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Archive of "justice" Category
the treasure of the church
when i think about what the church of the last several decades has regarded as its treasure, the things of value that it has to share with those outside, two things come to mind.first, in my opinion we have long misread the parables jesus shared about the treasure (what he referred to as the kingdom) that one should forsake all to search after. we have somehow connected the priceless treasure to some no-cost, ethereal afterlife full of pretty, happy, perfect people. attractive in some ways, but a treasure with no cost?? and what connection does that have to my family, my job, my neighbor, the suffering guy on the side of the road i try so hard to ignore everyday?
second, we have invested millions in “attractional” buildings complete with restaurants, workout facilities, and even well-paid staffs to tell us exactly what we should believe (knowing we will never figure that out on our own), to make sure we are practiced up on latest marketing models (b/c honestly we’ve trying to sell something that is of little interest to most people anyway), and to do all of the real work for us, so we don’t have to adjust or give up anything in our own lives (except for those not-so-pretty habits like smoking, drinking, or having homosexual friends…you know those things are not kosher with the perfect afterlife we’re trying to sell).
i’ve had tons of ideas for what kind of “treasure” is of true value to someone living this god-life pounded into my head or even dreamed up in my own, but never thought of this (SEE THE YOUTUBE VID BELOW) as the true treasure of the church.
as i joined in with rethread today, this video and idea was very fresh on my mind. there were several times during the afternoon, where i kind of pulled back from the sometimes craziness of the store to observe what was really going on. i thought of the recent (and not so recent) financial struggles within our community. why would god not “bless” a community who trying to honestly pursue life with him?
when jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” i’ve always thought about the idea of not focusing on material things so much. but at rethread today, i could not get my mind off of the real treasure of our community…our often desperate and hurting neighbors and friends in and around the plaza. i believe our convergence community is finding our treasure in them, and our hearts are following. i am so grateful to be so rich with our usually-neglected neighbors…the real treasure of our church!
RETHREAD Coats 11/22
The RETHREAD Coats store is Sunday November 22 from 2 - 4pm. You can play a role in this care for our neighborhood . . .* DONATIONS - Please begin collecting coats for the store (coat, hats, gloves)
* VOLUNTEER - Check out ways to volunteer on Sunday 11/22Human Trafficking
At last night’s Creative World Justice Gathering, we introduced a new justice issue, Human Trafficking, that we are going to be addressing. If you weren’t able to make it out last night, I’ll try to give a brief summary of some what was discussed. The issue of Human Trafficking, and in particular Sex Trafficking, is one that is quickly growing in attention, though there has been little progress made in our country (and even less in our state and city).What is it? Human Trafficking (HT) is the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery, debt bondage, and servitude. There are an estimated 27 million people around the world living in slave-like conditions. HT is an extremely lucrative business with revenues in the tens of billions, greater than the combined revenues of Nike, Google, and Starbucks. That’s hard to even imagine!
Who are the victims? The victims are often from our most vulnerable populations (runaways, refugees, aliens). Approx 70% are female and 50% children. The ages being demanded for sex trafficking are getting younger and younger, with an average entry age of 12 and an overall average of 14. There is also a growing demand for disgruntled middle class white children via online chatrooms. Follow the link to a short video about a girl who came out of this life: “Candace’s Story.”
Who is demanding it? 99% of the demand is created for men. 90% for white men.
Where is it happening? Basically everywhere! Almost every country serves as either a Source, Transit, and/or Destination. An est 50,000 victims are trafficking into or through the US each year. The USA is the #1 destination for child sex trafficking. And, YES, it is happening in Oklahoma City. OKC is at the crossroads of four of the primary trafficking cities (Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Atlanta). Watch a clip from a new documentary “Playground.”
What is being done? Very little. Only a handful of shelters nationwide, none in OK. Oklahoma law enforcement, social services, health care, and mental health workers are mostly untrained to deal with victims. Only one (most unenforceable) state law on trafficking.
Oklahomans Against Trafficking Humans (OATH). We are connecting with a grassroots organization that started in Tulsa and is just getting their start here in OKC. The list of potential activities is huge: from Awareness Campaigns to Research to Outreach…the list is long. Mark Elam told me that basically whatever we dream up and want to do, we can.
How can YOU get involved? We are going to continue the conversation in our monthly CWJ Gatherings. But for those who really want to get involved, we are planning to meet for a few minutes prior (at 6:00PM) to the monthly OATH Meetings (2nd Tues of every month at the United Way at the SE corner of NW 28th & McKinley) to begin to brainstorm our part in addressing this issue.
If you have any interest in being a part of the CWJ response to human trafficking in OKC, please let me know. I would love to chat over lunch or coffee sometime soon! Call (405.694.8562) or email me (gary@convergenceokc.org).
