Andy at the Bush Protest

Andy Bush Protest
Originally uploaded by paynehollow.

At Jeff Street right now, we're going through a Visioning Process, where we're prayerfully and creatively considering where we think we want to go as a church in the coming years.

Different folk have been asked to share their visions. Dan shared his last Sunday. It went something like this:

I’d hope that, in many ways, we’ll be doing the same things.

I’d hope that we still cling to evangelism that is the preaching of the good news to the poor, liberty for the captives, healing and comfort for the sick. The Day of Jubilee. I’d hope that we’d still have relevant programs like the Goatwalker, the Drop-In Center, Norma’s House, etc.

I’d hope that individually, we’d still be busy doing God’s work in schools, in shelters, in clinics and hospitals. In working for justice, for peace and for the environment. All the things that we’re doing currently.

I suppose my vision for us would be that we’d still be doing much of the same, and then some. But what does that look like?

I’d hope that we are located in a place that needs a Jeff St – a place where we can best work towards the notion of God’s Kingdom Come on Earth as it is in Heaven. If the Liberty Green Neighborhood is not in need of Jeff St, then I’d hope we’d be somewhere else.

I’d hope that Sunday mornings, there’d be fewer cars outside whatever doors we have. I’d hope that many of us will have spent Saturday, or maybe Friday together playing music, dancing, singing and telling stories together.

I’d hope that maybe the roof of Jeff St was grass- and flower-covered. That we’d have a rain barrel outside our walls (instead of buckets to catch water inside our walls).

What Jeff St might look like might largely depend upon what the world looks like. Will gas prices gone so high that people aren’t driving any more? Will our pollution have caused crises through resource contamination or global warming? What sort of mischief are those who believe in violence-as-solution up to?

Because of who I am, I think there are three main areas I'd like to see changes and growth.

First, I’d hope that one of our ministries would be in teaching people to live sustainably, because 25 years from now, it may be a necessity and not just a nicety. Regardless, I would like to see Jeff St being a local leader in teaching how we ought to live.

Secondly, I’d hope that Jeff St will also be one of many places that have begun to tear down the walls between Muslims and Christians. For two years now, our Reclaiming Christmas Project has been to send a gift to a poor Muslim community. What if each of the millions of wealthy churches (like us) out there did the same thing – what sort of impact would that have for world peace? I’d hope that Jeff St would be regularly working for peace by building bridges to increase understanding between Us and Them (whoever Us and Them may be).

But how can we possibly do all of this? Where would we find the time or energy?

My final hope is that Jeff St might be a model in simple living. That we might learn to get by on one income, or working out of our homes, or by working fewer hours. And by doing this, I’d hope that we could find the time and energy to take on other necessary work: The work of building of God’s Kingdom Come.