Welfare, Government and Jesus

I read an article about the role Christianity plays in a welfare state and what the government's role should be in caring for the "least of these". Citing scripture as well as FDR's position on this subject, it displayed the arguments for and against government assistance. Most troubling about the article though was the response, and the overwhelming desire for people to eliminate or reduce government intervention and have welfare be a volunteer effort, even using scripture to back this point. So my question has become: where does government step in? "Capitalism elevates and sanctifies self-interest," yet "we are told to have the mind of Christ in elevating the interests of others over ourselves." How then can I live in a capitalistic society without being sucked into the capitalist machine?

It troubled me that the response to this article, mostly from relatively well-versed Christians, was to justify capitalism as well as to justify the rights of individualism first over the support of the "needy". How do we operate within this overwhelming attitude that many religious conservatives adhere to, the attitude that you should assist when you want to and to the extent that you want to?

I believe in giving until it hurts, and then more, but it is something I am not used to and something that society says I should not burden myself with. I should live in my nice suburban South Tampa condo, drive down to the ghetto when convenient, do my couple hours of service and drive back home, stopping by Daily Eats, of course to get my bagel with schmear and Starbucks to get a tall caramel Frappuccino.

I'm not saying either of those places are sinful to enjoy, but we should burden ourselves with giving until it hurts! We should live in the ghetto and take up the yoke of the needy! Teresa also said, "If you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." But how do we shy away from our selfish desires? How do we give so that our efforts are not in vain and love until there can be no more hurt? How do we become effective when Christians do not share the attitude of Christ? Growing up surrounded by the idea of self interest, and existing in a capitalist society, how do we live a life all about justice?

To understand God With Us

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year, but not for the bases of what it represents, rather for what the season brings (aside from massive obsession with consumerism, greed and ruining ones credit). It is a season that brings people together, it is the time where my family always gets together. But what does this season really represent? Although it is widely accepted that Jesus was born in the Spring, this is a celebration of his birth, the coming of Emmanuel; but in Christmas, what is really meant by his birth?

Israel was a name given to Jacob after his wrestling with an angel of God. Israel, roughly meaning struggles or wrestles with God, is the story of the Hebrew nation, the constant falling away and coming back to God. His chosen people consistently struggled with God and the world, going in and out of captivity by one nation to another. What would it have been like to struggle with God in the way the Hebrews did? Promised a savior, a Messiah to rescue them from bondage and struggle, what would it be like to pray for a savior to come and rescue?

Then Jesus is born, the savior, the answered prayer. What would it be like to hear of a savior, one born in a barn and fleeing Herod's wrath. The King born into a child. How would I react? What would I feel? What would it be like to experience the birth of a savior that we had been praying for? To see and worship Emmanuel, even as a babe? When I listen to Advent music and think about the meaning behind the lyrics I wonder how it would be to experience the actual birth of the savior my people have been praying for for centuries.

I know Christ, His love is within me and I have known my savior for years, but in the mix of the holiday season, and the pressure society places on people corrupting the true meaning of Christmas, I want to go back to the root of the holiday, the meaning of the birth of the savior, to experience the birth of God With Us.

The Paradox

There are many days that it seems I can not go on. I can not care for another person, meet another need, or welcome another visitor. The weight of giving yourself to others becomes too great and I want to give up. I want to crawl into my room and hide from the world, from the pain, from the call of Christ. However I am always surprised by the joy that wells up in me at these moments of disillusionment. There is a joy that I find nowhere else in this world than at my wits' end with a life among the poor. It may be the reminder that God is with me, or maybe the knowledge that I am exactly where Jesus has called me to but it is truly ineffable. It's like being caught by the safety net of purpose and meaning which really is the grace of God. Like the idea that too much of a good thing is bad; it seems like too much pain is really good. When you empty yourself for another you are filled. When you have mercy, mercy is yours. When you weep with another, your tears turn sweet. Tonight I was sharing these thoughts with a community member and was reminded of these words of Mother Teresa :

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

Here are a few other quotes to meditate on:

To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

- Galatians 6:9

"Give me health and a day...

...and I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous."

