. But, then, I kid you not, at the top, a soaring bald eagle. Janet is a huge bird person, I’m a patriotic and flight nut. Come on, you can’t be cynical enough to say that was coincidence? If you do, flash forward to the 40 mile, oops ride, about mile 37 or so, as we’re all dragging, there’s the eagle AGAIN, soaring in the sky, directly overhead. Two different rides, same sign.

Then again, they just seem to pop up for me. Go back 19 years this month. I was away from home for the first time in my life, starting law school. No friends yet, family an hour away +, and everything was going wrong. The mess up my room assignment in the graduate dorm and rather than the cool apartment (used to be a room for two, but now was one, I was getting a 10 foot by 9 foot room (Think that’s not bad, well try putting a wardrobe, bed, desk, chair and dorm fridge in that space. Still not convinced, being new legal researchers we checked, you can’t keep prisoners permanently confined in that small a space, it’s a violation of their human rights). They mess up my meal plan (no food the first day, well except for running to McDonald’s), and now I had to cross campus to sign my student loan papers. This was Case Western Reserve, so I technically owe them my first born, but they’ll give me the title to Becca next December when I make my last payment (That’s 19 years of payments folks, for a three year degree, had a full ride for undergrad) and no way, should I not pass law school and the bar, that I’m paying that back.

So, totally freaked out, I walk across campus to sign away my life. But, what happens? Well, the National Air Show is in town that weekend. Some poor fighter pilot, who I am sure had to fly all boring and fuel consciously normal cross country, is in the sky. But now it’s to warm up for the show, so they’re letting it all rip (think Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, etc). You didn’t have to see the pilot to see the joy. And what is the pilot using for a landmark for their routine to center on? The rather unremarkable building on the CWRU campus where Kurt, the aviation nut, is going to sign his life away.

You’ve got to pay really close attention to God these days. The signs are getting a mite too subtle. I keep worrying I’ll miss one and do the equivalent of the 40 mile, no pancake, “Death” ride. But, if you quiet your heart, and do some praying. You’ll be amazed at these little signs. So, where is God sending you on the path of your journey? Better check the signs cause God quit issuing those maps.

My Life the Sitcom

It really should not be a surprise that my life is a sitcom. I am a distant relative of Lucille Ball, one of the greatest sit com stars of all time. So the distant cousin of Lucy, should not be shocked when his life turns into a a sitcom. But I am always amazed when my day starts out in a sitcom way.

The other day, I was rushing around to get out the door to work. All of the elements of a sitcom breakfast and kids off to school scene were in play. Kids not wanting to get up, check. The phrase, “five more minutes (of sleep) Dad” was uttered many times. Mind you that is really intended as the snooze button on the Daddy clock radio, not an actual request for 5 minutes more sleep, but as long as the Daddy snooze button works. Then again, Daddy hit the real snooze button so many times, he missed his morning workout.

Lame excuses and bad faking of illnesses, check. It’s a good thing they’ve not read any of the books like the “Hot Zone”, etc to learn about Ebola or they would have had that. Grumpy parents not wanting to deal with it any more, check. I believe something like “if you don’t get out the door now, I’m feeding your Nintendo DS’s to a wood chipper” may have slipped out of my mouth.

Crazy pet causing last minute chaos, check. Abby, our Lab mix, pound puppy was in rare form. She knocked things over. She pulled me down the stairs, heading down the drive way with the kids to their car pool pickup, causing me to have to jump from the third step from the bottom. Thankfully, I stuck the landing.

Cranky, overworked, spouse being sent off to work, check. In a rare development, Cheri had to run out the door without her morning ritual of prayer and centering. Usually, I’m the cranky spouse running out the door for work, but this day, Cheri got to play that role. But I was hurrying out the door behind her.

Then, the last element, the over the top slap stick event. I had packed my lunch, packed my backpack I use as a brief case, put it on my back and turned to leave the kitchen. As I took a few steps, there was a loud crashing, followed by the sound of objects rolling on the floor. Never a good sound, especially for someone to hear as they are now rushing out the door.

My backpack has a cord on it to pull tight a side compartment, and it had snagged the recently filled to the top, multi-level, metal and wicker fruit basket. It flew from the counter and crashed into the floor. The apples, pears, oranges and diet bars were now scattered all over the kitchen and I dare not leave it as the dog would eat it all up.

There were only two possible reactions, according to the model created by cousin Lucy. There was the over the top crying (RICKEEYYYY), or the over the top laughter. Thankfully, somewhere, the laughter won out. I laughed hysterically and then something unexpected happened, gratitude. I actually was thankful.

