$3.00 a day

amazing article in the washington post about a congressman who rose to the challenge to live on the $3.00 a day food stamp recipients are forced to subsist on:

Washington Post - Pangs of Hunger - and a Bit of Guilt

glow in the dark lives

i celebrated a milestone yesterday - 7 1/2 years of abstinence from sexual addiction, chocolate and some other destructive behaviors. it was wonderful to mark this anniversary with serenity and the knowledge that i have been really working my program.

part of my abstinence includes the discipline of sitting on the edge of my bed every night before i go to sleep and reading the "next" part of wherever i am in the bible. i pick whichever book interests me and read it through, pick another book and read it through. while reading in james (i come back to him frequently) i noticed a verse i hadn't seen before - james 5:10 - "Take the old prophets as your mentors" - i have always wanted a mentor and had been avoiding the old testament as of late, the warring and violence (and plain old inconsistencies irritate me) - but i love james and thought "what the heck, maybe i'll read one of those old prophets to see what he means".

so i started isaiah - crap it's long. and lots of it is crash and burn religion, it was hard to get through it - but somehow on easter i was actually at isaiah 53 - uncanny timing, and last night i had progressed to isaiah 58 (i only read the "next portion - however peterson divides it, that's what i read). i thought 'oh man, now i'm to the good stuff' - yes, i have read isaiah before - it's just that the NASB and the NIV are just like reading someone else's mail to me - the message draws me in, makes it personal some how.

i awoke this morning to find that my dear friend erin was reading my mail:

Marking this place...

“You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, making the community livable again.” Isaiah 58:12

for those of you who don't know erin is a highly skilled renovation carpenter, she is so humble she probably wouldn't tell you herself - but this verse is HER - turns out i was reading HER mail!

read the rest and see if it's your mail too:

This is the kind of day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.

What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.

If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming the victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

I will always show you were to go.

I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places --
firm muscles, strong bones.

You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.

You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

Isaiah 58:6-8, 9-12

mentor me isaiah!

my hero on my favorite show

my hero on my favorite show - 'the hour' is one of the most thought provoking, interesting hours on television - be sad you don't have access to the cbc - but enjoy george stroumboulopoulos (say that 10x fast!) on you tube if you get a chance. he asks intriguing questions and takes interviews in really intense directions. people feel safe with him and they open up - this interview is over 9 minutes - but worth watching the whole piece.

i kept checking back to see if they had loaded this clip yet, but just saw it on the church of the exiles blog - thanks jordon!

another world is possible

Vol. III Rooftop Introduction

Add to My Profile | More Videos

shane claiborne's myspace

to the least of these

another article in the nyt highlighting something the church, albeit a very informal one, is doing in new jersey to help the homeless. it made me cry. we waste so much, and people like minister steve have so little help. and yet he is so very faithful. what a great heart he has for his little church:

NYT - A Ministry in the Cold, with the Gospel of Propane

now THIS is church!

ben witherington pointed to an article in the NYT about an episcopal parish that was reaching into the world of the homeless and poor in a new/ancient way.

ben also tells everyone's favorite tony campolo story - go and take a read:

Ben Witherington - A Church Home for the Homeless

and here's the link to the NYT article -

NYT - No Altar, No Pews, Not Even a Roof, but Very Much a Church

thank you church of the epiphany - you are well named and are doing a great, great work!

question and answers - part two

one of the bloggers who always makes me think outside the box, kristen noelle asked:

Have you had a chance to visit any soup kitchens? If so, what kinds of thoughts or feelings were evoked?

i remember visiting the famous "Pacific Garden Mission" in downtown chicago as a teenager. it was a very "us and them" situation to me at that time. the smell was overwhelming and all i could think of was how long before we got to leave.

facing my own addictions and living under crushing debt and in a situation where we had no options but the food back during our first time in ministry i realized there is no "us and them" in my life. we were one bad debt away from loosing everything. we probably wouldn't have been homeless as liam's family would have taken us in, but i know that the church we were killing ourselves for wouldn't have stood by us at all. they promised us when they hired him "part time" that we wouldn't starve. i think they invited us to their homes about 6 times in 30 months and like i said we were eating out of the foodbank. we starved in more ways than one.

