An Idea

You pass it off as a small thing, but it's anything but that. 

Yeast, too, is a "small thing," but it works its way 

through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. 

So get rid of this "yeast." - 1 Corinthians 5:6, The Message

Last Wednesday, two speakers from Homeboy Industries visited La Casa de la Comunidad.  These men shared their lives, both past and present, and how the compassion of Homeboy helped them to step away from the patterns of gang life in East Los Angeles.  At one point in the presentation, a very poignant line from Father Gregory Boyle's book, Tattoos on the Heart, was referenced: 

New Friends from Homeboy Industries meet our neighborhood.

"The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives."  


Indeed.  It's not only taken root, it's produced poisonous fruit.  It's infested our daily bread.  This idea allows us to walk around dirty homeless folks sleeping outside a 7-eleven with no more than a "what-a-lazy-wretch" sneer across our face.  This idea is the seed of the notion, "this side of the tracks, that side of the tracks."  This is the idea that allows slavery, inhumane treatment of prisoners, allows us to look at people as problems, issues, statistics in a world population explosion, and not, as we all were intended to be seen: as the image of God.

One of the Homeboys spoke quite eloquently about the internal damage an idea like this causes.  He said that he had no problem with people calling him a monster, a f*!&-up, a no-good menace to society.  He believed himself to be all those things.  But call him worthy of kindness, call him useful and helpful, call him beautiful even, well, his entire body rejected it, like an allergic reaction.  He said, at first, he would become so angry with a compliment that he would retaliate and work to regain the more comfortable status of being a "low-life."    The idea manifested in our sense of self, maintaining the lie that we can lose God's affection and can't hope of winning it back.  Or, more to the truth, can't believe that we never lost it in the first place.

Dwellers, Neighbors, and friends from Oasis came out.

What if being a "Christian" was, at the very core, simply about waging war with this idea?   I looked around that evening at all the faces listening, together, in kinship.  From different backgrounds, sure, but a gathering of people responding to the gritty truth of God's desire for restoration, as poured through these two former gang members.

I've been following the blog of an incoming Dweller, Ben Adam, who will arrive this fall.  This quote is part of a larger work of his on the politics of the Resurrection, but I found myself feeling the resonance of it during the Homeboys' talk: "The Jesus movement, unlike Marxism or the Cuban Revolution, did not seek to make a poor person into a rich monarch. It was a movement that believed G-d was bringing down the powerful and raising up the powerless so that they could meet in the middle as equals."  Meeting in the middle.  It's the heart of what we're attempting here in Hollywood.   God-willing, bridges of understanding, equality, and a kinship that only God could create, can continue to be built and nurtured.

I turned and looked at our current Dwellers.  I thought about some of the ideas they are starting to share, starting to blog about.  I'll leave you to ponder them, and I pray you are blessed in the thinking:

"God has called us to be present: to love His people as much as we possibly can, despite who they are or where they come from." - Alex

"I think that we all feel deficient, not just when standing in front of God but in many of our relationships, and that we all spend far too much time working to hide these deficiencies instead of handing them completely over to the One." - Robert

"Whether or not he stays does not detract from the fact that we cared enough to keep visiting him, find him help when he asked, and will continue to work with him, no matter the outcome of rehab.  He knows we care about him." - Alayna

"I started thinking about how many people are truly involved in this process of volunteerism.  This is not a one-man show.  If I had to list everyone involved in the process, I know that it would take up pages in very small font."  - Josh

"It's also hard for me to see what good a system is if it can only help some, but not all.  I even get angry that people have to be homeless or that there's such a thing as homelessness." - Brady

"Help [homeless people] feel not invisible as they have been walked [over] by so many people ignoring them.  We are all the same in Christ." - Kyle

May God meet you in your middle today.  Thanks for reading.  - Matthew

"He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud."
- Luke 1:52, The Message