Gary Caplinger
this is what it means…
This is a poem we used last night at the CWJ Gathering. I think it really summarizes, in so many ways, where we are moving as a community and how we are discovering that we can really encounter God among the Stranger, the Tortured, the Wretched, the Abandoned, and the Fatherless ones. Alicia helped us discover the important truth that when we welcome, sit beside, bathe, bear up, and raise up the least, “that we are offered the grace to heal the suffering of our King.” I have pictured more and more recently how in serving the suffering, we are literal serving Jesus. But to heal the suffering of our King? Are we in some ways bringing healing to The Suffering Servant? I’d love to hear some response to that idea…“Don’t palm me off with your civil religion and your politely murmured prayers,
don’t hand me your filthy mammon or your barns of laundered cash.Don’t flatter me with your pious words catechisms so crisp and clean.
I hate your victory chants in praise of what I’m not:
your oh so personal idol, middle class and mute.But I am not silent to those with ears to hear:
I weep, I groan, I scream, and I am so weary
of your all too clever words your rituals and your rhymes;
your meaningless slick tokens of power-point and song.So once more I’m going to tell you (if you really want to hear),
now this is what it means, now this is what it means to know me:Go love the Hungry One with whom you must share your bread,
go welcome The Stranger who soils your silken bed,
go sit still beside the Tortured One and hear his anguished cries,
go bathe the disfigured, Wretched One caress His weeping skin,
bear up the abused, Abandoned One bent beneath Her grief,
raise up the Fatherless One eating scraps from beneath your feet,for this is what it means, for this is what it means to know me.
Look! to those with eyes to see
I hide my face, buried broken in the bodies of the least,
and offer you the grace to heal the suffering of your King,
for this is what it means, this is what it means,
this is what it means to know me.”by Kristin Jack (Servants Asia Coordinator)
inspired by Jer 22:13-17; Isa 1:1-20; 58:1-14; Amos 5:21-24; Mat 25:31-46
SHOP GOOD Signup
Below is a list of the respective jobs with dates/times and everyone who signed up on Sunday to help out with SHOP GOOD this week. We will continue signups through Thursday. Please just comment on this post to signup. Btw, I was really excited about the response of people on Sunday night who want to be involved. Thanks!!
1. Thursday Evening (~5:30-9pm)
TRANSPORTING STORE MATERIALS
All of the stuff is stored at Heart of God (in Midwest City). Last month we loaded everything and assembled the entire store all during the day on Friday. It was a long day, with temps around 105F. So, since during traditional work hours it is hard to get helpers, I was thinking we could load up the stuff and haul it over to the space on Thursday evening. We need to try to leave the Space by 5:30pm, if possible.
What to Expect? Loading van/cars with lumber, bins, etc. Transport to the Convergence space. Unloading materials.Who? Gary, Scott, one of the Wynns, Kevin/Andrea?
2. Friday Afternoon (~1-4pm)
BUILDING STORE
If we can get the materials over on Thursday night, then I think we can knock out building the booths/market in about 3hrs.
What to Expect? Assembling/screwing wood frames. Draping and stapling fabric. Decorating booth spaces. Labeling, pricing, and displaying merch.Who? Gary, Kara, and Marcus
3. Friday Late Night (~10:30pm-1:00am)
STORE TEARDOWN
With a big crew, we can probably finish a little sooner!
What to Expect? Basically the same as #2, except disassembly. Cleanup the space and get ready for Saturday event rental.Who? Gary, Aaron, Fleximaniac, Scott, Kevin
SHOP GOOD is Friday night from 7-11pm. Come hang out, meet people, and buy some really cool stuff for some really good causes.
McKinley Park - more than what is seen
What were you most aware of as we sat in the park together?
What did you see tonight?
There were so many beautiful moments–I had a hard time taking them all in. You answers above aren’t on a value scale. There isn’t one “seeing” more importan than the others.
Maybe you heard the laughter of the kiddos. Maybe it was the buzz of conversation. Or maybe your focus was on the one conversation that tugged at your soul–making the night matter right then and there. Maybe you saw the many groups that emerged onto the park grounds. Activity was everywhere. Or maybe it was the coolish breeze and the quiet still evening—fostering almost three hours together in the shade.
Honestly–it was all this and more for me. Thinking of our past years of doing this memorial day/park gathering and seeing the changes (all good) birthed in fusion. Most notably–McKinley park. This is where we need to be. Playing baseball/football with the neighborood kids (some Sudanese kiddos) - slowed the moment down for me. Not making it more than it was—but as I tossed the ball I imagined fusion life as a
natural integration into these kids lives and the life of the neighborhood. What does it mean to learn Alfred and Diondra’s names not for a moment but to walk alongside them as they grow up. What does it mean for us to naturally be in to the lives of the diverse communities represented — and for their lives to be in ours?Just wondering.
