Check out an article I wrote, entitled “Our Families, Our Youth, & Our Teen Prostitutes,” about one intersection of their work and our neighborhood over at my neighborhood blog, Aurora|Seattle.

In the light of learning to live into parable and what that means for our daily lives, I decided to write a parable for our community of Aurora.

Here is my attempt:

There once was a young girl named Aurora. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire city. She was always full of life, of love and hope for the future and her neighbors. Everyday she would awake at dawn and begin her walk down the lonely streets of the city. Aurora would see many hurting and broken people living on the streets, in back alleys, and old vans. But one man caught her attention more than the others, because he was sleeping a small cardboard structure.

“Excuse me, sir? May I be of help?” said Aurora timidly. “ I don’t your urgh help, silly girl, get away from me!” Aurora kept slowly approaching the scary man and began to open her small arms to him. “Get the hell away from me!” Huffed the man. Aurora slowly wrapped her arms around his legs and just held him. “AHHH!” the man screamed and kicked and cursed loudly. “LET GO! I HATE YOU!” But Aurora closed her eyes and held on tightly.

The struggling man reached for a bottle of pills he had nearby and began to open it. Aurora quickly snatched the bottle and swallowed every pill! Again the man cursed and screamed and franticly reached for his syringe needles. Aurora promptly grabbed each syringe jamming them each into each of her veins. Aurora screamed in pain, the angry man yelled in rage and fear.

Aurora continued to hold the man with all the strength she had left. The angry man’s eyes began to soften, the volume and intensity of his words quieted, and his chin lowered to his chest, as the man began to softly sob.

“I love you”, whispered Aurora. “I love you too Aurora, thank you, thank you. I will plan on seeing you again tomorrow”.

——————————-

What truths or meaning do you see here?

Does this evoke emotion in you? If so, What?

Ruth is an 80 yr old woman who I met a couple of months ago at the Sun Hill Motel. Ruth suffers from dementia and is also bi-polar. Ruth has many layers..like any of us, but her layers are..thick, magnified and twisted by her illness. Slowly Ruth was able to trust me and let me into her room..and life. I came to see that she had no support of family or friends. She was completely alone except for the very occasional visit from a social worker who Ruth would not allow into her room.

The office staff at the Sun Hill would care for her as much as possible but this care was often viewed by Ruth as inadequate. Under her layers of paranoia and frustration I found Ruth to be very very funny and a pleasure to be with. In the same breath, spending time with her was honestly quite difficult because she often cried a lot about the loss of her relationship with her son, she was confused and often angry. The Sun Hill could no longer care for Ruth or tolerate the drama that seemed to affect other tenants. Ruth had to be evicted.

Ruth of course did not want to go and voiced her opinion about the matter. Before long, the folks in charge of Ruth’s care were arranging for her to be picked up via ambulance along with two cop cars. Last Tuesday was pretty surreal for me as I sat with Ruth in her room while the ambulance, cops and her case manager sat out in the parking lot. The way it was supposed to all go down seemed so wrong to me. Without any communication, everyone showed up and just sat in the parking lot. No one came in to explain or prepare Ruth for what was about to happen..that she should pack an overnight back..where she was going..why the ambulance was there..nothing. The surprise approach was apparently what would work best with this 80 year old woman.

I went out to find out what was going on and I was told that Ruth was going to NW hospital until they could find another facility for her. When I returned to her room I shared the news. Within a short time Ruth had her bag packed. We stood in her room looking out the window at the crowd that had now gathered. Ruth cried, we hugged. Ruth then stood up straight and said that she had to look strong. I asked if she was ready to face the music..she said yes and I opened the door.

A gurney had been pulled up to her door, the two police officers were right there, the case managers and the paramedics. Ruth yelled and told them to get away as she walked toward the gurney. They tried to touch her but she insisted on sitting on her own (I was so proud of her). Ruth had quite a few colorful words and gestures to share .. (I probably would too if I felt the way she did).

My friend was then taken to the hospital where when I saw her next she was SWEET AS PIE..due to something that she was given. (..I must say.. I know all those folks were doing their job, I think I am disturbed more by the system then anything).

Since that day ,Ruth has been moved to the Psych ward at Northwest. On day two when I saw her, she didn’t recognize me and couldn’t speak very well. It was extremely sad and it was actually scary to see how much she had changed (due to the meds she was put on). Over the next couple of visits she has been better and more “with it” then before. Through all of this, I haven’t seen anyone else visiting her or helping her out. I’m still working on finding out if the lawyer who has power of attorney is taking action..if it is all behind the scenes and I just don’t know that folks are indeed advocating for her. I believe that Ruth will be there for another week and some until she is moved. I called her power of attorney to let her know that there is a community in Greenwood that would love to have her close by if indeed there is a facility in the area.

My hope is that Ruth will be moved somewhere locally where at least she will have a chance at feeling loved and supported.

I’m clinging to hope with my eyes closed and fists clenched believing that God is with her, that there is hope for her and that she is loved by more than me.

Think about it. The heart and soul of any talk show has always been a monologue in which the host takes the audience on a journey through the news, cracking wise about the things that happened that day. “The Tonight Show” has always been a kind of a water cooler where we all showed up and waited for the funniest person in the room to say something hilarious.

But as things stand now, by the end of the day, we all have been bombarded by news and commentary from all manner of media, making “The Tonight Show” and its ilk increasingly seem beside the point, no matter who is delivering the monologue. In its glory days, “The Tonight Show” served as a search engine on culture, letting us know which politician had made a gaffe, which corporate evildoer had been caught doing evil and which starlet had experienced a wardrobe malfunction.