Listening, by Kyle

My housemate Robert and I were heading to West Hollywood to check out a free movie that I won through a contest. As we were getting there, Robert was telling me about his job on PATH’s homeless outreach team.  They offer rides to a hospital if someone is hurt, offer advice, give a bag of food, and let the homeless know that PATH is willing to help them with a 2nd chance at life.   Robert brought up something I never thought about.  A lot of homeless have lost their self-esteem or lack the courage to seek a job. Why?  What if you’d been out on the street for months, or years, and people stare at you as they walk by, never talk to you, and just ignore you.  You may feel hopeless and think that if you tried to get a job, that boss would ignore you just like the people on the street.   So, one of the things the outreach team does is to meet the homeless and start a conversation with them.  The outreach team tries to see the same homeless people a few times every month so that those people know they aren’t forgotten.  That may help their hearts to heal, become stronger, and realize that not everybody is the same.  LA is a big city and it’s our job not only to help the homeless but spread the word about what we offer to help even more homeless with a 2nd chance at life.

From Kyle's blog: You Will Never Go Where God is Not

"Hide it under a bushel, No!" or, Blogging Commences

Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine!- Matthew 5:14-16, The Message

I feel like its going to be a great year (of course I feel that way about every year though.) I am living in a house with five other similar minded young adult volunteers. Our house is located next to Paramount Studios, just a few minutes walk from Hollywood and Vine. It is all quite exciting but also quite whelming. I'm not overwhelmed yet, but I think parts of my brain are. We have gone to the beach once; walked to Grauman's Chinese theater on the walk of fame; prepared meals for a massive operation that gives 1600 meals to people with terminal illnesses every day; and stumbled into a free big name band concert in a music store where we just wanted to buy a CD. - From Josh's blog, Adventurer Friend

I will be working 32 hours a week as a case worker with Alegria. Alegria is a ministry in Hollywood that serves families who were previously homeless and have at least one family member affected by HIV or AIDS. The ministry provides these families with transitional housing, health care, and works to equip these families in the transition back to housed society. 16 families are currently housed in our facilities. I am excited and also intimidated by the work expected of me at the agency. Please keep this ministry in your prayers. - From Alex's blog, Changes

After dinner, Mrs. Kerr asked us to read a part of the chapter in Romans. It was about serving God. Mrs. Kerr asked us what we think about it and what do we accept the hardest will be for us? Each of us told our part. I told the Kerr family that I hope I become closer to God each day and stay on his path and understand his ways, not mine. Then I was trying to tell her the verse of Proverbs 3: 5-6. I didn't even give her a clue and she just said, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Then I said yes, that is it. - From Kyle's blog, You Will Never Go Where God is Not

We have also begun meeting the kids in the neighborhood as they walk by, curious about the new people at La Casa de la Comunidad. The Community House has a longstanding reputation in the neighborhood as a safe place for the neighborhood kids to come for tutoring and fellowship. They have already been asking when the tutoring will begin again. Alex and I are both anxious to begin work in the community garden as well. I must admit all this work at the Community House is what I’m most excited for. - From Alayna's Blog, the space between

Please pray this week for my fellow YAV's as we spend this week in meditation and worship to help us focus on the journeys that lie before us. Pray for the friends and families we left behind and the new friends we'll make at our sites, and pray for the little things we can all do to make someone's day better. "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." -Psalm 139 v7-10. - From Robert's blog, Keepin' On

Welcome Alayna, Alex, Brady, Josh, Kyle, & Robert!

"God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind." - Isaiah 40:29-31, The Message

Tonight, when I got home from orientation activities, I found my 11-month-old daughter eating beets. In some people's minds, possibly and odd baby food, but she loves them. She studies their deep purple-red, kisses them, offers to share them with you, and delights in the purple stain on her fingers that lingers after she eats slice after slice. I marveled in how beautiful beets actually are: such a rich, deep, and pure color. And after a day filled with excitement, a little stress, and the newness of all that is initiating a new Dwell year, I saw the face of God in my baby's love for beets. And it filled my spirit.