Thankful that I have a wonderful wife who could be cranky with me; thankful that we have produced two miniature versions of us, complete with not being morning people; thankful to have a pet who is well and energetic; Thankful for a job to be late for, for being my own boss so I would not face the wrath of a boss; thankful for a beautiful house and food; and even thankful that the prior occupant of the house, my niece, was not a great housekeeper and our kitchen floor was not pristine and going to show a scratch from this disaster.

Let me assure you, there are plenty of other times the reaction is Ricky, or in this case CHERI, but once in a while, it’s nice to get the laughter and thankful reaction. Thank you God for this sitcom called life.

Launch Control to Villagers

Ok, no, this is not a blog article about a new David Bowie knock off of “Ground Control to Major Tom”. It is about the process of putting the rubber to the road of starting our new faith community. We’re, all of you along for the ride, in the process of starting our community. This is called Launch in church planting circles. That is the launching of our worship service.

In these church planting circles, the analogy of launching a rocket is the way this process is explained. As a lifelong space exploration nut, I have to tell you could not have been happier to hear this analogy being used. I was born 17 months before Apollo 11, and swear I can remember it. I grew up watching Apollo, Skylab, and the Shuttle as closely as many follow baseball. I could, before law school and parenthood took away the memory space, tell you the names of each of the Apollo ships (Apollo 11's Command Module was Columbia, and Lunar Module was Eagle), etc. And it is not just the space geek in me that loves this analogy. The analogy works.

In launching a rocket, you have to design the rocket, get the funding from Congress, build the parts, assemble it, prep the launch pad, transport it to the launch pad, fuel it with enough fuel (too little = boom), and launch the ship. That’s what we need to do with our new faith community.

The good ship Village was dreamed of and designed by our chief dreamer, Cheri with the Holy Spirit very much there beside her. Mind you, the Spirit and I need to have a few words about the middle of the nigh wake up calls for design meetings over the last few years. And, yes, the Village design process has been a lengthy process. I can tell you that indirectly this project (a church for progressives who have given up on traditional church, and want to change the world because of their faith) has been on the design table for a decade plus now.

The next step was getting Congress to fund this little ship. The Village is a little bit more like the International Space Station, in that it is not just the project of one nation. We are a plant of the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ. So, you may ask why? Because together, the two offer resources that one single denomination could not offer.

The parts assembly process has been over the last several years. People and skills needed for this project have been coming together for years. The assembly process for NASA happens in a really large building, one of the largest in the world, called creatively the Vehicle Assembly Building. It’s the large white one in the picture above. Well, there’s no building that size in Toledo, so we’ve had to use a bunch of smaller ones - Kurt & Cheri’s house, The Parklane Hotel, every coffee house in greater Toledo, The Church of St. Andrew UMC , Park Congregational Church, Panera on Glendale, the Main Branch Library, the Northwest Ohio Food Bank, etc.

Now we are ready to prep the pad, move the ship there, fuel it properly and launch. With NASA, that is handled by the launch team in Launch Control at the Kennedy Space Center. They handle the assembly process, the roll out to the launch pad, the fueling, and the launch. When the rocket clears the tower at the launch pad , their responsibility ends and Mission Control in Houston takes over. That’s why you hear them say on every lift off, “3, 2, 1 Lift Off, Lift Off and the Shuttle has cleared the tower”. It’s the end of the launch team’s job and the beginning of Mission Control’s job.

To pull of our launch , we need our own Launch team. We need people who are willing to give their time and talents to help us do this. To add to our paid servants (the staff of Cheri, Jessica and Joe) we need to add a group of unpaid servants (aka Volunteers). We need people to help us get our new facility (more about that when it is officially selected) prepped. We need to come up with a marketing plan and execute it. We need to get our children’s ministries fully staffed and running; our connection groups (small groups for study, etc), our service projects continuing and expanding, financial and administrative processes started, a plan to make new members feel welcome and brought into our church family and then WE LAUNCH WORSHIP, first for us in September and for the public in October.

If we do this right, well then an amazing adventure beings. If we do this wrong, well follow this link and watch some launches go wrong and see what happens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qeX98tAS8&feature=fvw. Want to help launch the Village? You don’t need to commit to forever. When the Village has cleared the tower (begun weekly worship in October), some of us will go on to other projects. Others, like myself, will transfer over to Mission Control and keep this ship on it’s path.

Want to join in on the fun? Contact Cheri or I and we’ll be happy to talk to you some more and get you placed as a member of this team.

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.