Friday, February 29, 2008

new trailer

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

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The public pastor...

This is my spot. I sit here when I am alone in one of my favorite cafes in East Central, it's called The SereniTea Global Caffe. It's located right on East Sprague, in a rough part of town that is working hard at rising out of the seediness of her past and claim a stake in the ongoing development that is taking place around Spokane. I sit here and look out at the dirty street, the asian market, the toothless people that straggle by, the women that seem too old for how young they are. I listen to the chatter of the mentally challenged that live in the apartments above...I love this place and these people, some I now call friends. This is one of my offices, as a mobile missionary, a public pastor, a city saint...I've talked about Jesus here, movies, tea, street fairs and refugees, children, business, art and writing. This is why I carry a laptop...to be where life is happening. A table for a desk, a cell phone for a secretary, walking shoes instead of dress shoes. Replacing the office with a coffee shop was one of the best steps missionally I have ever taken. I bring friends here to support the hard path of carving out a good business in an area that needs people to dream and do. I sit, drink loose tea, some of the finest here in Spokane and dream God's dreams and often get to share them too.

I wish...

I love this old church, at least from the outside. It sits as a old guard in a corner of East Central that needs it. I hear that the two congregations that are trying to survive in it...will be moving out. Unfortunately the cost of heating this beast makes my frugal, responsible self duke it out with my dreamy, historic, artistic self...a tense spat that often erupts when style and function go for each others throats in my consciousness. Oh the pain of being a pastor and an artist.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Uummmm...wait a minute.

My past is coming back to haunt me...
des axe.jpg

The signs that God is moving...

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This is what the LORD Almighty says: Once again old men and women will walk Jerusalem's streets with a cane and sit together in the city squares. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play. "This is what the LORD Almighty says: All this may seem impossible to you now, a small and discouraged remnant of God's people. But do you think this is impossible for me, the LORD Almighty? -Zechariah 8:4-6

So...what do you think?

Well, this is what I see...

Houses that have their windows and doors barred.
Rabid dogs that look like they could chew the flesh off your bones....guards instead of companions.
Warning signs on doors that have a hand pointing a gun at you.
Empty streets.
Homes that you can't see inside because they have every curtain shut.
More backyards than front yards.
Video games instead of bicycles.
The absence of hellos...

A lot of Fear.

Revival, it's not here...yet.

I will know that true revival has come when we hear, not just the exuberant sound of worship songs and fiery pounding pulpits...but the gentle click of canes as old people take their walks. I will believe God is moving and true transformation of our cities is happening when I hear children laughing...

Outside.

Crossing bridges...

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"I only care what is happening in my neighborhood."

Someone told me that on the other side of the bridge yesterday. Our neighborhood years ago was cut in two by a highway. Now there are these two pedestrian bridges that connect us but in reality we live and think about ourselves as two more than one. I have made a concentrated effort in my times of prayer to walk the streets of both. The challenge of being missionally located in a specific neighborhood as a ministry is the tendency to become narrow in your reach and in your heart. It's a two sided bridge...on one hand we really can only care for a limited amount of space...our side of the bridge.

I mean real practical care...not the care that comes from a pulpit...it doesn't matter too much where people live for that ministry, nor should it....people traveled for miles and miles to come hear Jesus preach and participate in the ministry that sprung up around Jesus.

But if you are going to try to dramatically influence, care for, serve and love an area outside your church building walls...too big an area means you don't practically accomplish much as the collective & gathered body of Christ. I am not talking about individual life ministry that takes place wherever the believer is. I am focusing on the power of a united and mission determined church. But we must face the truth that churches tend to be bigger in their thinking about themselves than they are in actual impact locally. We indulge in a lot of fantasy life when it comes to how much we are really loving our communities.

The other side of the bridge issue is that if you get too local...you start only caring about your side of the bridge. God's call is bigger than your block, your street, your neighborhood, your community, your city...your nation.

Understanding that means we are going to have to cross over our bridges.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

What do you see...?

