Blanketted

The blanket is one of my favorite symbols in west coast culture. "Coming under the blanket" indicates belonging, family, and responsibility in light of that relational tie. Some of us who are not Native have been blanketed as witnesses in ceremonies or as family to mark celebrations of significant events in the lives of families.

This Easter we celebrated the first baptisms in the life of our community. As AJ came up out of the frigid ocean water at the end of Main Street, he was "blanketed" in a white blanket. A symbol that he belongs to God, that he is clothed with Christ, wrapped in white, pure and new with the presence of the Spirit like a mantle upon his shoulders. This is a gift and an honor. It also comes with responsibility. To be a witness. To tell the story of what happened on this day. To live in light of the reality of belonging to God and to God's family.

Good Friday in the Hood

Today is a holiday, the streets are full. The sun shines. Twenty of us, ranging in age from 74 to two months, stand in line outside the mission, waiting for a meal with another 70 of our friends and neighbors. When the doors open we tumble in with the rest jockeying for seats where there is a good ratio of kids to adults, and we tuck in to a beautifully prepared "easter" dinner despite the fact that today is good Friday. But volunteers don't come down to serve meals on Easter Sunday, so it is now or never for the ham and scalloped potatoes, and no one is complaining.

After the meal Beth stands and invites anyone who would like to join us for a walk through the neighborhood, to remember the path that Jesus walked this day many years ago. Some leave, some stay and we walk familiar paths through our neighborhood. The path we walk to accompany a friend to court, familiar and yet more profound as remember Jesus' experience of a kangaroo court where nothing he said would make a difference in the outcome, so he says nothing. We too have sat silent before judges, powerless.

Over and over familiar spaces transformed by the memory that the One who loves us spent his final hours, on the wrong side of town, on the wrong side of the law. Forgotten, beaten, another dead body. Just like us. But this Friday we call good. A Friday with the power to transform every day since.

Christmas Eve Pagent

We spent Christmas Eve wandering through our neighbourhood in the dark and the rain, carrying Mary and Joseph and the light of Christ knocking on doors, asking if anyone had room to take in a pregnant unwed mom and her partner. When we finally found a space, we watched the story unfold as told to us by our kids in this video. Merry Christmas. May you find space to welcome in the Christ to your life this Christmas.

Some pics to accompany Genevieve's post

Chicago by Genevieve Clarke

Jodi had come to me and asked if I would like to go to Chicago for a week for a conference , Just me , NO kids , Babies or Terry. I was all over that & it sounded to good to be true. First I had to get a Pass Port, Never had one before so that in it self was exciting. After all the " yes you can go , No you can't go to finally yes you can go (because of the Ministry of Children and Families changing their minds about care of my twin granddaughters who are in my care)" Jodi , Beth , Michelle & I left on September 5th , 2010 , Michelle left before us & Jodi drove us to Seattle & we stayed in this off the side Motel. We go to park Jodi's put put & Beth is holding on for dear life cause Jodi parks on a hill and she was afraid we were going to tip over , That was cute . We get checked in and get to our room & Jodi decides to "check" out the bed & the bouncing begins . If Beth was NOT on the bed at the time Jodi would of bounced right out the window into ??? That was funny :) We had to then get up at like 4 in the morning to go catch the plane (freaking out) , Airports are like tiny cities. I LOVE THE MOVING WALKS , again that was funny , Just how they SHOOT YOU OFF the other side :) I would diffidently make that a field trip . Getting on the first plane will forever be etched in my head. I can honestly say I FACED A FEAR & BOARDED THAT PLANE :) A huge THANKS TO BETH FOR THAT , I was freaking out yelling at GOD & there was Beth asking him to help me & be with me :) I don't remember much after that. Then we had to get off that plane & wait in the airport in Detroit ,we played cards to pass some time & AGAIN I KICKED SOME JODI BUTT :).. Getting on that second plane was/is kind of a blur thanks for gravol . We get to CHICAGO & the first thing was to find "THE PRETZEL" . Hands down best one yet :) Now we are at the train station trying to load the transit cards , weird system down there , same price , I still have my pass & it dose not expire till 2012 with like 2-3$ left :) Well we finally get to our hotel & Michele is there YEAH. We were on the 15th floor & we faced this river that ran through most of the city , If it was not for my fear of heights I would of just sat by the window the whole time :) And again Jodi had to test the bounce in the beds , LMAO. We were there to attend these workshops they had going on & I attended 3 of them , the first one sucked , the other two were awesome. They were lead by the only other 3 Aboriginal people I saw there LOL. I don't wan to talk alot about the workshops I want to focus on the FUN that was had by all. I was amazed by the Beauty I saw in the African America Black People , Men , Women , Children WOW. after we half settled in I went outside & while I was outside waiting for Jodi , Beth & Michelle , there was this bus loading people up to go ??? & this lady kept asking me to board the bus , I was LIKE UH NO thank you :) We ate at different places for lunch and dinner my favorites were the Japanese place ( I think ) & the Pizza place , U need to eat the DEEP DISH PIZZA with a fork & knife .