this was where the seed was planted for this ministry dream. we had sold our house at a loss, moved away from family, had 2 kids under 4 and all we wanted to do was 'serve jesus'... in no time we were in a deep financial hole. as we slowly climbed out of it i remember being at the grocery store and seeing the donation boxes for the foodbank. a penny dropped and i began to ponder a better way.

at the same time i had begun reading henri nouwen. he wrote in one of his books (i think it might have been reaching out, but i can't be sure) about the idea that our western world is so full of people talking about doing things and never really getting things done. i knew i was one of those westerners. i hated that about myself. so i decided to take his advice. he called it 'furnacing' - allowing our ideas to be ours and god's and to spend time thinking about them instead of talking about them, and pouring the steam created by the excitement back into to project and allowing that to propel us farther on in the doing.

it was then that i decided to begin to furnace the idea of the foodbank. i worked on it in secrecy for 5 years. it became a wonderful dream, i designed logos, brainstormed contacts and prepared it all to the point of not having anything left to do except hand it away.

i told god that it was ready and i was willing to give it to anyone to do - (this is a HUGE project, not just a single foodbank, but a total revamp for feeding people with dignity and creativity). i told god i would wait until he told me who to hand it to.

it wasn't a month later that he did. he told me to give it to tony campolo. i laughed out loud. i knew i had misunderstood. i keep waiting and nothing else ever came. tony is one of my heroes. i literally would have followed him around the country with a little notepad writing down everything he said. i had never heard anyone speak so clearly about the heart of god, helping those in need and actually putting feet to the gospel.

i knew he would be at the national youth workers convention in pittsburgh that year, so i told god "fine, you won't give me any other names, then you have to work this out - you have to introduce me."

i went to every one of tony's seminars. after each session he is so kind and he stays to speak to anyone who will wait. i would stand to the side and so many pushy, male (sorry guys) youth workers just had to tell him something or other. i just couldn't get a word in edgewise. after the second seminar i looked at the front row and sitting there was peggy, tony's wife. she is a dear, sweet, spunky woman and i decided to make her acquaintance.

after introducing myself i asked if she could tell me how to get his attention. she told me that one page typed, no more, sent to his office at the school with an overview of what i wanted him to know would be the best way. i thanked her and left him to the swarms of pushy youth workers.

that same week tony's son bart's ministry, mission year had a booth in the exhibit hall. one of the goals of exhibitors is to get addresses for their mailing list. to do this a lot of the booths give away free ipods, laptops, gamecubes, etc. well mission year was having a 'free lunch with tony campolo'. i saw that and thought 'okay god, i'm calling your bluff, if this is real (and trust me i doubted it with nearly ever fiber of my being) i need to win that lunch.

you had to be on site during the draw to win. i found out when i got there there would be four winners. they picked the names and the final entry wasn't present. i was so disappointed. i really wanted it to be real. the girl reached into the bowl and pulled my name out.

i got to have lunch with tony and peggy, and three other very pushy youthworkers (i know you all aren't, but how could someone sit at lunch with tony campolo and decide that what they had to say was more important than what he or peggy had to say?? they commandeered the whole conversation) but i didn't care. i knew the lunch wasn't the time to get his attention, i just wanted confirmation. and i got it. i knew that when i said "i am the red haired woman you had lunch with in pittsburgh" he would know who i was.

i got home, typed up my one page, put it in a big, official envelope and mailed it away. i dusted off my hands and thought "good, now that is DONE". about 10 days later i had a letter from tony telling me that he loved my idea, i was to put together my board and enroll at eastern for their module masters degree in microbusiness where we would make this the project for the year and get it off the ground.

i shook, i cried, i called those who were in my tribe. i was dumbfounded. now i had to talk to my husband. in his defense (which by the way, he has repented of all of this, but at the time it was dastardly indeed) we had just moved to a new, huge church and had two pre-school aged children. he nay-sayed and bemoaned the possibilities that this could be real, that this could be god and that this could be for me. with my background i had two HUGE hurdles to overcome, patriarchy and the silent god. if the 'head of the household said no it meant no' and who was i to think that god really spoke to me?

i folded. i had no idea how to tell him i wasn't who he thought i was. it must have all been a mistake. the door slammed shut and i never even wrote him back to at least say thank you. it is the biggest regret of my life.

but i know that god is the god of second chances, and this idea really has legs. i don't know if it is for now, and looking back it probably wasn't for 'then' either - but it is really good and god did speak to me, and one of my heroes spoke truth into my life in a way i will never forget.

