what a week

[Nathanial] Time to write out some of the things and experiences on my heart this past week. It has been a week of smiles and a week filled with emotion-wrenching news. I feel comfortable sharing some these situations because I feel that any prayer that can be lifted up is beneficial. Here are some of the stories of my week:
Monday I learned that a student I work with is dealing with an immigration hearing for his father. The family remains in Mexico despite school starting two weeks ago because the family can’t afford to travel separately. It is easy to feel helpless because there really isn’t anything I can do as an educator. It is my current goal to do my best once the student finally returns to classes. Lord, I pray for this family’s situation and their safe travels.
Tuesday I heard news that a coworker is discovering her second battle with cancer. Lord, I pray for that family and especially their two children.
Then today I learned that a Luther graduate has been confirmed dead as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. While I didn’t know this man personally, the loss remains tragic and ripples can be felt through other people. Lord I pray for the country of Haiti and all the families affected directly and indirectly.
Despite all these sorrowful events, it has been my birthday week. There has been many smiles and wonderful moments of love from the people that really care about me. I turned 24 and a wise man said to me, “24 is a big year.” While I initially scoffed at this, I am sure God has some amazing things in store for my life this year.
I woke up today and thought “I just want to skip the hours of my workday and get straight to tonight to spend time with my communal brothers.” Indeed, the Spirit of God is floating among these quiet walls tonight. Today, living in this place was worded with a slightly different meaning. We are each the best thing and the worst thing for one another. We can support one another deeply and challenge one another deeply. There is no better place for any one of us than within these walls in this season of our individual lives.
Thank you Lord for being ever present. Thank you for Lord being a source of comfort and strength deeper than any of us could ever fathom. paix.

Love

[Tony] In light of the new year, I'd like to partake in the almost cliché tradition of using the year transition as an opportunity to reflect on the year that has passed. Now, I realize I could talk for a long time about all of the different things and people and events and surprises and successes and failures and whatever else happened this last year, but I wont do that. Actually, I would fear that trying to recount everything would just set me up to leave something out and feel bad about it afterwards. Anyway, I'd like to reflect on this last year by talking about a deep and resounding truth that I have learned over the course of interaction with God and life over the last twelve months.
Living in an incarnational community like Ekklesiah has exposed me to a place of vulnerability. This vulnerability and allowing yourself to be vulnerable while asking others to open up to you is a place that is very frightening to dwell too long in. Its a potentially painful place, a place where control is given completely away and the need for God's tangible presence is a desperate one. This is one of those fragile places, one of those places that, for the most part, if someone ends up there its by accident. I'll admit, this is sometimes a difficult and frustrating place to be- frustrating in that lay yourself completely in the hands of God and one another but also frustrating because it will expose you. This is a place where weakness comes out in bold colors, where brokenness, past pains, and struggle stand hand-in-hand with your strengths and all you can do is stand there with your own baggage and ask to be loved.
Vulnerability is also a place that exposes our own humanity. It is in vulnerability, in those intimate and others-seeking relationships where humanity becomes the beautiful, priceless gift that it is. Here, people change from friends and acquaintances to image bearers and icons. And it is here that the marks of our Creator, even in our most broken and cracked states, shine brightest. It is here that we learn about ourselves and in learning about ourselves, we learn about our God. So, here are some things that I have learned in those scary but rewarding relational places over the last year. I'll just throw them out there and I'll let you chew on them-- because sometimes discovery is the best part.
First- Every human being is created with an incredible, natural, and endless ability to love and to be loved.
Second- We are incredibly relational creatures. Like food and water and sleep, if we don't have relationship we don't have life. Literally.
Third- We need each other desperately- Quite possibly the greatest gift that God could have given to us was each other. Alone, we are weak, stubborn, scared and easily misled, but together- together, in relationship, we can hold and build each other up to places we could never go alone. How wonderful it is that we were created by God in such a way that we actually physically, emotionally, and spiritually need love and need to love desperately in order to survive. We were created to be in love! How wonderful it is that we can share with each other the same love that is poured out on us by our maker. Suddenly, when you pay more attention to these details of being human, even the painful sides of love become beautiful in their own way. For children of God, to live is to love and to be loved, which means love or a need for love will pervade everything and every part of our lives, in some way, shape, or form. Sometimes that love is messy, sometimes its sloppy, sometimes its neglected, other times its desperately needed and sought after. Its the every day love, the “I really just need someone to talk to” love, the “I don't know what to do” love, the “I messed up” love. Its the “I'm so glad you made it” love and its the “I miss you” love. Its the “that hurt” love and its the “I'm sorry” love. Its the “forgive them father for they know not what they do” love and the “for God so loved the world” love. We are inundated with it. We cannot escape it. We cannot live without it. We need it in our cores. There will never be a time when we don't have it. This is the world that God has created for us to live in and this is the way that God has created us to live- to be, eternally, in love.
And then, theres this- God is love. So, we are inundated with God. Even if we weren't Christians. Even if we didn't even belief in Him, we could not live without Him. Literally. He is breath, He is Spirit, and He is love- and we cannot live without Him.
Happy New Year- May God bless you with grace and peace in the upcoming year.