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I spent some very refreshing time in Mark 9:14-29 this morning and after carrying my own "corpse" to Jesus seeing "him" rise up, I spent time in worship and then went for a prayer walk in the neighborhood. I had remembered that my mailman had mentioned that drug users had discarded their needles on my street, so I decided to grab my camera and go see if I could document this plight. I ventured out on my little prayer & portrait exercise and ended up at the end of my street with no needles found. As I was walking the Lord spoke to my heart and challenged me about what I was choosing to look for...if you want to find death you can find it but the true challenge is to discover life among the dead. So with a refocused heart, I set out to walk some streets I normally don't and allow the incense of prayer and praise to spill out as I walked.

As I did my heart was yet again burdened with the blight, bruises and marks of sin, depravity, hopelessness and just plain disgusting waste of humanity. The garbage is thick in my neighborhood...bottles from all forms of alcohol, household refuse, litter all over the streets and in the dirty post snowfall...its like a sewer of discarded waste. Cast aside broken furniture, a graveyard of rundown cars, countless windows that scream poverty with their blankets instead of curtains. Yards that stink up the very street with their dog crap that doesn't get shoveled. Broken windows, a mosaic of scattered glass that is sprinkled all over the sidewalks and streets.

Wrappers are our flowers...tossed aside with careless disdain, junk from everything that cheap grocery stores peddle to feed the nutritionally impoverished poor. Hidden alleys reveal used condoms from late night tricks and discarded panties on the dirty ground. Vacant houses, broken down, boarded up...moan the dirge of decay. In a moment of overwhelmed disgust..I murmur how much of a shit hole this place is. Reality is Faiths wicked sister. I stumble down the sidewalk as I try to scrape off the doggie dung from my shoes, after stepping in it while prayer walking...oh the glory. I feel a tinge of anguish and anxiousness as my mind is invaded with guilty thoughts of raising children in such beauty challenged places. Yes, walking this neighborhood can be a horror seen through the natural eyes.
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But in my pilgrimage of prayer I find small edens....sacred groves. Spots where artists have painted me prophecies of a greater power than sin. Some streets where houses shoulder up to actual homes that reveal love and family in their gardens and well situated fountains and birdhouses. Corners that are like little flowers in this busted up concrete wasteland. I find myself bowing in my heart as I sing a song of redemption, the highway cars drown out my voice but I know Jesus is listening...that devils are fleeing. Song and prayer and tears fall like heavens rains on the trashy streets. Yes, faith can see something more than the bleak present. Dreams and hopes wash the sidewalks with each step...every step a reclaiming, a act of defiance...a battle with death.
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God always asks the prophet..."What do you see". I confess...I see by the grace of God...a neighborhood being invaded by the Kingdom of God...one step at a time.

Monday, February 25, 2008

So true...

I saw this picture in a restaurant yesterday...it made me laugh.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Accidents Can Happen...

Wow...what a singer...and what a message. I am thoroughly impressed.

Life is Beautiful...

I heard this song on the radio today and thought...wow that rocks...who is it. Of course, I found out...its Six:AM with one of my old school faves Motley Crue member: Nikki Sixx, crunching out some hard rock....oh feel the bass. I'll never forget Tommy and the spinning upside down drum kit...now that was a show! Soon as the pretty pastels and lace started entering the hard rock scene I knew armageddon was near...I was "Shout at the Devil" Fan myself.

My escape


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Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Nothing transports you out of the drama of life than a great Sci-fi show and The Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles has been one sweet escape.

The Manga Bible

This is one of my favorite new things...The Manga Bible by Siku. It's a graphic novel approach to the bible, from Genesis to Revelation, not a verse by verse but the main themes. Really great artistic endeavor. I dig it.

Prayers for the dead....answered.

One of the brothers in our church that is in recovery, ran into a woman I wrote about in the below post. He was at an NA meeting the other night and she shared how she is now clean and sober for over a year, has a baby and is doing much better. I remember that day and hearing that prayer and some strong words from some brothers in recovery, "saved her life" as she put it....made my day.
God is Good. I pray we see more and more women like her, saved, delivered and healed in this neighborhood.

Becoming prayer for the damned

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Semi-Pro

The give me gospel....