Now the search engine is the search engine — or more likely, any number of “did-you-see” alerts received by e-mail or on Facebook, Twitter or other sites we visit from our desktops or on our cellphones.

As I read Carr’s article my mind drifted to a not-so-distant cousin of the late-night monologue – the Sunday sermon.  For over five hundred years, the “heart and soul” of any worship service, at least in the Protestant tradition, has been the sermon.  The homily.  The message.  The talk.  It has long been the place where the one educated in Scripture (usually a man) would take the congregation on a journey through the text, making comments about how God-inspired ancient words apply to us in the present day.  And Sunday after Sunday the congregation “showed up and waited” for the smartest person in the room to say something profound.

Now I appreciate the art of the sermon just as much as the next seminary-trained, ordained clergyman, but I can’t help but wonder, what might the struggle of monologue-centric late-night shows, who seem to be failing to recognize the changing nature of information dissemination, mean for the sermon, for worship, for the church?

What does it mean for the Sunday sermon that there are Christian blogs about everything?  What does it mean that we almost instantly hear commentary from Christians about global events, and then commentary about that commentary, via Twitter and Facebook?  What does it mean that there sometimes seems to be little correlation between the quality of a sermon preached on Sunday and the amount of transformation taking place in the lives of individuals and in communities on Monday?

What does it mean?

Some television networks, I mean, churches, continue to insist that it all comes down to talent.  More people will listen to and be transformed by sermons – more people will attend church – if the messages are delivered by the best, most provocative preachers around.

For other congregations, accessible theology books and sermon podcasts from the church’s leading (loudest?) thinkers feed the flock, leaving little or no place for the more local, ‘ma and pa’ sermon.  Or at least, no one in attendance to hear said sermon.

Other churches, like Awake or some of our sister churches, have opted for a Sunday rhythm that may include teaching three out four times in a month, or every other week.

For us, it is not a question of whether or not the proclamation of the gospel is powerful.  It is a question of what it looks like to proclaim gospel of the kingdom of God in a post-Christian society, a question of how to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that it effectively provokes the realignment of hearts and communities to the way of God.

The Sunday morning sermon – like the Leno or O’Brien late-night monologue – just might not pack the same punch it used to.

I don’t pretend to have the answers – and there are routes that churches are taking that I didn’t mention above (e.g., passionate, faithful, non-consumer-oriented Sunday morning preaching of the Word. Beautiful!) – but I’m certain that this will be a reality with which Awake continues to wrestle as a missional community on Aurora Avenue.

NBC, it seems, will be doing the same.

In the aftermath of Haiti’s worst earthquake in 200 years, our hearts break for the families and the victims of this tragedy. As many as 100,000 people are likely to have died and one-third of Haitians – about 3 million people – were affected by the earthquake. In a natural disaster, it is almost always the poorest who suffer the most – those who have the least to lose are often those who lose the most. It is an injustice that one’s economic status – as an individual or a nation – often determines the extent suffering from a natural disaster.

We grieve that the devastation was worsened simply by the vulnerabilities of poverty, that Port-au-Prince cannot afford the reinforced infrastructure that we have, or the endless medical supplies and personnel we take for granted. We grieve also that so many should suffer such great losses when they have so little, and that they no longer have what they depended on for their daily survival.

Today, tomorrow, and in the months and years ahead, please pray for the people of Haiti and for CRWM and CRWRC field staff. Pray that they feel God’s presence in the very midst of this tragedy, suffering with those who are suffering. May they feel God’s loving arms around them.

Gracious God,
Your word of peace stills the storms that rage in our world.

Bring hope in the midst of the devastation in Haiti after this tragic earthquake.
Bring comfort to those who grieve the loss of loved ones and material necessities.
Let your love be known through the words and deeds of those who work to bring order in the chaos.
Help us also to shoulder the burden of suffering in any way we are able.

Make us bearers of hope today
and let us also remember the poor and vulnerable in the months and years ahead
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Check out what I wrote about it at my neighborhood blog: Aurora|Seattle.

In today’s church culture, it’s easy to get caught up in the mindset that a local church’s distinctives guide it’s ministry. In other words, the things that set us apart from other churches and ministries, the things that make us unique, are the things that we should keep coming back to as we discern God’s call for our community. So maybe for Awake, it would be stuff like our commitment to Aurora, like a community garden and BBQ’s, like building relationships with people who call motels and vans ‘home’, like a more organic approach to community, like a commitment to justice. Like, a lot of stuff. Good stuff, too. Stuff that Jesus has called Awake to be about.

Yet none of these things should guide or ministry.  It seems obvious, right?  Our ministry should never guide… our ministry.  But I know what should.  Or, I  should say, who should.

God has given followers of Jesus his Spirit, his Presence.

My prayer for Awake (one that I would welcome you to join us in praying) is that we would be people who recognize that our distinguishing mark as God’s people – the one thing we have to offer the world – is God’s loving and powerful and life-bringing Presence.

I don’t want us to go forward without and without acknowledging God’s Presence.

Nor can we.

12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

Yes, Lord, now show us your glory…

At any rate, we are a community of creators created by the Creator…

Up to this point we have had minimal expression, collectively at least (though there was this and this), of this quality of our community.  That’s okay, I suppose, for now.  But I am eager to see what happens when we have the opportunity (perhaps, space/time/resources) to create as a community.

In the meantime, I invite you to take a moment to get acquainted with some of the poets and painters in our community who are doing amazingly creative things:

• Andy’s recent interview with Scott Cairns, poet of faith and mystery, got published by The Other Journal.
• See Heather’s always-interesting thoughts/refections/photography here.
• Check out Scott’s new show at Cafe Verite in Ballard.
• Learn from Lisa’s life and love.