The Moment.

[Nathanial] Yesterday I walked around the streets of downtown St. Paul with a fairly simple objective. I had a backpack full of assembled Christmas Treat Bags and the goal was to empty the bag by handing these bags to individuals I passed on the streets. As I sit here and analyze the moments of that morning, I think the thing that stuck out to me the most was something I am going to refer to as “The Moment”. When you acknowledge someone passing by you and extend a small gift to them, there is always a split second where you see or hear how they choose to react. This “moment” of reaction is absolutely fascinating!

Yesterday I witnessed a couple of stern, cold faces break into a stream of light with gorgeous smiles. A friend I was with asked a lady, “Would you like a Christmas present?” the lady responded through a huge grin: “Whyyy yesssssss.”

A couple of people asked for the motive behind the action. Everyone was very surprised when I told them it was simply because everyone deserves a Christmas present.

More often than not “the moment” I witnessed yesterday was one of complete shock. It was almost as if people were telling me nonverbally: “What the heck are you doing?” My partner on the street pointed out how many of the individuals outside were very much in a “hussle & bussle” mode. People of the city have a tendency to get very much into a rhythm (thanks for that one, Stash). When you break that stride [physically and mentally] people seemed so thrown off that you are actually acknowledging their existence. I walked up to a bus driver sitting stationary today and I said “Merry Christmas, brother” and extended a bag to him. The grimace on his face was one that will stay with me for awhile. But he sheepishly said “thank you” as I wished him a wonderful day and continued on my walk. Why is our society so shocked at a simple hello and a smile?!?!?!?

Try smiling at somebody today. Try saying a simple “hello” to a complete stranger and watch quietly for “the moment”……it is truly captivating! Ειρήνη

Thank You!!

New Hugs Announcement

Hey All!

I have a bit of new information about the Hugs event coming in December. Hugs is now a collaboration between Peach, Ekklesiah, and the Gallery Covenant Church (www.gallerycovenant.org). Here's how: On Saturday, December 12th, as part of their "Love St. Paul" initiative, the Gallery is meeting in Rice Park (around 9:00 a.m. for anyone whose interested) to tag-team with Matt Atkinson and Praxis to hand out decorated Christmas gift bags, coffee, hot chocolate, bag lunches, and socks, underwear, coats, hats, and mittens to the homeless community in Downtown. Part of the donations received at the worship concert will go to this event and will be distributed by Gallery volunteers the next morning. This new development makes everything even more exciting and makes the need for donations even greater! So, a quick recap: worship and prayer experience on Dec. 11th at 8:00 p.m. at Peach (price of admission is donation items, so bring your winter apparel!), then the next morning, Dec. 12th, part of your overall donation will br brought downtown to supply the needs of the homeless.

Another quick note: The rest of the donations that do not go downtown with the Gallery that Saturday will be distributed to Academia de Caesar Chavez (an elementary school in East St. Paul) and to the Center for Victims of Torture (a non-profit meeting the needs of displaced victims of political torture from around the world). So, overall donations will be distributed according to the needs of each of these three places.

Remember, if you cannot make the worship/prayer event on the 11th, we will be accepting donations at Ekklesiah through Dec. 18th, but preferably we would like to have everything by the 11th. You can swing by and see if someone is home to drop off donations at 243 Bates Ave. St. paul, Mn 55106 and knock on the big double doors on the corner of the building closest to the corner of Bates Ave. and Euclid Ave.

Thank you everyone for your support in this. We have great faith that God is going to move in profound ways in the midst of all of this. Everyone deserves to be warm this Christmas. Lets make sure it happens!

Blessings,
Tony tonyduppong@yahoo.com or 651-442-7328

Unexpected Blessings

[Tony] God and I had a tough week last week. So, really, I had a tough week, and I decided to take it out on God. Anybody else have weeks like this? Where things aren't going quite like you wanted them to and you think you are justified in making the case to God that you are being wronged, or that you deserve better... The guys in the house like to joke about our “spiritual boxing matches” with God after we have come to realize that these, most often, are about the equivalent of us kicking and screaming and throwing a winey temper tantrum at our Father's feet because he isn't going to buy us our favorite candy bar at the checkout line at the grocery store. So, yeah- I had one of those weeks where on numerous occasions over the course of a couple days I laid down my gripes before God- set all my dirty mess on the table and said “this is what I've got and I don't know what to do with it.”

I love God because after everything He has done for us, after everything that Jesus took upon himself and bore for our sake, He still listens intently and compassionately to our little complaints and problems and personal issues.