-Emerson

Once each month, the whole lot of us spend a day together. Very often we spend the time doing some kind of work, a project for productive bonding. Slacker though I am, I've loved working with people towards a useful purpose we have chosen. Labor has a way of distilling our words and actions, so that most of the idle babble by which we hide ourselves is left behind. Our particular strengths and weaknesses are set in front of the whole, and there we are. A little more naked, perhaps than we like to be, and a degree more real. It's uncomfortable, and we usually have self-defending attitudes to dispose of before much can be accomplished with the task at hand or with the people by our side. We can grow by sharing work.

And we can grow by sharing fun and leisure. So this November, in lieu of ripping out walls or building fences, we crossed a bridge and headed for Fort de Soto to spend the day on the beach. Fueled by fast Caribbean food and driven by Gio and his vanly van, the nine of us spilled out onto the sand, some with books, one with a football (is this becoming a trend?), into an unflinching glory quietly spread out over land and water, between earth and sky. We had spent plenty of days tinkering away with our own attempts to create and to craft; now it was time to step into Dad's workshop and see how a pro does it, see the breadth of creative work that is our inheritance. I can't find any way of setting letters next to each other on paper or manipulating tongue and teeth and vocal chords to communicate what the sand says as it reshapes itself beneath and between us, or what the tide is teaching as it expands and recedes on the cusp of dry ground. Every clever word that comes to mind bows out of the conversation because of the molten waves of color pouring out of the horizon. It was good.

Like tides on a crescent sea-beach,

When the moon is new and thin,

Into our hearts high yearnings

Come welling and surging in-

Come from the mystic ocean,

Whose rim no foot has trod,-

Some of us call it Longing,

And others call it God.

Disease

We have nematodes. The root-bloating, root-twisting, and ultimately root-destroying kind. The explanation for the vegetable garden's lack of growth has been found. Why is it so hard for things to stay healthy? Recently I realized that my spiritual life had too become diseased. I had ceased to nourish it properly. Without constant prayer, without constant pouring into others, without constant purpose it's easy to fall into the disease of deception. The deception that our faith is meaningless. After only a few moments of selflessness, my faith felt restored. God, you are so good- and Oh, how we need you! Brothers, let us humble ourselves so that our faith may grow.

Pass the bread

"When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you."

Happy Thanksgiving

The Evolution of Service

Jesus had fish and bread, we have open sourcing. There is a new wiki that's been created as a one-stop shop for the homeless community. Some of us from LakeHouse will be there on Friday to participate in the launch. In a world that pursues innovation for profit and status, this is very refreshing to see. We need more people engaging in new and innovative fields to expand the Kingdom and serve the poor.

Here's a fun discovery:

There is a community in St. Petersburg called the Bayboro House.

They invited underground peeps who weren't away with Intervarsity this weekend to have a barbecue at their house. This group of 17 men, women and children are part of the pacifist Church Communities International, formerly and variously known as the Bruderhof Communities, the Society of Brothers or the Hutterian Brethren. This network of small and not so small communities was founded by Eberhard Arnold in Germany in 1920. They have fled from Germany to England to Paraguay and to the US, following as closely as they know how to the early christian believers' practice of holding all things in common. No member keeps a personal bank account, and they all work together in various industries like cleaning services, carpentry and contracting, sign making and child care. Their lifestyle is simple, largely free of contemporary distractions of attention, devotion and resources. Yes, that means no TV. The brothers and sisters prefer to fill the void left by the entertainment industry with each other. It's austere to most of us, and it's been good to get a better perspective on how others try to live out their convictions.

It was really refreshing to spend time talking with some of the younger and older members. What the best of us in Tampa has for zeal, they have in ardent commitment. The guys explored together the common thread between our two peoples, which turned out to be football. There is a stand at the front edge of their property with a few books made free to any passerby, so I took one called Be Not Afraid: Overcoming the Fear of Death and sat on a firm mound of seaweed at the waters' edge to read while the rest tossed the pig skin around. Being antisocial is how I engage. By the time the sun tucked into its western bed, the goodbyes were tinged with gratitude for such open hospitality and a little bit of wonder about where our search for a just lifestyle will take each of us.

You Wanna Change the World...

...but you don't wanna change your ways.