so while it might not ever look like i dreamed, the seed to feed the hungry has been placed deep within my soul and i know that it is a call on my life. thank you kristen for your question and encouragement. i need it. it's a lonely call and not immediately gratifying. you can see from above that i get easily discouraged. i need stamina and steam and a tribe. if you are the praying type please pray for me. i truly long to fulfill this and put it into the hands of those who can take this dream and make it a reality.

make affluence history!

oh this is brilliant. bart campolo just blogged on geez magazine's new 'sponsor a child' program for rich kids.

seriously. it's brilliant culture jamming.

make affluence history.

cross cultural contact between your child and a family living in poverty. open up the world. change everything.

i've already signed up pink and buck.

i'm stealing this manifesto

RWK is so generous i don't think he'll mind:

The 'Following Jesus' Manifesto

1. Stop talking about Jesus. Just stop. If we loved the people around us half as much as we say we love Jesus the rest of this manifesto would be entirely redundant.
2. Live a secret life. Invest the time, effort and vulnerability necessary to delve deeply into the scripture and prayer. Spend long periods of time in stillness. There is no shortcut to this, there is no other way. Without a deep and secret life we soon find ourselves talking about Jesus instead of being like Jesus.
3. Stop pretending. I'm a Christian, and I suck. So do you. Let's get that out of the way, shall we?
4. Give more than you get. There will always be more than enough.
5. Be present for those around you. Following Jesus has nothing to do with your work, your resume or your income. In fact, nothing that matters does.
6. Treasure broken-ness. Our broken places are sacred spaces in our heart. Honour them. Value them. In doing so you love the unlovely, publicly declaring the beauty of God's image in everyone. Greet the broken with comfort and cool water.
7. Throw a party.
8. Know Jesus well enough to recognize him on the street. This is rather important, because he can always be found on the street - and he usually looks more like a pan-handler than a preacher.
9. Accept ingratitude and abuse as a fixed cost. Embrace them, and then go the extra mile.
10. If you follow Jesus, you will anger religious people. This is how you will know.

the next steps

thank you for your support - i felt it. the meeting(s) went really well, very different from what i hoped/feared/expected - and that is really good. i think my biggest fears, which i expressed to him, was either being shut down or sent out - too small or too big - and i got real, interactive questions, wisdom and encouragement. what i liked best was that he pushed me, he didn't just listen and say 'go for it', but he challenged some thoughts i had, taught me about the community and really interacted with me on this.

a lot was redeemed for me just in the dialog and interaction. i also talked about how freaked out i have been by men in authority, especially spiritual authority and how far too many times in my life that kept me silent. just talking to him in and of itself was a huge step for me, and having him really interact with my thoughts was so honoring.

he did say that he has seen so many 'idea people' just be that and only that - idea people. lots of talk, little action. and from my own life i can see that is true - so the HUGE idea wasn't where he resonated with me, he did though encourage me to begin testing the call, begin to see if it's real, if it works and if it's really a good fit for me. i liked that, i guess i just assumed since it made me so uncomfortable it must be from god. i don't think i would have made this one up. it's not like hearing the call to beach ministry or something. there really isn't anything glamorous about serving the poor. but knowing that i can say 'no' is quite empowering. it takes on a different perspective, i am not a slave to it, but a willing participant.

he also talked about the dynamics between the local churches and how a lot a time and energy can be burned up in the creating of the networks. he encouraged me to get to know the people who are already doing the work and get a feel for what exists already. pastors in our community are quite transient, so i think i'll need to be a bit more subversive and find those in the community who have this passion instead of the power structures who come and go.

there are three women who are doing really good work in the community already and he encouraged me to shadow them for some time. two of them are already good friends at church, and we have already begun talking about the work they are doing, both through the church and in the community. the other woman is the head of the local food bank, so i'm going to volunteer there to get to know her, the people she is helping and the community itself. this will fold beautifully into the work liam is already doing in town as part of his job.

i left feeling like i had real, tangible goals. i feared i would leave feeling overwhelmed and drained, even before i started. i don't. i am hopeful, excited and looking forward to getting my feet wet.