I must admit, after saying all this, that the way God responded to my prayers and petitions was completely unexpected. Some of you may be familiar with a story of mine from last fall about a guy named Carl. It was a Saturday night and I was working late. I had just gotten home (probably around midnight) and continued talking on my phone to a friend after I parked in front of Ekklesiah. I had only a little battery left on my phone, so it wasn't long before my phone died, at which point I climbed out of my car, locked my doors, walked up to the front door and reached in my pocket for my keys only to find that, yes, I locked them in my car. So now, I'm locked out of car and house, nobody is home, and I am still pretty new to the whole East Side scene. So, I decide to start walking, hoping to come across a gas station with a pay phone. So, on this particular Saturday night, or possibly by now Monday morning, I ended up walking all over Dayton's Bluff until I managed to follow 7th street towards downtown. Across 94 and officially in “downtown” I finally found an open SA, found a pay phone and called my dad to bring me the spare keys I had forgotten at home when I moved. In the mean time, there was a man outside of the gas station. He seemed nice enough, wasn't really bothering anyone, and would politely ask people using the gas station if they had any spare change. So, I worked up my courage, used the fact that I noticed he was a smoker and struck up a conversation. He said his name was Carl. So, I sat and chatted with my new homeless friend Carl until my dad picked me up. If only then I would have had any idea how much Carl would impact the next year of my life...
This was well into fall of last year. It wasn't long before it started getting cold. And then it started getting really cold. And on those cold nights, I would constantly have to push the thought of Carl sleeping outside somewhere out of my head. I was almost haunted by that image of Carl, a man whom I had met, had a conversation with, and learned his name, sleeping in the frigid winter cold while I lied in my warm bed in my warm house. Why does it have to work this way? Does it have to work this way? Whose fault is it that it is working this way? Who am I to have a warm place to sleep and he doesn't? Is there any reason why I deserve a bed before him? Is he okay? Did he find a shelter for the night? What if something bad happens? These were just some of the questions that flew through my head on those nights all winter long. I thought about him so often. I knew his name. That was enough. We weren't completely disconnected anymore.
So, with that precursor, last Wednesday evening, I was coming home and stopped at a gas station close to where Carl and I had met. On my way to the door a man stopped me and asked if I would bring him out some change when I came out. I told him I wouldn't have any change but I would be happy to buy him some food if he was hungry. He said “I wont ever turn down some good grub.” So I asked him was he was itching for and he said “I would really love a 2 liter bottle of Mt. Dew.” “Done,” I said and went inside. Then as I was walking around inside it hit me. So on my way out, I handed him the bottle and asked what his name was. “Carl,” he said. It was Carl! He was okay! I shook his hand and told him that we had met before a year ago to which he mumbled something, as I doubt he remembered me. I was ecstatic on the inside, just smiling at him on the outside as I got back in my truck. And thats when God started speaking softly to me; “I wanted you to see that I take care of Carl, too” He said. Following that was a flow of thoughts and feelings, reassuring me and affirming me, saying “you have grown so much in the last year.” Yet, there was also a sense of re-established mission. God also said “Carl is still here. He is still homeless. He still has great need. He still needs to be cared about and cared for. Your work is not done.”
The next day, as I am still reeling in the events that occurred the night before, I awoke from a nap in the afternoon and Ryan tells me that Rick and Cookie had stopped by earlier and that they left something for me on the counter downstairs. Rick and Cookie live down the street and have probably been the neighbors we have interacted with the most in the last year. I usually see Rick at least once a day, as he usually stops by to say “hi” or to ask me or the other guys for a favor. Rick and Cookie are loving people, however, they also both battle with long histories of drug abuse and incarceration to some degree. But, they like us. They call us the “Christians” and their “church friends down the street.” So I walked downstairs to find a decorative framed mirror with words inscribed across the front. It was beautiful. Not that it was something that would have caught my attention in a store or because it would make a wall in our living room look more complete. It was beautiful because of what it was. I was a thank-you gift. Rick and Cookie live on government assistance. They scratch by on food stamps and a very small living stipend. They live in a very small house with some of their kids. They ask us for food, for diapers, for trips to the store all the time. They don't have extra money. But this was how they knew they could express their appreciation to us in the house. I got almost teary eyed thinking about what Rick and Cookie might have given up that week so that they could afford the $10 wall decoration. Rick and Cookie knew that I would have been overjoyed at just a thank-you and a hug in person, but they wanted to do more than what was comfortable, so they made themselves financially uncomfortable for us.
I am still unpacking how much these two events mean in regards to how far we have all come together as a community. There are times when we get very intraverted and those of you from church, and friends and family might not here about a lot of things happening outside of the house (like house concerts and free yard sales) but that has no measurement bearing on how much we have learned in the environment God has placed us in. Over the last year, I have learned more about God's heart for the poor, his hatred for injustice, about patience, about humbleness, about selflessness, about grace and unconditional love than I could have ever known I had to learn last September. The other guys haven't been in the house as long as I have, but they learn, and teach, and contribute, and have grown in even more and dramatic and beautiful ways than I have. Sometimes its easy to forget how far you've come, especially when you're like me and you like to pay most of your attention to how much further you get to go...

HUGS INITIATIVE!!!!

Video announcement for a collaborative effort in December between Ekklesiah and Peach. Please watch!