Next Wednesday

Friends of Justice is a faith-based criminal justice reform group which organizes across Texas and Louisiana to fight wrongful prosecutions in poor communities. Their Executive Producer, Alan Bean, will be in Dallas on Wednesday, May 9th to talk about his work and how the local church can respond. Join Journey and other communities of faith as we host him and learn more about the call of Jesus in our criminal justice system. Contact Danielle at dgshroyer@yahoo.com for more info. The discussion will be held at CityChurch, 3601 Routh Street.

thoughts on time and neighborliness

last week at church we discussed what it is to be a good neighbor. seems a simple concept, but the idea of being too stressed and distracted to really live in the present kept surfacing as i listened to everyone's thoughts. darrell mentioned that oftentimes we are too busy to even muster up common decency and consideration for another's well being. our culture drives us to propel forward without so much as a glance to the left and right of us. makes me wonder what better people we'd be if we would just stop to breathe and look around. we'd probably notice more... be aware of our neighbor's pain and struggles. it's such a mindless "duh" kind of thing, when you think about it, but it is in fact SO HARD for us to really practice. anyway, i wrote more about this on my personal blog, which i've copied and pasted below..

'there's always something to look forward to. always something marked on my calendar. fun just waiting to happen. i spend much of my time and energy looking ahead to what's over the horizon..the next step.. things to scratch off my list..new goals to accomplish.

day to day, hour by hour, much of this future-mindedness is unconscious. just how life works; a reason to keep waking up every morning. but i am finding myself losing much of the present. well, i find myself not truly engaging in and experiencing what each moment has to offer.

it's like a super stressed bride and groom on their wedding day. they plan, they toil, they put so much of their time and thought into the big day, yet most say that they don't even remember eating the food-or knowing what songs were played- or what relatives they even spoke to. it's all about what's next on the list. and stress inevitably takes control and makes sure that you aren't relaxing and enjoying what's happening right now.

i've been trying really hard to step outside my routines and my stress and my calendar and just take time to look around at my current world- the emotions i feel, the weather, interactions with friends, smells, sounds, the work i'm doing (however tedious and pointless), and allowing certain moments to linger just a little longer than i would normally let them. sometimes this makes me seem ultra sappy or weird, but it's the only way i know how to slow down the clock.'

Easter reflections

Easter is (obviously) an important event on the Christian calendar. I grew up in a tradition that avoided putting too much emphasis on certain days of the calendar. This is because, of course, Christians should celebrate the resurrection every day! This is a great thing, but it can has the potential to become repetitive. I mean, every single Sunday recounting the death and resurrection...what a drag! (notice the sarcasm here).

I know there are pros and cons to both approaches, but for Journey we love following the Christian calendar. It gives us many opportunities to truly engage and remember in unique ways. This was the case for me this year. From Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Each gathering held a unique purpose and used a unique form to help us to experience the event.

For me, I particularly enjoyed the 'grand finale,' if you will. The final weekend. Good friday was a powerful time of silence and reflection as we had prayer stations set up to engage the senses to remember the brutality and ugliness of the cross and Jesus' death. Then on Easter Sunday at 6:45 am - as the sun rose in the sky - we were reminded of a new day, a new hope. I love how the whole thing was a process. It was 40 days of intentional remembering leading up to a simple (yet profound) celebration of life that stood in stark contrast to the despair of death.
And the whole process was done in community. We remembered and experienced it together. I am thankful that we can embrace the tradition of following the Christian Calendar, but in a way that gives us freedom to do it in the context of community.