Easter Eggstravaganza

Easter always seems to roll around right when we need it. When we begin to feel death creeping around us, that its victory is imminent, that the body of Christ has been bled dry and all is lost.

Then resurrection Sunday arrives, and we are reminded again what exactly we are doing here.

On Easter morning, we did not have any plans for the afternoon, aside from catching up on sleep after a draining week of seminars and services at NAMB, followed by a busy-as-all-get-out week full of meetings, logistics, taxes, errands, and busy work.

We picked Karina up, then rolled over to the Sosa family's house to pick up Lesly and Jennifer. It turned out that Melvin and their mom wanted to join us as well, so we all went to Church together. After Church, we all decided to have a picnic together in the park. What followed was an affirming time of fellowship and ministry.

I had a long conversation with a neighbor who is wrestling with the concept of grace. He spoke very kindly about our presence in the neighborhood and about the impact we've been having on his family. We made plans to spend some time together in the near future.

That's the story. Now see the pictures:

Choose Your Own Blog Adventure

The past two weeks have been almost too eventful for me to handle. When I get behind in blogging, I feel compelled to fill in many of the gaps, so I'm going to do a multiple-choice thing here. Then the following blog will be an elaboration on any one point that my readers want to hear more about.

So first, read the following bullet points, then, if you want to hear more about any given topic, leave a comment specifying which one. I'll count up the votes and elaborate. If no votes come in, I'll move on to something else.

Topics:

1. Ruthie and I went to NAMB training, and, while there were some good relationships established and some good information presented, it was a hard time for us. We felt overwhelmed by the emphasis on numbers and results. I realized through the process that for me, ministry is a sacramental thing, like communion. A God-given way to know and worship Him. Results are encouraging and worth noting, but the relationships are what keep me here.
2. This Easter was a beautiful, unplanned time of ministry for us. We got to bring some people to church, have some powerful conversations, and enjoy the company of many of our international neighbors. As if by narrative design, I returned from the difficult training and commissioning to a vibrant, dynamic time in my neighborhood.
3. The boys in our neighborhood are now looking at porn in public places using borrowed internet, and I'm gonna talk to them about it soon. The last thing I want to do is issue a guilt-based plea, so I've got to speak well about how it can affect them, and be non-judgmental about it. Please pray.
4. We did taxes last night, and they were high enough to undo the last six months of debt repayment, and put us back securely into the hole. I'm having to do some serious work on my attitude toward finances, because it seems like whenever we show discipline and start making progress, God springs some huge setback on us to keep us under our creditors' thumbs. I know that's not the way it works, but that's how it feels.

Hopefully, no one wants to hear about 4, so please take your pick from the first three and influence the future of this blog. Readers, I leave it in your hands. Pictures will be included.

David Byrne, Fatboy Slim, Imelda Marcos

I opened up my NPR Music Notes e-mail, and discovered that my old stomping grounds (The Philippines) is the star of a new collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. They made a two-disc concept album that tells the story of Imelda Marcos! Amazing.

Click here to listen to the album for free (this week only).

Mission, Vision, and Distinctives

In preparation for some training we will be attending this week, and because we should have done this a long time ago, I am working on defining Refugee Arts in terms of its mission, vision, and distinctives. Take a look at these and let me know your thoughts on a) if they line up with your understanding of our work and b) if you believe that they paint a picture of a biblical, effective ministry:

Mission: To open doors for the gospel by building mutually beneficial relationships between the Christian, creative, and international communities in Atlanta.

Vision: Refugee Arts will lead the way in uniting Atlanta-area creatives, church leaders, immigrants and refugees to meet one another’s spiritual, physical, and relational needs. Our work will multiply as we create practical ministry models, mentor young people, and empower leaders to impact their own communities.

Distinctives: The following characteristics, founded on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, define the work of Refugee Arts.

