Doing Life: The Busy Community

Hey all-

First off, thanks again to everyone who has been following our blog. Your thoughts and prayers lift us up in ways that we will never know.

Life at Ekklesiah has been hectic to say the least. The last month or so can really be described in one word: transition. Every one of us has experienced some sort of transitional change in the last month, whether that is the taking on of a new challenge, laying something down that was at one point part of a normal routine, or simply taking on a new perception of an old thing. Ultimately, change is good. It keeps us aware and alert to how we are living and how God is moving in our lives.
Ryan has recently accepted a new job at Vertical Endeavors (woot woot)and has been working to orient his life in order to fit in this new commitment.
Kaleb has recently started school again, is finally finding stability in his job, and has taken on some new ministry challenges as he and Ryan have been working to join James with 180 ministry.
Nathanial has been finding stability in his position at Acadamia De Caesar Chavez. Aside from work, Nathanial has also been involved with worship ministry at the Gallery, as that begins to take shape and find identity.
Stash has been in the process of re-inventing himself and his own work with his non-profit community art gallery in lowertown St. Paul. This gallery, once called PivotArts has been renamed "Peach" with a new logo, website, and now internal facelift to boot. In preparation for the St. Paul art festival this weekend, Stash has been diligently re-modeling his gallery showroom.
I think the most immediate change that has effected the community as a whole has been the recent departure of James Racine from the house. After extensive prayer, it was decided that living in the house was not condusive to what James needed most in order to balance his life, his relationships, and remain healthy and steadfast in his own ministry of 180. It is hard to see James go as he played an integral role in creating Ekklesiah and nurturing the community over the last year so that it was able to grow into the identity we have now. James will continue to spend time in community investment and ministry here at Ekklesiah, however, in a more indirect way.
As for me- I have been in the process of, as John the Baptist says: decreasing "so that he may increase." I have officially started classes at Bethel Seminary and have already fallen in love with it. Unfortunately, this is a huge time commitment for me, causing me to separate myself from other areas of investment.
It has been interesting to watch the ways in which Ekklesiah has grown in the midst of our transitions. There seems to be a common question floating around: How do we intentionally pursue our purpose as a Christian community in the midst of such business and change? We have learned to pay very close attention to each other. We have also learned to not only learn from each other, but to learn about each other. Saying that, I can also say that a lesson we have learned again and again is that we all have specific needs and specific ways in which we need to be loved by others. In Christian community, you learn to depend on those around you to fill those needs for love. We have learned that some of us depend on times of solitude and reflection. Others depend on times of fellowship and conversation. We all handle stress differently. We all express our needs differently... these are just a few lessons being learned as we work together to find ways to pay very close attention to one another. In doing this, we are also slowly realizing that, to observe the needs of others, one must often times disregard the needs of the self. The community environment is one in which it is easier to abandon your own personal needs to serve the needs of another simply because you live in the mindset that while you are serving someone else, another brother or sister is going to serve the needs that you have. We are dependent on each other for that. We are vulnerable to each other and we ask one another to be vulnerable to us.
May we continue to find the unity that is shared by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May we see that we are connected through a shared bond, as we all have the same Holy Spirit dwelling within us and that Holy Spirit is what will keep us in perpetual communion with each other, God the Father, and Jesus Christ.

Shalom!

Tony