Third Thursdays - Creative World Justice & Fasting
CREATIVE WORLD JUSTICE (THURS 6:30PM)This Thursday (5/21) we will continue our conversation and planning for Women Are Not Weapons. WANW is our collective response to the tragic use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Most of the evening will be comprised of follow-up and discussion on the areas each of us chose to investigate at our April meeting (Restoration, Education, and Prevention). Come help us flesh out these three avenues of response as we stand in solidarity with the victims of these crimes, as we spread the word to everyone around us, and as we look for means to stand against the oppressors and prevent these actions from continuing.
FASTING FOR MY..MAR
Every “Third Thursday” is our day set aside for fasting and prayer for the people of My..mar and for our friends who are being Christ to many of the poorest of the poor in the slums there.
justice = NO torture
A friend of the Fusion Community sent a link to the following story—knowing that Fusion would not fit the mold of this statistical revelation of ‘the church’ at large. As i read the article—i couldn’t help but believe, YES, as a church–we would never support torture. But, i admittedly, have become most unsettled at the thought that it could be okay for any Christ follower to accept and affirm the torture of ANY person. The self-preservation and security that torture may provide the USA cannot compare to the justice, love, compassion, and mercy we, as Christ followers, are compelled to share toward a broken and hurting humanity. Remember, this debate isn’t about punishing criminals—it’s about torturing the criminal and the innocent.Everyone seems to be talking about the poll put out last week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. They found that 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe “the use of torture against suspected terrorists to gain important information” to be often or sometimes justified. Only 16 percent of this group — a community that by self-definition is very, very serious about following you — believes torture is never justified. That number was lower than any other group polled.
I think that what really got people’s attention with this poll, Lord, is that both evangelical identity and church attendance were positively correlated with support for torture. Thirteen percent more evangelicals said torture was often or sometimes justified than in the general population. In other words: The more often people go to church, the more they support torture. So those of your followers who go to church every week support torture at 54 percent, while those who seldom or never go support it at 42 percent.
These results have bounced around the country all week, reinforcing the opinion here that Christianity — the faith that purports to be related to loyalty to you, Jesus — leads people to support torture. It would be easy for casual news-watchers to conclude that if you want to end torture in this country, the best thing to do would be to empty out the churches . . . (excerpt from Friends of Justice)
What are your thoughts?
THREADS (april 2009) on flickr!
fusionokc’s Flickr account has more images . . .
www.flickr.com
fusionokc07’s THREADS (april2009) photoset THREADS (april 2009)
What a day - over 60 families served equalling 180+ kids! Thank you to The Gap, Journey Church, the Fusion Community, and the many who donated clothes for the effort. Send this video out to anyone you’d like - the you tube link is:
Neighborhood Pancake (Easter) Breakfast
SUNDAY APRIL 12 @ 10:00AM
IN THE CONVERGENCE COLLECTIVE SPACEWe are celebrating Easter by offering a hot meal to our neighbors in the Plaza District by taking some time to stop and enjoy each other over breakfast. We’ll come back that night for our regularly scheduled Fusion Gathering at 5PM. Hope you can make both! Invite/Bring a friend to the entire day’s elements.
SIGN UP HERE
(by adding a comment “Your Name” - “Your Contribution (and quantity)”)GRIDDLES NEEDED (if you are “in” on using your griddle - come a little earlier so we can get them FIRED UP)
3 gallons of OJ
3lbs of cooked sausage
Large Fruit Tray
Napkins & Plasticwear (enough for 50)
Krusteez Pancake Mix (10 boxes)
3 gallons of Milk (skim, 2%, Whole)
3 lbs of cooked bacon
Napkins & Plasticwear (enough for 50)
Cups & plates (enough for 50)
Large Fruit Tray
2 maple syrups & 2 tubs of butter
3 lbs of cooked bacon
Cups & plates (enough for 50)
10 plastic table cloths
3 lbs of cooked sausage linksmother teresa quote
Daran found and shared this quote by Mother Teresa. As processed and prayed for our service among our neighborhood, through THREADS, this quote seemed particularly timely.“Dearest Lord, may I see you today and everyday in the person of your sick, and while nursing them, ministet unto you. Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disquise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you, and say: ‘Jesus my patient, how sweet it is to serve you.’”
Prayer for Bruce and his Servants’ Team
Please continue to pray for Bruce, Cheryl, and his team. Below are some specific things he requested that we be praying for over the next several weeks.
1) Rest and peace for Cheryl and I after a busy first two months overseas.
2) Continued team unity even though we are in several different countries.