1:00

today i meet with my pastor. it was supposed to be yesterday, but my daughter and i couldn't find anywhere for her to go. so we had an amazing time together instead.

i just want to get my head together for today, so i'm blogging it here.

this past year god has confirmed that there is a call specifically on my life, not to serve my husband, or his call, but something distinct and separate.

i had assumed by default, i guess that i was just supposed to serve 'along side' liam and whatever church he was at. this past year or two of being apart from ministry has made that clear for me that there is something more.

i also know, for myself, and assume for liam, that this past year has been a transformation of that call. i am not called to serve the church, but the poor. it has been painful to learn. the church can be glamorous, and teen agers are way more fun.

really god, the poor? yes.

so today i am talking to P (it's easier to give them some kind of 'name') about serving the poor in our community.

in the past 18 months over 12 families have been relocated to our community here, all have been in some ministry of sorts and are highly skilled and passionate. for a small town and church that makes it clear that god is doing something. we've all be talking about what it could be. in my discussions i had narrowed it down to two distinct things. a soup kitchen and a youth center.

i would have been willing to put my energies behind either, as i feel passionately about both. but within the past 2 months the confirmation for me has constantly been steering me toward the soup kitchen (man do we need a better name for this - any suggestions?)

this flows into the vision that i gave to tony campolo years ago and i am wondering if these could be the seeds of that. i am fine if it is not and know that feeding the families in our community is more than enough. but i am convinced that if done well duplication can be done so that other communities can follow in our steps with a firm plan instead of having to reinvent the wheel each time.

i spoke with erin (she is as incredible in person as on her blog!) a lot regarding my fear of committing to something so HUGE, having so many depend on me. she reminded me that my role in this could be just a slice of what is required to put this together. that helps me a lot.

i just know that the poverty, generational poverty in our community must be broken. it must be addressed. the need here is so great. i am hoping that the church will stand with me in beginning to navigate funding, political assistance and programs and stepping into our christian community as a whole and finding like minded people on both sides of the border to begin to join together to care for those who need these most basic of services.

our church already does incredible work for the poor here. i believe that this will go hand and glove with the passion they have for our community already.

i just wish i wasn't so freaked out about this meeting. i think it has more to do with past history than present reality. i know i'll feel much better when it's over. or maybe i'll be incredibly overwhelmed then too... :P

i just know that i'm supposed to be obedient, to walk this to the next level, whatever that may be. i would really appreciate your prayers.

our moon shot

they don't need your money, they want your voice! have you joined the campaign to make poverty history??

bono writes:

We must keep the positive pressure on our leaders if we want them to follow through. Americans must give these leaders permission to invest just a fraction more of the budget in what we know works, from $5 mosquito nets to drug treatments that cost pennies apiece.

If ONE thing is certain for 2006, this campaign will keep growing, your voice will grow louder, your compassion and thirst for justice will keep saving more lives. By 2008, ONE needs to have 5 million supporters, each of us doing what we can, learning more, telling friends, calling Congress.

Take one minute and ask three friends to join ONE and make the impossible possible with you in 2006.

Beating AIDS and extreme, stupid poverty, this is our moon shot. This is our generation's civil rights struggle, our anti-apartheid movement. This is what the history books will remember our generation for — or blame us for, if we fail. We can't afford to fail nor will we.

We've come a long way, and we've got a long way to go. Now let's really get started.

will you be one of my three friends to sign up today?

sign the ONE declaration today

the world is watching

 


thanks mike for the information on this new 'make poverty history' campaign!

add your eyes to remind the G8 that the world really is watching!

the world is watching campaign 

rhymes with kerouac

I come from a religous tradition that says the Bible is God's final revealed word, that he no longer speaks except through the text (though I personally do not believe this) So for me, all of your answers, and all of the ways in which you experience God - well, it's just wonderful to read!

was visiting 'at the mission' this morning and came across a wonderful thread on hearing god speak. 1/2 way through the comments i found the quote above and felt that same, familiar pull of my ecclesiastical roots - god is silent.

how sad. i lived there for over 1/2 of my life. wondering, wishing, longing. questioning even my own call from god - did i imagine it? am i crazy? the inconsistencies are too vast to even begin to ponder. how can they speak of the 'call of god' on one's life and say god is silent?

hearing god, seeing visions and finding that still, small voice have been the greatest moments of my life. god is not silent. god loves me as much as hannah, elijah and peter - god is as personal as i allow god to be. that 12 inches from my head to my heart was the longest journey i've ever made. all of the theology in the world couldn't stand against the beauty of that still small voice.