I read about this the other day, a snippet out of a fund raising letter from a very prominent tv preacher:

"... we have recently taken delivery on our Gulfstream G4SP plane, which we call Dove One. I have enclosed a beautiful photo-filled brochure to explain more about this incredible ministry tool that will increase the scope of our abilities to preach the Gospel around the globe. Now we must pay the remainder of the down payment, and I am asking the Lord Jesus to speak to 6,000 of my precious partners to sow a seed of $1,000 in the next ninety days. And I am praying, even as I write this letter, that you will be one of them!"

I've read that this man supposedly has a 10 million dollar house as well. This stuff gets me a bit fired up when I am searching for apartments for refugees and just don't have enough money or houses available to meet the need. I dream of having the money and resources to renovate all these trashed homes and provide affordable housing. This prosperity gospel makes me ashamed at times to be called an American Christian. I saw this video and heartily agree with John Piper.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Mtv: follows a refugee from Burma

Compel them to come in...

"And the master said to the slave "Go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled." -Luke 14:23

As I was painting over some graffetti and replacing some burnt out lights around our church block the other day; a pretty rough dude came walking up to me. He was mumbling about not leaving my pliers on the ground because someone might steal them in this neighborhood. But then he kept saying something about things are changing in this neighborhood. I said..."Yes, we are doing what we can to help that happen." I am not sure if he was too happy about that change...he kind of marched off still talking to himself or whoever was sitting on his shoulder about the drugs and needles on the streets. As he left, the mailman was getting into his truck and said..."Yep, there used to be tons of needles right here, all over the ground." He was pointing to the area in front of our church. He then said, "Yes, you can still see them all around this area...just go over to Haven and you can see them." Haven is the street I live on...it's my street.

My heart breaks for my Father's house to be filled. But I know that in order for that to happen, we need to "Go out" as Jesus said. We have to have a broken heart that pleads with the lost, that will dare to compel them to come in. We must break out of the comfort zones that end up keeping us IN. Jesus knew the issue well, when he shared how there will always be those who give you a host of "real good reasons" why they wont be at the feast.

Jesus called them "excuses in vs. 18. Stuff like...Jobs and taking care of stuff we have bought and of course....marriage or my wife wont let me. The scriptures get real pointed when it says "The head of the household got angry." I fear that the Lord is getting ticked off these days. He sees His churches empty, compared to the masses that are lost for eternity. He sees His people more concerned about the passing pleasures of this world than the fact that His son spilt His blood so that His Father's House would be filled. Oh the high cost the Son of God paid....what are we willing to sacrifice so that His blood was not shed in vain?

I am compelled.
Needles...compel me.
Battered women....compel me.
A handicapped woman struggling to drive her wheelchair down a snow and ice filled sidewalk...compels me.
A mother screaming at her little children...compels me.
Empty seats during a service...compels me.
A recovering addict...saying he wants to lead a NA meeting in our building compels me.
Gang tags on a church wall....compels me.
Young girls crying out in the dark as they stumble down the street...compels me.
A mentally challenged woman who serves the homeless women of the city and does it smiling....compels me.
People taking time to teach refugees to learn english...compels me.
Young people being loved, cared for and being led towards Christ....compels me.

Jesus angry....compels me.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Friday, February 15, 2008

Speaking about refugees and Burma at Gonzaga University

I was blessed to speak at the "Community and Populations as Clients class at Gonzaga University's Department of Nursing this week. I have been assisting a group of graduating nurses with a project in our neighborhood. They have developed a Over The Counter Drug booklet for the karen refugees that identifies and explains simple products to help them self medicate basic issues. We had it translated into Karen and will be available for use to the refugee community here in Spokane. They had to present the project to the class in a presentation and I was invited to speak and show my brother Matt's film "Prayer of Peace". It was a great opportunity to speak about how to use nursing to help underprivileged people in our own community and challenge them to take those gifts internationally and work for Justice. My brother's film was a perfect tool to use for such a message. The medical teams and nurses he spotlights in the film were perfect. I was moved yet again, to see how God is at work in so many ways and in places we would never have imagined.

Valentine's Day Outreach...