From Indiana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and North Carolina, our six new Dwellers came together this week. It is such a swirl of newness, all the excitement of witnessing Los Angeles and Hollywood for the first time, all the intrigue of slowly getting to know the people who God has lined up as the members of an intentional community for, at least, the year. There is something so pure about it all, something so honest, human, and beautiful. And even though reality dictates that as the "rubber hits the road" and the work of the ministries begins, conflict will most certainly arise. My prayer for these six is that they can work to see those conflicts as opportunities, as chances to learn even more deeply who God is and who God can be. My prayer is that they constantly seek the courage to "wait upon God," as the Scripture urges, and that God would infuse them with energy and joy in the struggle and challenges they've been called to this year.

Won't you join me in praying for them? That God would walk alongside each of them every step of the way, and that each one of them and every neighbor they connect with while living here is richly blessed...

Please click on any photo to see more about how the year is coming together and how to connect with any Dweller personally to offer encouragement and requests to learn more about the ways God is being witnessed here on Gregory Avenue and in Hollywood!

Stepping Back to Allow

"Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us." -2 Timothy 3:16, The Message

For more photos from the week, click above

DOOR Hollywood, as with any DOOR City, is very busy in the summer time. We have Discover groups coming in each week, Dwellers coming to the end of a year while others are preparing to embark on theirs, and the neighborhood kids are off from school, looking for fellowship and fun at all hours of the day. It's easy to feel over-stretched, overwhelmed, and over tired!

This passage from 2 Timothy, though, calms me down. When we root ourselves in the Word, really lean up against it as a solid rock, we find that our energy levels are restored to the tasks God has put before us. And, for over-achievers like myself, we can better discern what God is NOT intending us to do by noting where our energy is not present. The beauty here is that, we can step back sometimes and allow others to take part in the action, the growth, and the joy.

LEAP365, from Eastern Mennonite University, on a tour at PATH.

So it would be that this week, fantastically energetic high school and college kids came to serve from the East Coast through a program called LEAP365. They sorted materials, met with and served the homeless, and explored Los Angeles all along the way. Wendy is taking on many of the repair and maintenance projects at the house before she leaves later this month by connecting with members of Hollywood Presbyterian, friends from the neighborhood, and other skilled folks like herself. And our incoming Dwellers: Alex, Josh, Brady, Alayna, Kyle, and Robert are beginning to connect with agencies, sending in resumes and holding phone and Skype conversations with potential supervisors for next year. All this is happening at once, by the grace of God, and when I step back and allow, rather than let my need to be over-involved prevail, I learn just how good our God is, and just how amazing it is to be a part of the body of Christ. Just a part, not a whole.

May God humble and bless you this week as well.

Matthew

Dweller Wendy allows her fix-it gifts to bless both the physical DOOR House as well as fellowship building opportunities with neighborhood kids.

Dwellers 2010-2011: from top left: Kyle, Josh, Alayna, Alex, Brady, and Robert

Together Because of Me

Kyle, from Tennessee, Dweller 2010-2011

"When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." - Matthew 18:19-20, The Message

Robert, from North Carolina, Dweller 2010-2011

Dwell is, literally, all about coming together in service and community in the name of Jesus. Trusting in the Word, all Dwellers can celebrate that if they surround their coming together in prayer, God will also be there. God is already here, and God will be here for these new young people when they arrive in the fall.

Our current Dwell unit is adjusting to the early departure of Curtis, and we are united in prayer for the new possibilities in his life. Alex, Will, Wendy, Kenna and I also prayed for Kyle, Robert, Alex, Alayna, & Brady, and the potential others who still might join this upcoming unit. It was a profound moment for me, as it was last year with Alison, Sara, Steph, and Mary, to envision this growing family of recent and current Dwellers united in prayer for one another. That God might be present for each group, and will also be present as a bridgebuilder from one team to another. It really enhances my understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.

Alex, from Pennsylvania, Dweller 2010-2011

So we ask for your prayers for all Dwellers, for God to be molding and shaping them whether they be in preparation to step out of this life of service on 5486 Gregory or in preparation to step up and into it.

Alayna, from South Dakota, Dweller 2010-2011

If you would like to find out how you can be more involved in prayer and other support, please click on any of the photos here.

Blessings and thanksgiving. May God continually bless these young people and this neighborhood through what it means to come together.

-Matthew

Brady, from Indiana, Dweller 2010-2011