Mark Scandrette

Last Monday I spent time with my friend, Mark Van Steenwyck, a man with Santa Claus eyes and a hearty laugh. Adam and I took Mark on a walk through China Town to North Beach and had coffee at the historic Cafe Trieste, where Francis Ford Copola wrote the screen play for the film, The God Father, at the back table. Mark has a special place in my heart, partly because he lives and works in the neighborhood where I grew up in South Minneapolis– but mostly because he is pioneering a new pilgrim path that is urban, holistic and activist. I’m anxious to see where Mark’s dreams will take him in the next 5 years.

The first two months of 2007 have been an incredibly productive and fruitful season for all of us working with ReIMAGINE. We’ve had the opportunity to interact with over 1,000 people through speaking engagements, training events and one-on-one appointments. In a small way we hope that our work imitates the pattern of Jesus and his earliest disciples. There was a broad continuum to their contact and impact with people– from large crowds in the daytime to intimate conversations at midnight. Jesus traveled and communicated his message in many different places. His disciples also made itenerant visits to various towns and villages. As Jesus traveled certain people responded strongly to his message and he spent time explaining further and training these disciples. Jesus also took the time to relate one-on-one when people had deeper questions or needs.

Over the past two months our team has traveled extensively throughout Northern California teaching and speaking to groups (prespectives courses, training classes in churches, group retreats and public discussions). We also facilitated several local workshops and events, (previously named the Jesus Dojo and now called Learning Labs). Our travels and networking have helped bring energy to our local SEVEN community. It has been exciting to meet new people every week visiting our SEVEN gathering on Sunday nights. We are literally busting at the seams, averaging 30 people a week, and are searching diligently for a larger meeting space. Yet for all of us, the most rewarding part of our work is the time that we get to spend with individuals over a meal or coffee, hearing life stories, and helping guide people in their next steps through spiritual friendship, mentoring and service.

I’ve had the privledge this month to begin meeting with Jason who has recently begun seeking the way of Jesus. Six years ago no one would have expected Jason to be interested in Jesus as he traveled to our neighborhood to buy a daily dose of heroin. During a process of drug recovery Jason slowly began noticing that many of the people surrounding him were Christians– not the kind he anticipated from the steorotypes, but people who lived with a great deal of integrity and compassion. Jason started asking questions and out of curiousity began reading the scriptures. Gradually he came to see himself as a disciple of Jesus and is eager to discover how to rethink or reimagine his life to pursue the greater wholeness we are invited into. Together we’ve been exploring what it might mean for him to reimagine specific dimensions of his life: his time, money, relationships, mental space, goals and vocation. Its been fun for me to see Jason making new choices that are opening up new possibilities.

CREATIVITY is one of the seven vows we have taken as a community based on the example and teaching of Jesus. Jesus communicated his message using poetry, stories and provocative performance art. When Jesus announced, “The kingdom of God is at hand” he invited us to repent, reimagine or rethink our thinking about life. Awakening and renewing the imagination is an essential step toward returning to the Maker’s vision for our lives. And because we were made in the image of a Creator, exercising freedom and creativity is an important response to the sacrifice of Jesus. The apostle Paul described the fruitfulness we were made for when he wrote: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10).

Although some people may fear the concept of imagination, (as though it is synonomous with myth or fantasy), as a culture I believe we suffer, not from too much imagination, but a lack of redemptive imagination. In our work with ReIMAGINE we try to help people awaken their imaginations for what it might mean for them to live more fully in God’s dream for our lives. We think this is one of the essential goals of reading scripture and doing theology– learning to connect our individual stories with the larger story revealed through scripture and in history. So, if you ever visit our community in San Francisco, you will meet people using the arts to connect their story to God’s story through painting, poetry, song-writing and other creative endeavors. Not all of us are professional artists, but we encourage each other to find ways to explore and express the story of God and humanity in artful ways. We hope that through the freedom and creativity found in person of Jesus we can be apart of awakening the imagination of our society to “a new way of life.”

Yesterday in the mail I received 15 advanced copies of my book SOUL GRAFFITI. It was a cause for an impromptu celebration with my family and our housemates including a mid afternoon glass of wine and dark chocolate all around. I told the kids, “See, papa was really writing a book in all those hours I had to spend away.” It was fun to hold the product of this labor in my hands— and even more fun to read it, pleased with what I found on the page. If nothing else it was the best book I could write in 2006.

Here’s an excerpt that relates to what my week has been like:

So many of the problems in our world seem to elude our comprehension and our ability to resolve them. The psychological effects of famine, war, or domestic abuse linger long after the hunger is gone or the fighting has ceased. Some situations seem beyond mending—I think of chronic generational poverty and mental disorders as two perplexing examples. Where power and human will are involved there is great resistance to change. Anyone who follows the path of a healer will eventually come to face the limits of human intervention. Dealing with these challenges and ambiguities should not make us throw up our hands in despair or retreat into passive complacency. In Mark, we see the story of the disciples of Jesus coming to him frustrated because they could not cure someone who was demon possessed (in the language of our time this might mean mentally distressed). Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). When we reach the limits of our abilities we can call on a power greater than ourselves. At times I’ve laid my hands on a neighbor who is passed out drunk, praying for divine help when treatment programs and other interventions have failed.

Jesus accessed the power of the kingdom to heal people who were sick, disabled, or mentally ill. And he promised his disciples, “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these” (John 14:12). Peter the disciple saw a lame man begging near the temple and said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). The man got up and walked. Is the apparent scarcity of miracles in the First World evidence that we lack faith or compassion? Perhaps Peter didn’t have any money because he had already given it all away. If we believe that all problems are essentially related to the spiritual, then we are invited to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor and then beg God for miracles for what we cannot do ourselves.

In recent years I’ve steered away from what I consider an over emphasis on “prayer” as the default solution to personal issues. I’ve met so many people who use prayer as a band-aid to cover self- inflicted wounds that stem from a lack of personal discipline or moral failure. We live in the messes we have created ourselves– and sometimes the solutions are not magical– but very practical– accountability, self-control and new patterns of behavior. I’ve noticed that alot of issues come down to learning to how handle stress, emotional discipline, financial management, time allocation, care of the body, sexual ethics and relational integrity. We should do all we can to move ourselves toward greater wholeness– and then call on a power greater than ourselves.

My week has been full of appointments and conversations with friends who are truly sufffering: couples struggling to stay married, friends managing their depression and anger, people grieving losses or living with a profound sense of failure. And I’m reminded of so many friends who long to find love and marriage– who struggle with a profound sense of loneliness. When we have done all we can to manage our lives and choose what is best, we are invited to call upon the power of our Maker for the “magic” that we don’t have within ourselves. There are certain situations where only a miracle will bring change. One thinks of, for instance, of the friend who wrestles with a serious addiction or progressive mental illness. With these situations in our community we have begun saying, “What we need here is some Holy Ghost Power!” The phrase makes us smile because it is so different than the language we normally use– but is also a deadly serious acknowledgement that in many situations what is needed can only come from a power beyond ourselves.

I’ve also noticed the important role community plays in personal health. Often when someone is not doing well mentally, emotionally, spiritually or relationally, they withdraw from the relationships that could give them the most encouragement and accountability. I think you would find, for instance, that long before a couple divorces, they often divorce themselves from the communities that could provide the best support. I’ve wondered if we should more agressively pursue those who withdraw from relationships– since withdrawal is so often a sign of unhealth– even when maintaining such relationships requires conflict.

In any case, I feel that the burdens I am sharing with friends right now gives me a sense of sobriety that is good grounding for my soul. And I’m begging for “Holy Ghost power” to know how to be a caring friend.