The Valentines Day outreach to Union Gospel Mission’s Women’s Crisis Shelter and our neighborhood was a success. Members of Jacob’s Well donated roses, chocolate and balloons for 36 Valentine’s Day gift packages. A team of three young women and myself delivered the gifts first to 24 women and their children at the UGM shelter; they were very touched and warmly received the gifts. We then delivered them to 12 homes in our neighborhood that have widows, handicapped, elderly or shut in’s and one Muslim refugee family. We included a card that expressed the truth about God’s love for each of them and an invitation to come and worship with us. It was a easy project but expressed a lot of love.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Bibles, bats and bizzarro world...

As I was standing there in the apartment...I realized that if the thugs did show up and were carrying guns...this half-pint baseball bat wasn't going to be much good.

Let me give you some background to this story...Monday night I was contacted by a young single mother who has recently been beat up by a female drug pushing thug that lives not to far from my house. She called me to ask if I would meet her at her house, to get some of her stuff; because she was afraid she was going to get jumped by the morning drug thugs.

You see that morning as I was walking to my Monday neighborhood prayer meeting, I pasted by her home and noticed a young black man hightailing it out of her apartment and she came out ear glued to her cell phone. I could see the cops were already circling the block. So I touched base with her and found out that a car had drove by, maced her ex-boyfriend and that 2 guys had scuffled with him and that one had a gun. She freaked, called the police and they took off. Of course since her ex-boyfriend had a warrant for his arrest...he jetted out of there as well. The police showed up and did their thing and I went to the prayer meeting.

So that night she calls for help. So I stop my newspaper reading on my day off, grab my little league bat, slip it in my jacket and head off for a little pastoral house visit. I assist her in her covert household goods accumulation tour and keep a watch on the door. It was here as I was contemplating what exactly I would do if they showed up...since they lived around the corner and her car was out front; that I realized how crazy my life is. I thought to myself..."Would I want to be shot doing this kind of work?" It was an interesting moment of personal career choice reflection. Anyway, she loaded up her stuff, I jammed some stuff in her window to make sure it wouldn't open, since it didn't have a lock and she didn't want them breaking in. We headed out to the car and put her stuff in it.

As we did...I heard a lady crying and sobbing and calling out for her boyfriend as she was running/walking down the sidewalk in the dark. I am standing there looking at this young girl that looks about 14; as she is tripping out or running for her life, or has just been raped, or is lost...and the surreal craziness of it all was just....thick.

I asked her if she needed help...she was startled by the 6 foot three guy, dressed in black, asking her if she needed a ride. Ridiculous moment...she says no and stumbles on crying out for Nathan or something like that...I open up my door, toss my bat on the passenger seat and head home.

"Honey, I'm home..."
"How was work dear..."
"Oh...the usual...bibles, bats and bizzarro world."

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Where is the dark horse?

Ok, this is my blog, so, let me take off the pastor of a certain church hat and put on American citizen hat and climb up on the bully pulpit for a moment.

I like Obama, as far as he presents himself. I like the idea of a black man in the white house. But I wouldn't want it to be anyone black or white, who isn't presenting substantive ideas and plans for the nation. Just being young doesn't do it for me...voting just on the basis of color doesn't do it for me. Slogans and youtube rock star videos don't move me. Movie stars and tv personalities don't persuade me...sorry Oprah.

Hilary is sharp. But just having a woman in the white house doesn't move me. Experience alone won't solve our national problems. In fact, I think fresh ideas and a little inexperience might just put the nation on a new course. Mayby we need a little risk, some ideals yet squashed by years of insider pessimism. Mrs. Clinton is an aggressive politician and ambitious...I simply don't buy her as a truly concerned candidate. I see Hilary in this campaign...not a public servant. Like her husband...it seems all about her. That worries me.

A black man and a white woman running for president is awesome. Those are great high water marks as far as our nation goes. I am happy they are on the tickets and that the prospects of our nation actually being open to such things makes me proud. But the issues they promote and the ideology they spread...I wrestle with.

Yes, I am a value voter. I would say that I value all aspects of life as it relates to a plank in a political party...both in the womb and out of the womb. I wouldn't vote for someone that would support abortion. Knowing that my vote would help slaughter more babies in the womb...prevents me from voting for a pro-choice candidate. I hate to think that it all comes down to being a one issue voter; I dont think I am, but it is a major foundational plank to me.

