Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
That’s why these practices of deliberately choosing life together, choosing where we’ll focus our mental energy, choosing to pour out our worries to God and receive Christ’s peace to guard our hearts and minds are not only powerful but essential.
What are the circumstances that you find yourself in today?
Some of us are in pain, waiting on a surgery, burdened by our own crisis or heart-broken for another… some of us are filled with anxiety—just how are these next steps going to go? Am I going to get all of it done? Will we make it? We are all surrounded by news (however much we let it in… or not) that the world is going through terrifying things… and some of us are experiencing wounds directly.
Here’s the wisdom that I love in these “good news” words from Paul… that (remember again) are written from a jail cell, so they represent a powerful act of vision and hope and confidence that can inspire us, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in…
It matters so much where we focus. Like a photographer zooming in on the heart the center of a spring crocus that is bathed in a beautiful mix of light and shadow, a crocus emerging from the dirt and surrounded by rocky ground, we’re invited not to worry about our circumstances but pay attention, listen for, look for evidence that God is near.
This week, Vicar Bethany and I were invited to a morning walk through our neighborhood with the City Council president, and other leaders from various vantage points in city, state, and county governments. We were walking with visionary Gil Penalosa, world traveling executive director of the Toronto-based 8 80 Cities, a non-profit organization bringing citizens together to enhance mobility & public spaces so we can create vibrant, healthy, & equitable communities.[1] Gil’s question is, “How do we create cities in which both 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds can move about safely and enjoyably?” And as we walked to the amazing Hmongtown Market community and back, he pointed out all along the way how we could use the $332,000 currently designated by the state to improve Capitol-Rice to give people mobility, dignity, and beauty in their outdoor, everyday lives. We learned about plans already underway for small businesses, parks, new construction in our area. We learned about the effort of various city, county, and state officials to not displace the current population that lives in the closest blocks here, but instead to create greater equity and access to beautiful, community-enhancing spaces. Isn’t that good to know, that people (public workers, people in government) actually do have visions for good, all around us? And, this church was invited to be present because at least some of those people imagine that we could be one of the central voices and places of hospitality in this neighborhood… not only because of our plans for what good might happen inside our building, but because of how we want to make community outside and how we are more and more invested in the real lives our neighbors (or at least, we could be…)
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, pleasing, commendable, if there is any excellence, anything worthy of praise… think about these things.
So what could we do? Could we move our worship outside in June, with chairs for those who need them but with opportunities for moving our whole bodies throughout the worship? Could we place a piece of public art outside that could also be climbed on by children for a little get-out-some-energy break before getting on the train or bus? Could we install 2-3 round park tables with benches and put up a beautiful sign that says, “Peace Garden: come on in and breathe awhile” (so that people know for sure that the garden’s open for all)… could we add these to our present project to put a mural on our front doors with a tree of life that welcomes all in to the renewing work of Christ?
Could we? Yes, we could...
Paul’s beautiful vision that the people of Philippi would keep on doing actions of love and mercy outside the walls confining him… and his confidence that they would not forget him… those can inspire us in our work of collaborating with the powers-that-be, the fearful landlords, the neighbors who are too used to being forgotten—to co-create with them a neighborhood that is just as much of a sanctuary as this inside space.
Gil’s vision of a city that enhances life was this, “A city where everyone sleeps at home but everyone lives outside.” “A city designed around it’s people—and especially its eight-year-olds and it’s 80 year-olds—not around its cars.” “A city that closes its streets to cars and opens them to people.”
None of these are actually new ideas… they are actually very old ideas. Even Gil has been coming to the Twin Cities for years, but it strikes me that these visions match very well with the vision that God has given us, the vision of growing more fully into a Tree of Life in the city, with leaves for healing and all kinds of fruits. It’s a vision that we practice each year as those who are 80-year-olds chop cabbages and carrots to prep for a whole morning where Cambodian adults teach a diverse community how to make egg rolls. We sell them today after worship to raise funds for KICKS, a children’s opportunity that serves 8-year-olds (and all ages of kids, and the teens who accompany and mentor them, learning alongside them). In this year’s KICKS, participants will visit the Hmongtown Market and Frogtown farms… they’ll get outside to play, walk, swim, move… it’s just one small way that we participate in doing the things that God has created us to do, all the things.
When we’re filled with these things: gratitude, hope, joy, vision, purpose; to be honest, there is not so much room for despair, there is not so much room for fear and anxiety that seem sometimes to be taking us over… You know, you’ve been there…
Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace is with you.
[1] 8 80 Cities, www.880cities.org/
Watch this 2012 video from CityLab about designing city spaces for the young (8) and old (80).
Watch this 2012 video from CityLab about designing city spaces for the young (8) and old (80).
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