Mark Scandrette

The culmination of our current Learning Lab, PLAY,  was a Fall Festival for children and families at Bernal Dwellings. For the past two months Lisa and I have been getting to know workers and residents of this city housing project and learning the needs of the community.

One of the highlights of our week is helping out with the food distribution program. We’ve heard the stories of many of our neighbors who have been displaced or live as refugees working to get established in America. The atmosphere on Wednesdays is electric, loud and friendly. People of all different races and cultures call each other “Mama,” “Uncle,” “Grandpa,” or “Auntie.”

So many have told us about a  brother, father or son they have lost to violence in our neighborhood. I met a teen girl on Saturday who wore a sweatshirt featuring a photo montage memorializing her mother, who died earlier this year. We see many people wearing such memorials around the neighborhood.

In cooperation with the Mission Neighborhood Center we had the honor of hosting a fun afternoon filled with carnival games, face-painting, a popcorn machine, hot dogs and cotton candy. About twenty people from our Tribes, along with teenage volunteers from the projects worked together to make this a magical family event on a rainy Saturday afternoon. The best part of the day was the laughter and conversations between people who would have never met otherwise– and the ties of relationship that were built between neighbors and ReIMAGINE Tribe participants.

Despite the fact that our neighborhood is steadily improving, housing project residents often feel cut-off from the rest of the community and stuck in a painful cycle of poverty and violence. Imagine the challenges of being displaced and isolated from positive examples and support. Developing relationships at Bernal Dwellings has helped us realize just how important a sense of community and safety is for the human soul. Throughout our lives we’ve been amazed at the resilience and generosity of people living in struggle, the deeply caring ways they learn to love one another and the trust and hope in God displayed in the most difficult situations

Dressing up is so much fun. If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, consider joining us for this fun interactive evening.

For more details and to R.S.V.P. click here.

September 7th, 2010 7-9 P.M.

Alamo Square (South entrance at Hayes & Pierce)

We are a community of people chasing down the question, “What does it mean for us to follow the way of Jesus in our time and place?” In this interactive event we explore core themes and moments from the life of Jesus that inspire our experiments, tribes and vows. Lead by various participants.

This evening is a kick-off for our 2010-11 offerings. If you are part of a ReIMAGINE Tribe or are curious about joining our upcoming experiments and community life, this is a great opportunity to engage our story and community.

At this event we are literally “entering the story.” Come dressed as your favorite character from the life of Jesus.

Please plan to arrive on-time and dress warm in a Galilean way.

Light 1st century refreshments provided.

We will meet just inside the South entrance of Alamo Square.

Bay Area people,

If you have been curious about ReIMAGINE and how you can get involved, join us for a casual party with drinks and light faire next Thursday September 10th from 7-9 p.m. Meet some of the people involved and hear a bit about our approach to community and spiritual development.  Let us know you are coming by signing up at: http://enterthejesusdojo.eventbrite.com/

Make me an agent of your healing and justice
To weep with those who suffer
To speak for my sisters and brothers
whose voices cannot be heard

I join the struggle
of love’s triumph over greed
Spending myself for the captive
Praying that more liberators will be sent
until every slave is free.

Sign up for this six week human rights campaign at: http://abolition.eventbrite.com/

Several years ago during a discussion in one of our Learning Labs, Sarah told us that she grew up in a very “conservative” family. I found this description interesting because I knew that her father had divorced and remarried several times and, in her words, subsisted  “on martinis and cigars.” What she meant is that her father had “conservative” political and economic views and enjoyed AM talk radio and conspiracy theories. This was very different than the kind of “conservative” in the family where I grew up.  My parents were morally “conservative,”  deeply religious and largely apolitical. They cared about global poverty and justice, personal piety and most of all, having a personal relationship with Jesus. Sarah and I used the same word to describe two very different realities.  If our parents ever met they would probably struggle to find much in common.

At a recent dinner party with good friends the conversation abruptly shifted when one of us used a derogatory label to describe someone from their family. The person had been misunderstood and hurt by a person they described as a “Southern Redneck.” I believe that the ways we often use language to describe other people are largely unhelpful. Most people don’t easily fit into the labels that are used to describe them. I know “liberal” people who are deeply committed to fidelity in marriage and “conservative” people who have repeatedly committed adultery. I know “traditional” people who care for the poor and oppressed and “progressives” who talk about compassion but don’t show it by their actions. I know “Christians” who live in fear and hardly pray and agnostics who pray earnestly every day.  The labels we use conjure up images and prejudices in each other’s minds prepare us to react to people in ways that aren’t true to who they really are.

From my vantage point, the “culture wars” raging in America seem to be fueled by a lack of empathy or understanding for people who are different than us. We don’t all have to agree, but we can learn to conduct our discourse in a ways that are respectful and personal. I might not like the views of a politician or agree with the tenants of a certain religion, but I can learn to speak about people that in a way that is fair and generous.

One of the challenges of my role and location is navigating between many different communities and cultures that don’t necessarily understand one another. I often find myself acting as translator– explaining the experiences of my gay friends to someone opposed to certain legislation– or dispelling misconceptions of Evangelical Christians to a “mainline” or secular person. In some of the groups I work with I am dangerously “progressive,” while among other groups I am considered the token orthodox or “evangelical” Christian. Yet I am often surprised by what I have in common with a conservative Rabbi, a Zen Buddhist, an atheistic naturalist, a gay priest or a zealous Southern Baptist seminary student.

The fact is, no one is as simple as what our first impressions may be.  My neighbor Jeanine is a prime example of this. Jeanine is a lawyer. She is also a native Texan– who grew up in a devoutly observant Jewish household, but currently practices Zen meditation. She is also a lesbian, a vegetarian, an urban bohemian and the mother of an adorable one year old daughter.  Jeanine loves to mountain bike and surf, speaks fluent Spanish, and talks to her mom everyday on the phone. She is a unique and intriguing person that is beyond the sum of her biographical particulars.

When we do react to each other out of our stereotypes, we fail to love one another in the way that God loves each of us. People are people. The example of Christ calls us to see one another with eyes of hope and possibility, curiosity and tenderness– because we are not alone. We belong to one another and to the one who made us.