So for the moment...I don't fit in just one political camp.

Most leaders that seem to run for president these days look like flat tires to me....they might get us somewhere for awhile but not very fast and will eventually leaves us dead on the side of the road.

I don't really like any of the candadites that are running or have dropped out of the Rebulican race.

I voted for Bush because as a value voter...the character issues that surrounded the presidency of Bill Clinton, were a big issue to me. Soooo anyone else was a big motivation at that time. But....as the Bush presidency moved on...I found myself disenfranchised with his leadership. The second run for president was one of the hardest votes I have ever made. I studied, prayed, debated and in the end...voted with my nose plugged. I didn't want to but...I voted for Bush again. I regret it, but nobody was around to stand behind. I felt I had no choice and the longer I watch the Republicans...the more I find myself wrestling with the conclusions that they don't seem to offer much choice either. Nobody rises above. None of them

I like Mike Huckabee in most responses, his record seems fair, his ability appears capable but his viability to lead the nation vs a group of conservatives in the nation seems like a long shot. Sometimes I wonder if modern christians make good politicians. I think in days gone past...men where more broad in their thinking and convictions. The men of the revolutionary era were obviously religious in their perspectives and lives but they were also able to stand in the public arena. Not with a pulpit but with great minds and great plans. They led from their life more than their doctrine. Huckabee seems like he would lead more from a sanctuary than the oval office. That worries me.

Ron Paul...well, I wish I could of heard him more. But his quirkiness got him shoved in the corner. And when I saw his campaigners holding a Who would Jesus Bomb sign at Martin Luther King Jr parade...I didn't think I could fit to well in that camp.

Romney...well, again, his religious convictions, beliefs and point of view, really worried me. Plus, he seemed like more of the same...too slick for me.

McCain looks and sounds like he will be the Republican nominee...and as the above picture from King Of The Hill portrays; he looks and sounds like another Presidency of war-centric ideas and plans. I have watched almost all the debates on tv or on the net. Most of time McCain just puts me to sleep...same old, same old. Yes..he would kill and hunt down the bad guys, I don't doubt that. But that wont be the basis of my vote alone...I hope....God have mercy, I hope it doesn't come to that. I pray I will have something more to vote for than a man who will be all about putting the boot up the rear of the terrorists.

I am still undecided.
Just praying that someone will come out of the shadows and offer me a leader that I will be glad to vote for.

A Dark Horse candadite.

Are you out there?

New Shoes...

new worship space
We have outgrown our old meeting space and are nearing completion on our new space next door. Every healthy body grows and we are in desperate need for some bigger clothes! We have been renovating an old grocery store space that was being used for storage and in dire need of some work. Here is a short video of the space, I shot it during the worship practice before service.

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence...

...and the violent take it by force!(Mt. 11:14) Look out world, a new generation is storming the gates! Of course I tell my kids to pose for dad to take a picture of them as they are practicing for worship this last Sunday and this is what I get. Santa Maria!!!...our neighborhood wont know what hit them.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

A new church service now available

Jacob's Well Church is starting another service today: Sunday nights at 5:30 PM. The content will be the same as the morning service.

IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE:
Currently there will be no nursery care provided or kid’s church until we gather more volunteers.

We are also meeting in our new sanctuary now!!!

Come and join us as we celebrate what the Lord is doing among us.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Church in a subway...

Plant seeds and sing songs.

perspective...

Inside the tube...

I had an MRI done Wed night. I've had a series of migraines and unusual symptoms for the last month. So into the brain can I went. Not a pleasant experience for someone who has developed more and more claustrophobic tendencies the older I have become. I generally don't do elevators anymore and now...MRI tubes will be added to that list of potential panic inducing places.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Wanted: Prophets of Urban Re:development...

I ran across this and thought it expressed exactly what I was trying to articulate last night in our home group, concerning the challenges of living in suburbia and urban environments. These kind of thinkers give me hope and embody Jeremiah 29:7: "Work for the good of the city where I've taken you as captives, and pray to the LORD for that city. When it prospers, you will also prosper."