From Claibornes comment about doing dishes to Durden's advice about ownership, we hear a common theme: idealism and dreaming vs. real life, habit, and craving for security. In community the battle is brought to the front lines of sharing, sacrificing, and learning to be patient. We come here to learn and we miss the lessons. We come for community and we cling to our independence. We dream of revolution and we dont take up our cross. Sometimes we don't even lay down our lives. We look outward and struggle inwardly. We cry for justice on the Earth while there are theives in the temple of our heart. Surrender is imperative, we say that we agree and we walk in disagreement.
Jesus, chase them out! help us to desire the means to the ends that we really desire. May your kingdom come and may we your people learn to let go and love.
God help us.

Halloween

Tonight the house on Lake Avenue was flush with light, full of new faces (some of them painted), feasting on the grill and pulsating with beats courtesy of John Langley*. We had a block party for Halloween and invited the neighbors to chill with us. Matt and Will took turns at grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. Yummm. Friends from the Robyn's Nest community joined us and their Drew was good enough to take these pictures, lest all memory of the evening fade in a sugar daze.

Gio,Drew + Alexander jammed and danced with the kids. Natalia dressed up like a hippie. Natalia being Natalia, it was not apparent that she was in costume. Jon did caricatures of anyone willing to be defaced by his pen. Doug + Dennis brought a cotton candy machine to make sure our sugar levels stayed high enough. Some people had awesome costumes like Robbie the caveman with his real actual dreads. Some came as just the studs we are. Everyone was welcome.



*John Langley is, in fact, the man. Just in case there was any question about that.

And the effect of righteousness will be peace...

This is a catechism adapted from the writings of Adin Ballou, whose work was used by Tolstoy in his The Kingdom of God Is Within You. It takes the form of question-and-answer to explain simply but thoroughly the idea that violence, accompanied by our well reasoned excuses for it, is strictly opposed by Jesus. The writings and example of those who question such a basic part of human civilization as violence serve as an unsettling challenge to us Braveheart and Gladiator fans.

Q: Where does the phrase "non-resistance" come from?
A: From the command, "Do not resist the one who is evil."

HOSPITALity

I was healed, cut, comforted, and visited.
When I was there, I was not feeling well and was tired from pain medication. The last thing I wanted to do was socialize and I wasn't much to talk to when others came. They came though. Lots of people. Mother, Father, sister, wife, Waton & Enslie, David. Will, Robbie, Patrick, Drew, Matt, Brian...
I felt like I needed to be hospitable.
I had nothing to offer. No energy to entertain. I could only receive. I became poor and got to encounter my community and family who love me as weak, poor, embarrassed, and humbled and I realized the strength and presence of God's love in them in a new and powerful way.

Be greatful & share

I was just in the hospital for a stomach ache. I went first to a walk-in doctor on a Saturday morning. I had had three days of stomach pains. On the second night i took laxatives and it flushed me out but the pain was still there. I felt embarrassed going to a doctor for a stomach ache at all. The doctor also acted like it was nothing. "Well, I'll test your blood, since you came in.." She comes back, "Your white count is kinda high. You should go to the ER." I thought to myself, "Sit in the Emergency room with a stomach ache? I'll never get in." So i went to the smallest hospital I could think about. Probably a good idea by the way.

I ended up having appendicitis and had my appendix removed.

This could be a deadly condition if it ruptures inside of you. Mine did and they washed me out.



Many in this world don't get these "inconvenient" doctors visits.... and they die. One of many preventable illnesses that kill 30,000 children every day. Some are more easily preventable....like starvation.

Commune

In the past month, my life decisions have become the life maze of God as He is pulling me from the comfort of white middles class America and calling me to truly care for the marginalized. Hence, I move to the Lake House.