the heresey of the silent god is one of the most fundamentally damaging lies the church has ever conjured up. it reduces the power of the holy spirit to an 'illuminator' and 'convictor' - kind of a jiminy cricket, instead of a member of the trinity. the inner teacher is the greatest loss to the church - it sets up so many for spiritual abuse and tragedy. distance from god and impersonal faith and manipulation. i am so grateful to be free - to be liberated from that ugly yoke of lies and fear. it brings such hope and light to life.

thank you god that you are a personal god, that you reveal truth and shed light into my life. that you love me as an image bearer and long to commune with me. please free those others trapped in the lies, perpetuating this dangerous falsehood. empower those under that horrible teaching to find hope and healing too. amen.

MTV to air Angelina Jolie Africa diary

MTV to air Angelina Jolie Africa diary: "MTV has announced that The Diary of Angelina Jolie & Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa will premiere on September 14 at 7 p.m.

The 30-minute special episode of the long-running DIARY series follows Angelina Jolie and UN adviser/economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs as they travel to Sauri, a remote group of villages in Western Kenya, where Sachs' UN Millennium Project team is working to end the poverty, hunger and disease afflicting the area. With cameras in tow, Jolie and Sachs experience first-hand the effects of the devastation unique to Africa -- and provide hope as they highlight hopeful progress in this Millennium village."

Jeffrey Sachs Podcast at World Vision

Jeffrey D. Sachs, world-renowned economist, has a gift for explaining world poverty in clear language and offers practical solutions. Dr. Sachs is the director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the UN Millennium Project to end extreme poverty. He wrote the acclaimed book The End of Poverty.

download short podcast here:

How to End Poverty: Learn From Leading Expert Jeffrey Sachs

from the brilliant pen of maggi dawn

maggi dawn: "Make poverty history?

I thoroughly approve of public protest. So I was glad to see St Bob's efforts over the weekend to mobilise people all over the place to make a point.

I found myself worrying, however, that the tempo was rising towards a view that eight men in a room could change the world. However valuable it is to make the protest loud and clear, so that they know what we want, the reality is that global poverty will only be shifted if you and I (and all the outrageously rich rock stars in the world) take seriously the fact that global poverty will cost us - in our pockets, in our lifestyles, in our wish to consume all we want without counting. Eight men in a room can't change anything unless you and I are willing to simplify, cut down, drive less, fly less, eat drink and be merry in more moderate terms, consider how many electronic gadgets and fancy clothes we buy, and who from... and all the rest.

Eight men in a room can't change the world, unless the millions of people who campaigned at the weekend will back up the call for change with their individual action within our own luxury (in world terms) lifestyles. The eight men in a room are only our elected leaders, not our saviours, and we would make a huge mistake if we allowed ourselves to begin believing that it is THEIR responsibility, and not yours and mine. Much more comfortable, of course, to pretend that THEY should do something, not ME. But it won't change anything if we think that way.

I shan't make myself popular by saying so, of course. But it's true all the same."

there's a hole in the bucket

Make Poverty History - Videos

take a couple minutes to watch this and DO SOMETHING about it please!

via mike's new blog - 3click

blessed are the poor

Blessed Are the Poor

We who are rich are often demanding and difficult. We shut ourselves up in our apartments and may even use a watchdog to defend our property. Poor people, of course, have nothing to defend and often share the little they have.

When people have all the material things they need, they seem not to need each other. They are self-sufficient. There is no interdependence. There is no love. In a poor community, however, there is often a lot of mutual help and sharing of goods, as well as help from outside. Poverty can even become a cement of unity.

Jean Vanier

your voice matters

Did you know...

* Americans can help stop 2.3 million Africans dying of AIDS each year.

* Americans can help put 104 million children in school around the world.

ONE is a new effort to rally Americans -- ONE by ONE -- to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. The ONE Campaign is engaging Americans everywhere we gather -- in churches and synagogues, on the internet and college campuses, at community meetings and concerts.

ONE will be promoted with the help of a diverse coalition of faith-based and antipoverty groups, celebrity spokespeople as well as corporate partnerships and local ONE Campaign organizers.

Please read on and learn more about the ONE campaign, then sign your name to the petition and add your voice to those calling for an end to global AIDS and poverty.

Your voice DOES make a difference.

sign the petition here.