As a pastor who is involved in the work of planting, cultivating and renewing life; I see many challenges and opportunities to build better lives all around our daily community. That endeavor encompasses many spheres or interconnected parts of the whole: marriage life, family life, education life, work life, food life, recreation life, political life, the arts, business, etc...all interconnected and in need of reform, wisdom and fresh vision on interrelating them in way that bring about order, beauty and prosperity. It's a crucial intersect where our faith has to shape our values and our thinking. Our faith informs and inspires our vision of the present and should frame our plans of the future. We are by nature, created in the image of God and should envision a future reality that is just. A environmentally sound justice that works its way out in the everyday mechanics of American life.

With all the problems facing us as a nation and world...we are in dire need of people who dream dreams and see visions again (Joel 2:28). Dreams and visions of how to live a better and more sustainable (body/soul/spirit) existence for us and our children.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Waiting patiently...

Season premiere...still aways off...I'm so ready.

The Queen and Princess of my home....

Women of the Wild West...

"Our stay in Salt lake City amounted to only two days, and therefore we had no time to make the customary inquisition into the workings of polygamy and get up the usual statistics and deductions predatory to calling the attention of the nation at large once more to the matter. I had the will to do it. With the gushing self sufficiency of youth I was feverish to plunge in headlong and achieve a great reform here....until I saw the Mormon women. Then I was touched. My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor, ungainly and pathetically "homely" creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, "No, the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not the harsh censure; and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of openhanded generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence." -Mark Twain, in his book: "Roughing it"

What can I say...it made me laugh out loud. :)

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Transformed Nonconformists...

“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of atomic annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; truth lies prostrate on the rugged hills of nameless calvaries; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” —Martin Luther King, Jr

Friday, February 01, 2008

Doing the time warp again....

Snow days...

With one of the biggest snow falls in years, the Spokane area has been snowed in, school was cancelled for a week, it's been great! It means the snow hill at our neighborhood park is prime. I took the kids there and for the first time, let Kona, our dog, roam free with no leash. I have been working with her and she didn't disappoint. She enjoyed running up and down the hill, but got run over once and I think hurt her winter fat self running down the hill and crashing.
Austin, Micah and Destiny didn't bring their sleds but found some broken saucers and used them to go down the hill.
Kona looks tired but happy.

Son of Rambow

Since low budget, independent film making is a big part of our home; I am looking forward to this movie.

Turning tables....


And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves...and the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them. -Matt. 21:12-14

February is Black History month, and I will be posting some stuff in honor of those thousands of Black American's both men and women, who have made America what it is. I think the issues that are often more vocalized in black churches, communities and from black leaders need to be expounded and proclaimed. Often the issues emerge from the the voices of the poor and disadvantaged, a fact that often irritates more than mobilizes those who have more than their fellow Americans. I don't think the answer is throwing more money at the problem alone. We need to harness the gifts, talents and God given passions that reside in the human heart and mind and help unleash those forces to generate empowerment, dignity and wealth.

The cry of the poor...is a call to the believer.

The gospel of Jesus has a powerful way of turning over tables. The gospel has a revolutionary effect on the economic structures that tend to establish themselves in ways that are not the best for the community. As in the Temple they get erected in places they shouldn't be. The pursuit of wealth can end up displacing those who should be allowed in the temple and instead it ends up pushing the poor outside. The church/temple should be a place where justice is lived out, where she is found living among both the poor and the rich. Where the tables of ecomomic empowerment have seats for everyone. Open access is a gift of the gospel. Those values translate into the way we do business, handle our wealth and structure communities.

A new kingdom is pressing in on the old one.
A new way of living is dawning in the dusk of the old patterns of this world.
A new community is outliving a different set of values than this world is pushing.
We find in the house of the Lord...a new sound, a new song, a new life, a new way of living together.

Jesus is still turning over tables. He still hates injustice and the oppresion of the poor.
He is still weaving whips to drive out those who have turned His house into a place where profit instead of piety is the driving issue.

I fear that the blind and the lame are still waiting out there somewhere...for the church to once again return to the Lord, who turned over the tables.