Today I spoke with a pastor from my childhood, someone I greatly admire, about the decisions I have been making, most significantly my moving into the Lake House. Telling him with excitement in my eyes about the new house and opportunities, I described it as an intentional community. He fired back, in a half-hearted joking way, like a 'hippie commune' of the 70's. I was confused and startled. Wasn't this biblical? Are we not called to live with one another, each eat other's bread, weep in each others tears? I guess he saw the confusion on my face when he quickly changed his position to support (with reservations) the decision to live with a brother intentionally and confirmed the biblical nature of such communities. After much thought I realized that from the outside it could very well be seen as a commune, I mean what other kind of environment do crazy Jesus people pack as tightly into a house as they can. But as I am nervous walking into this lion's den of a house, I am overcome with excitement. I realize each moment I spend within the walls of this house, although this will be my first night actually sleeping here, this is not anything like a commune, it truly is the biblical representation of how we are called to live. I am surrounded by people who understand the calling of God to live and share in each others sorrows and joys. Men (and a woman) who strive to not live in a commune separated from society, but a community that interacts with society to spread the love that surrounds us and moves through us so that maybe, just maybe we might get it right one day and let Jesus be reflected in our faces, and get lucky enough to see Jesus in each other. I'm reminded now of a word Shane Claiborne used in his book Irresistible Revolution, one used in Calcutta when he saw Jesus in the eyes of a leper: namaste, or "I bless the holy spirit I see within you." I pray that each of us here has the opportunity to say such things, not only to each other, but to those who are the poor in spirit, to the surrounding community so desperate for the love of God.

a heavy grace

Jesus said that his yolk is easy and his burden light, but lately there have been more needs and burdens than I could possibly carry alone. Things are going well with me but so many people have burdens that love compels me to carry alongside them. Each unto itself seems large but bearable. But when in each direction you look you see another need, it quickly seems like you couldn't poosiby take on more. And it is to that place and at that time that more seems to come. We look to God for strength to continue and to finish what we have started. He points to our comunity and the fact that these yolks that I have embraced as my own are now being carried by my brothers around me. Together we pray and carry each other and those that God has entrusted to us. Then, in every direction you look, you find brothers and partners and friends. Love and laughter and peace. God's presence is felt in these holy others... in the poor and weak as much as the comrade at your side. These burdens are ours: yours, mine, and His.

The Elusive Wheel

Prison, Drugs, Violence, Rape, Poverty, Addiction, Homelessnes, Disability, Sickness, Illiteracy, and Isolation. Our house is daily in relationships with victims of these evil and distructive forces. We meet needs, bandage wounds, listen, and love. But I remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer saying that "It is not only the job of Christians to bandage the wounds of those crushed under the wheels of oppression, but to jam a spike in the wheel itself." I also remember Isaiah writing that we are to untie the cords of the yolk, but he also goes on to say that we are also to BREAK every yolk. What is it that we can stand against? Where is this wheel, this yolk? I heavily felt the weight of this question this morning as the house gathered for morning prayer and began to plead with God on behalf of each of these friends of ours. I know that we are doing good to stand beside them and love them and serve them, but as we prayed and one name followed the next I began to want to find the root. Now I know that I am not here to fix anything and I am not here to be a savior to anyone, but these charges from scripture and giants of the faith are compelling. Where is it that they are to be compelling us? I feel lost and unsure of the direction. I know that we will continue to love and serve the poor but I long to know where I can make a stand on there behalf. I want a crack at the wheel or yolk itsef! Is this a desire for greatness or specialness? I hope not. All I know is that the closer I get to the poor of this world, the more it hurts and the more I rage. Perhaps this is the encounter for the heart of God that we are praying for. A broken heart.

One year ago... Natalia after home church

Tonight:
Cooking for tons of people when I always hated to cook. Sitting and laughing in the crowded living-room, with my house-mates and several homeless people from our community. Pondering James, chapter 1, together. Wisdom flowed between us. In a moment no less miraculous every time it happens, the differences in skin color, in age, in walks of life, all shriveled and lost their power. Lord, we all need your strength. Lord, we all need your love to flow into us, and from us. From the aging addict to the freshman. Grant us your transforming love.

"What Lord, do you have for me here?"

Tonight I felt an answer.

"This, Natalia, is your Eden. Here, you have much to learn. Here, you have the chance to learn to love people different from yourself. Here you will be whom I created you to be. Here your life is not your own, here you will serve others."

So on Sept. 14, I turn 25 and nothing changes. Here I remain. Only, something I had once known but somehow forgotten is again being revealed to me. This neighborhood and it's people are profoundly beautiful. I really do love this city. So does God. And here I will be fulfilled.

Happy 26th!!

The Romero Garden

"It helps now and then to step back and take a long view.

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of
saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession
brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives include everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one
day will grow. We water the seeds already planted
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects
far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing this.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,
a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's
grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the
difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not
messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own."

Archbishop Oscar Romero (martyred on March 24th 1980)

The above prayer was actually composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw as a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero. Bishop Untener included in a reflection book a passage titled "The mystery of the Romero Prayer." The mystery is that the words of the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.