1. Relational: Refugee Arts is defined by its love for God and its love for other people. Because of this, we give priority to building and sustaining loving personal relationships. Relationships between God and men are the goal, the method, and the outcome of our work.
2. Peaceful: Refugee Arts exists to foster peace in communities divided by bitterness, ignorance, and pride. We will encourage communication between parties and subvert widespread bitterness with healing love.
3. Humble: Refugee Arts refuses to condescend to the people it works with. We will show the same love to the poor and needy that we show to pastors, artists, and politicians. And we will remain open to the love that others show to us.
4. Hospitable: Refugee Arts sees the home as the primary ministry center. We will invite guests into our homes, and we will visit those who open their homes to us. We will seek to live generously, and enjoy the generosity that others show to us.
5. Holistic: Refugee Arts cares about individuals and communities in a holistic sense. Our passion to spread the gospel includes practical, consistent demonstrations of the love of Jesus, who fed the hungry, healed the sick, played with kids, and addressed the suffering of those around him.
6. Creative: Refugee Arts acknowledges that we worship a creator God, and that we can know and experience him when we are creative. Our work, words, and wrelationships (w added for alliteration) will all be avenues for us to practice creativity.
   

Slogan: “Reaching the Ends of the Earth in Atlanta”

Cycles

I just finished a phone conversation with my younger brother, wherein we discussed the possibility of starting a saltwater aquarium-themed hip hop posse called the "Blue Tang Clan." We decided in the end that we are both too busy to make this dream a reality.

Back to the grind.

Melvin, although he has his share of issues (explosive temper and a total lack of filtration between his brain and his mouth), is generally open-hearted with Ruthie and me.

David and Omar go through cycles. They open up to me and have a good time at the activities center and at Communicycle, then they tend to rebel for one or two weeks after getting in trouble for picking on other kids (the main offense that Ruthie and I don't tolerate), then, after stewing for a while, they come back with or without apologizing, and we start over.

These little cycles have been testing my faith in our purpose here in this neighborhood, where it's hard to track any impact the gospel is having in the lives and hearts of the kids we work with.

But when I listen to the stories of my close friends and think back on my own journey, there were several mentors who showed patient, steadfast love to me without any results until years later. In fact, many of them probably have no idea how their love impacted me.

The model that Jesus gave us of caring for our neighbor requires a great deal of faith, because it doesn't normally create immediate results. While we do hear incredible salvation stories, and while the market-driven-church would lead us to believe that these stories are normative, my experience and much of what I read in the New Testament seems to call for something more than immediate results: we are expected to show faithful, whole-life care, tending consistently to all needs, from the spiritual to the physical, without expecting any thanks.

In short, it takes a lot of love to lead a soul home.

In the Neighborhood

Friday nights are solitary for me. Ruthie has her Refugee Beads class, and the car, all evening, so I usually spend the time at home, catching up on reading or watching a movie.

Tonight, I felt restless in our apartment, so I decided to take a walk, which was an admittedly bad idea, seeing as how the sky was cloudy and thunder echoed through the apartment complex. I threw on my hoody and headed out, walking across Buford highway over to a used bookstore.

Atlanta Vintage Books is a bit of an anomaly in my hood, a literary haven with all sorts of literature, a great bargain basement, and two friendly owners. Not what you'd expect in a neighborhood full of immigrants who struggle to speak English. I arrived fifteen minutes before closing, and the owner greeted me and invited me in.

We immediately began telling stories about spending Friday nights in bookstores or libraries, and we talked about our common love for reading, which sometimes overwhelms our desire to hang with friends or do usual Friday night things.

I headed down to the basement to see if they had any copies of the James Joyce books I hadn't read. No luck. I found three other books (The Ugly American, The Hamlet, and Heat and Dust) that interested me and returned upstairs to check out. The sky had turned completely dark in the five minutes I spent downstairs, and rain poured down across Clairmont.

"I gotta walk home in this," I complained.

"We'll give you a ride," the owner responded cheerfully. Only in our neighborhood, I thought, and gladly accepted.

On the way home, we talked about the joy of living in Atlanta's international village, our love for the mix of cultures in this city, and what Ruthie and I do in the neighborhood.

This is one of the joys of living here. I had an unexpected opportunity to connect with someone who shares my interests, and he showed me a kindness I had not expected. It wasn't a big event, but it brought some joy to me to connect with an odd little corner of our neighborhood, and enjoy an unplanned moment of friendship.

Newsletter Time

We've written up our latest newsletter, to be e-mailed out this week. If you haven't been getting them and would like to, drop me a message at the e-mail address to the right.