3) Our first team time and training (scheduled for July 6th through 20th in Cambodia).
4) Finalization of the visa process for Cheryl and I as we prepare to go into B-land on April 20th.
5) God’s direction on a slum community to live in in B-land.
6) People of peace in B-land who will welcome us in.
7) Several team members who are preparing to leave their families, jobs, and home countries to join us in B-land.
8) Release from oppression for the people of B-land.
9) Positive and long-lasting change in the military government in B-land.“Holly” Film & Dialogue - Friday @ 7PM
Come to LIVE! at the Plaza this Friday night at 7pm as we screen the movie “Holly.” Afterward, we will spend some time talking about the movie and some of the issues raised (Child Trafficking, etc). Check out the trailer below…
threads getting noticed…
just wanted to share how threads is getting noticed in our city. skyline church created this video to encourage the work of the freunds and fusion as we share our lives with the plaza district. check it out . . . make a comment!
Threads- From Dream to Reality from Matt Lowery on Vimeo.saint francis prayer
a very influential prayer for me. we used it this week in our alms&offering element. what are some images that come to mind in this prayer? who are some you are seeing living this prayer out? how does this prayer find voice within you?
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Project:Safe
Thanks Heather, for sharing about your everyday life with Project Safe.
Fusion, how are you continuing to process the things Heather shared with us?
Threads in the City Sentinel
Plaza District church gives clothing donation process a spin cycle Wednesday, 24 September 2008 
Photos by Rod Jones
Several volunteers helped set up the Collective THREADS event Saturday inside Convergence Collective in the Plaza District.
By Rod Jones
A new community outreach center in the Plaza District has been bustling with activity since it opened, and Saturday afternoon was no exception.
The same group that runs the upstart and hip church Fusion held its second THREADS event, which organizers say is a way to not only help nearby residents with their clothing needs, but also a way to get to know its neighbors.
“We don’t see ourselves as givers,” said Daran Freund, who helps his wife, Rachelle, organize the event. “We receive from them by getting to know them.”
Freund explained how the Convergence Collective organization puts the THREADS event together. The church collects clothing from its members and outside sources. The clothing, which is primarily children’s clothing, is neatly folded and placed on tables according to size.
Economically challenged families are invited to “shop” the THREADS store and gather clothing free of charge. Volunteers help their “customers” find what they need as they get to know each other. Each family may select up to eight items per child, Freund said.
“We wanted to do something like a typical ‘clothing closet’ idea, but do it in a unique way,” he said.
Besides the Convergence Collective, volunteers for Saturday’s event also came from the Deer Creek school Key Club and Southern Nazarene University.
Freund said the Convergence is working on doing a similar format for winter coats, and has even come up with the catchy title “Cold is Hell.” And if its anywhere near as popular as the spring THREADS event, which served 45 families, the Convergence Collective is going to need a lot of coats.
View a video about THREADS on the organization’s Web site at www.convergenceokc.org.
Kara Wynn sketches a chalkboard sign advertising THREADS Saturday in the Plaza District while Andie Baird, 9, watches.
Shared Groceries Project
Thank you for participating in the Shared Groceries Project . . . we are continuing this—so, each week, consider how you can make something as routine as grocery shopping, become a place of generosity toward others. REMEMBER, simply bring the donated items to The Convergence Collective.
I also wanted to post a portion of an email i recieved from The Bethel Foundation.
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR BLESSING BETHEL FOUNDATION WITH THE FOOD FOR THE CUPBOARD. Just the other day we had a mother with six children that had lost her job and no money for food(end of month) and we were able to BLESS HER because YOU ALL BLESSED BETHEL FOUNDATION. Thank you. We appreciate the clothes as well as we have moms in here everyday needing clothes for their babies and themselves.Blessings, Lynda
Plaza District
Check out the latest in the Plaza District!
writings:
others:
* Awaken Retreat (Spring 09)
* Metanoina: forty days (Lent) to face a fundamental shift
* Community Is . . .
* My Year In Review 2008
Flickr
books we are reading
Making Room by Christine Pohl
EXILES by Michael Frost
Compassion by Henri Nouwen
Synchronicity by Jaworski
Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture
Take This Bread by Sara Miles
To Be Told by Dan Allender
Static by Ron Martoia
The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle
Living in the Presence by Tilden Edwards
Sadhana: A Way to God by Anthony de Mello
Saving the Appearances by Owen Barfield
Signs of Emergence by Kester Brewen
Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren
Divine Intervention by Tony Jones
Community and Growth: Our Pilgrimage Together by Jean Vanier
Created for Community by Stanley Grenz
From Stone to Living Word
The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture
Intuitive Leadership by Tim Keel
The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani
The Great Giveaway by David Fitch