Grateful Inevitability

There is momentum about, a captivating path now forming, now leaving sparks to the left and to the right. What begins as a jerk away from a predictably impotent way of life finds focus on an omega point in the distance. It shines broadly enough to show how very much ground there is to cover. What a long journey it would be to that goal, that aspiration, that realization; and what loneliness and doubt threaten the aspirant, were it not for our fellows along the way. Those who do look to their left and to their right give more than just encouragement to another. To look on another's struggle without blinking or shirking away, but with the honest attentiveness with which one looks at one's self in a mirror, that is the point itself. And it cannot help but grow. In the body, only disease can spread, because health is a passive absence of sickness. But in the hearts of men, where disease is still subject to will and faith, healing can spread with a fury no cancer can rival.
And here we are, next to each other, no longer content with pretending to be free agents only. Now all things are at stake, because we can take stake in every man's story. God knows what towers are bound to topple when the bonds of self-interest are shaken off.
The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

smells like pork chops

Watson doesnt live at the lake house, but he leads the fraternity AQPsi with Jon. he showed up the other day with the brands he had made in haiti.

Only at the lake house..... Enjoy

Gardening

here are a few pics

Declaration of Interdependence

A Lake House Legacy

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!

Psalm 133:1

This document is an attempt to define the values and purpose of the Lake House community. These are core values, to be present regardless of who may leave or join the community over time. We are an eclectic group striving towards spiritually, economically, and ecologically sustainable practices. We are moving toward deeper expressions of our values and a more stable sense of community.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of our house. At the heart of all of the following values is a commitment to Christocentricity. We are created and defined by Him and His leadership in our life together. He is our common ground; everything else grows out of this. We seek to make real in our town the incarnation of the Son of God, and so we commit to these values.


Ministry:
Our house is a church in the most primitive sense. We are a gathering of believers that worships God and has a mission in Tampa Bay. Our micro church is a part of the Underground Network and we trust this umbrella of leadership to hold us accountable to Christ’s commission. Each week we gather together and open our doors to our neighbors to break bread, to pray and to study the teachings of the apostles.¹ Our hope is to develop a core group of committed members that do not live with us and partner with them to serve the poor and reach others with Jesus’ message of the present Kingdom. Being part of a network of micro churches gives us the opportunity to partner with our brother and sister communities for the sake of collaborative mission. We support their work and enjoy their involvement in ours.

• Neighborhood- We take responsibility for our neighborhood, and consider it less of a duty and more of a privilege to serve the families, adults, children and elders who live around us. We value spending time with our neighbors and look to share our lives with them as they share theirs with us. We pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in all places and work to bring it about in Ybor Heights.

Community: 
We share in each other's passions, burdens and ventures, so that none of us is ever ignorant of or completely uninvolved in our communal efforts.

• Prayer- While the form and frequency of our common prayer time is to be determined by the group, we are committed to maintaining spiritual discipline as a community. This can be expressed in morning or weekly prayer time, fasting , fits of intercession, et cetera.
• Underground Network- We consider other micro churches that make up the Underground Network² to be part of our broader community. While not mandated, we encourage each member of our home to contribute towards the efforts of and attend the larger gatherings of our Network, and to share in the worship and sacramental life of the Body of Christ.
• Time- We meet as a group every Sunday evening. This time is set aside to be together, hear out our convictions, ideas and grievances, plan our week, make decisions, pray, find accountability, and review and recommit to each other and the values we share. We commit one day each month to spend the entire day together.

Hospitality:
There is no more repeated charge in scripture than ‘Welcome the stranger’ and we are committed to a posture of hospitality.