Another moment for my book is I was outside the hotel waiting to go for lunch ?? & the Bell Hop , an older man , was helping this group of older women into this cab , OMG , this one lady was having a hard time getting up & in so buddy goes and gives her a push up & says to the others waiting to get in " JUST PUSH THE TUSH ". Everyone's mouth drop , including mine & I LAUGHED SO HARD OMG . I still laugh :)

& they have a rat problem as well HOLY . I was again outside smoking and I went & sat across the street at this cement park thing & it was dark out & I was reading my book i brought with me & all of a sudden this "FAMILY OF RATS " came right out from under my feet , HOLLY !!!! Then again the next night I went & sat on the other side were u can see what is coming and going ( so I thought ) & from OUT OF NOWHERE A RAT!!! They also had posters of BED BUGS on the "skytrains" . We got to pick one day a choice of a bunch of tours they had set up at different churches & centers around the area . Jodi & I went on this tour of Lawn dale Community Church & all the different centers & health clinic they have going on. At this old run down fire station they have this whole HIP HOP thing happening .

Our trip home was an adventure in itself too. We are almost home after the ONE flight to Seattle YEAH , we run out of gas , LMAO. So again we play cards waiting for HELP :) JODI ALWAYS SAYS " IT IS NOT AN ADVENTURE TILL IT IS A MISS ADVENTURE" Well I think that is all I have to say about that :) I had an AMAZING TIME , If time could be stopped for awhile that would be one time in my life that I could do again. & Jodi says ( well not just Jodi ) " you always leave something undone when u travel so then u have a reason to come back ) & we / I left at least 3 things , First would be a boat tour of the river , Going to the Black Hawks sports store & to find the start of the river :) Jodi & I walked to the pier & It was amazing how big that lake is (lake Michigan).

Again I want to THANK GOD for that wonderful gift of going. I also need to THANK JODI for thinking of me when planning for this trip , A BIG ,OK the BIGGEST THANK YOU TO BETH for NOT HAVING ME TRAVEL ALONE WITH JODI. She tends to be ALOT of WORK when traveling / camping !!! LOL. Then there is my girl Michelle , I have expressed my Love & gratitude for Beth & Jodi over & over & I know we both shared in this experience together But I am just wanting to say the YOU R THE BEST TRAVEL BUDDY/ ROOMMATE ANYONE COULD ASK FOR :) I had a great time with you & can't wait for the next trip :)

In a small nut shell these are my thoughts on "MY TRIP TO CHICAGOOOO!!!!"

gg

The Church Plant.... plants!

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. (1 Cor. 3:7-9)

This summer, our church has taken on the responsibility of gardening a plot of land right in the middle of the neighborhood, in the community gardens that Jacob's Well has been gardening for the last few years. We will be taking responsibility for managing and lending out this garden space starting this fall.

It has been exciting to watch together as our tomatoes, potatoes, onions, squash, beets, carrots, corn, zucchini, chard, beans, and cucumbers sprout up. There are also plenty of blackberries to pick and eat! At a recent BBQ in the garden, the kids ran around asking what vegetable each plant was growing, and were delighted when they could sample them. We have loved being able to welcome avid gardeners from the neighborhood to come and help us out, and we've enjoyed hanging with our friends at the Servants Community, who live next door to one of the gardens. We've even made headway at driving out most the rats that have plagued these gardens in past summers.

There is a lot of hope in gardening, and a lot of richness in distributing and enjoying the flavor of food we've planted and watered and weeded and pulled with our own hands, on our own turf. Of course, it's God who's grown it for us, and we're grateful for the sun and the (little bit of) rain and the potential He put in those seeds. We look forward to more chances to connect with friends and neighbors over God's creation. Here's to many, many more harvests!

Many thanks to our friends from Illinois who helped build this tent and teepee for our beans to climb! The kids have enjoyed crawling underneath it.


Jodi is especially proud of the corn, which is taller than her. Now, to keep the rats from eating it...


Some of us like the dirt more than the veggies...

Baby Dedications

One of my favorite things about a church as small as ours is that marker events in people's lives naturally contribute to shaping our times together. For example, the grief that some members of our congregation were experiencing yesterday as a result of the recent deaths of friends and family members led us to scrap our original plans for the service. We spent our time praying, singing, and drumming to express this grief and cry out for God to hold us. We were going to tell the next story from our David series, out of 1 Sam. 24, but instead we read David's song in Psalm 23 and reflected on how God shepherds us, as he shepherded David, through times of darkness.


The intimate character of our congregation also gives us greater flexibility in times of celebration. So when it came time to dedicate the twins last month, instead of inserting 10 minutes of baby dedication in a service (like I'm used to!), we gave the family freedom to help plan and shape the whole service around this marker in their lives. They chose the songs, they chose the location, they invited their friends, and planned the meal that would follow.


This baby dedication service, which we held on the top floor of the family's apartment building, drew the one of the largest crowds we've ever had as a church - around 50 people, I believe. Many residents of the building came, as well as many family members. It was exciting to have so many people there to honor the family and witness the commitments they were making.

We began with a blessing in the form of a First Nations drum song, sung by the twins' step-grandfather, their father, and two of their uncles. We also sang the worship songs the family chose. But my favorite part of the service was being given the opportunity to bless and acknowledge the twins' family: parents, grandparents, uncles, and extended family. So many of them have gone above and beyond what is normally expected of family. I talked about how I have seen the image of God in them as they have helped care for these babies: the image God the Father, God as our Mother, Kinsman Redeemer, Guardian. We also acknowledged the godparents, and called everyone to make commitments to nurture the twins in God's love. The babies' grandmother (and current guardian) wrote a letter to the twins, which was read aloud. The babies were anointed with oil, and passed around so that everyone could touch and bless them. We shared a delicious meal together afterward.

It was a beautiful service, and an important chance to remember that it takes a whole family network, and a whole church community, to raise a child - and even more so when you're raising two at once!