• The Poor- We seek to learn about and meet with Jesus in our interactions with those in need around us. Jesus said that when we serve the poor we serve him. We maintain that serving and valuing the poor is central to who we are because Jesus is central to who we are. “It is our conviction that God is always on the side of those who have no one on their side. For that reason we believe the church should also stand on the side of the poor and in so doing stand in solidarity with the heart and work of God.”³
• Cooking- In our effort to serve and provide for each other’s needs we share the responsibility of providing dinner for our community and its guests. Each person has an assigned night to buy food and prepare a meal in time for dinner. The specifics of the weekly schedule are revisited and agreed upon an the beginning of each new term.⁴
• Sharing and giving- Many individuals who come through our door are in need and ask for money. While we don’t rule out giving money to a person in need, our hope is to get to the bottom of the actual need and meet it as directly and gracefully as we can. Many people need food and we would much rather welcome them in and share a meal. They may need a bus pass and if it is possible we would much rather drive them to their destination. In meeting needs directly we not only ensure that money is not hurting the people whom we seek to love, but also that we have the opportunity to build real and sometimes lasting relationships. “In sharing what we have with others we confess that God is the true owner…In giving we destroy the grip of materialism over our hearts…”⁵

Stewardship:

• Voluntary Simplicity- “We value a life style free from clutter and the allure of materialism. We believe that every believer and every community of believers has a responsibility to renounce the sins of its own people. As North Americans we renounce the slavery and idolatry of materialism by embracing a simple lifestyle. We do not believe that money or things are in themselves evil or to be avoided, but that the love of money and things is one of the greatest perils facing western Christianity in our time.”⁶
• Finances- We share most of our living expenses, including the mortgage, homeowner’s insurance, property taxes, utilities, food and a variable fund held in common, to be used at the group’s discretion for anything from new windows to a block party.
• Household Maintenance- With gratitude for the resources entrusted to us, we all take part in keeping and improving our home. Having a clean house is a tangible way to serve each other and create a welcoming space for visitors. Chores are assigned and done consistently toward this end. Together we look for ways to continually improve the property as a house and as a home.
• Ecology-From theological reflection on nature and emphasis on the biblical basis for protecting and celebrating the environment, we are committed to ecologically sustainable practices. As we strive to use less resources and meet as many of our needs as possible through cultivating the little bit of land entrusted to us, we learn to value our food and the earth that produces it. We believe that raising our own food helps reconnect our relationship to the lives that are taken for our nourishment. We are committed to recycling, composting and otherwise reducing waste; we are here to contribute to our community, not to its landfill.

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it."⁷
"The land is not to be permanently sold because it is Mine, and you are only foreigners and temporary residents on My land."⁸

Creativity:
We serve a God that has created all the beauty we find in our natural world. Having been made in his image we find that we are also fulfilled and find goodness in creating. Artistic expression is immeasurably valuable and we long to grow closer to the heart of God as we worship with, seek justice by, and enjoy exercising the creative impulse.

"In the wondrous blending of sounds, it is Your call we hear; in the harmony of many voices, in the sublime beauty of music, in the glory of the works of great composers, You lead us to the threshold of paradise to come. All true beauty has the power to draw the soul towards You and to make it sing in ecstasy. The breath of Your Holy Spirit inspires artists, poets and scientists, who reveal the depths of Your creative wisdom."⁹


Gratitude:
"What inexhaustible riches must invariably open up to those who by God's will are privileged to live in daily community life with other Christians! Of course, what is an inexpressible blessing from God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trampled under foot by those who receive the gift every day."¹⁰

In learning to love and share and be with people as they are, overcoming the petty influence of personal preferences and offenses, we believe that God reveals to us the treasures He has invested in each person; the unchanging value of being made in the image of Divinity. It takes us by surprise. So it is with this disparate group with no sure bond but the surest one: Christ in us. We celebrate and enjoy each other's company, help, correction and influence. We have fun, and we're grateful for it. Gratitude opens our eyes to all there is to enjoy around us, so we choose to dwell on that and fight the very natural tendency to let familiarity breed contempt. After all, what is our common life, if not a reason for thanksgiving?


Notes
¹ Acts 2:42 "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
² www.tampaunderground.com
³ “What We Value” taken from http://intervarsity.faithweb.com/underground/values/
⁴ Ideally a pair of individuals can share the cooking responsibility on a given night. It is better to have a few nights on which there is no community dinner, if it enables members to share this experience and expense together. It sometimes works out that certain nights are not worth cooking on based on each member’s schedule.
⁵ “What We Value” taken from http://intervarsity.faithweb.com/underground/values/
⁶ Ibid
⁷ Genesis 2:15 ESV
⁸ Leviticus 25:23 HCSB
⁹ Akathist of Thanksgiving, Gregory Petrov
¹⁰ Life Together, Dietrich Bonnhoeffer