“I will combat it by humble love.”

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Jarrod McKenna

Jarrod McKenna’s Wednesday’s with Gandhi:

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall — think of it, always.” –Mohandas Gandhi

I’m off to Indonesia this Friday (forgive me my carbon debts) to the Historic Peace Church Gathering on behalf of AAANZ and Quakers (It will be a bunch of very respectable, intelegent and impressive people from around the world… and this dreadlocked kid from Perth!). So this will be my last ‘Wednesday with Gandhi’ for the year. It’s funny I set out to write about a bunch of stuff that I didn’t get round to but I trust the Spirit will take what I have done and use it to invite and inspire people to know in deeper ways for themselves this Jesus that Gandhi said was the greatest practitioner of nonviolence in history, central to his revolution in India, and the one through whom, I believe, God’s dream for creation has broken into history.

I thought I’d end by letting you in on a little of the life of our community. Us Peace Tree mob can say with our hero Dorothy Day “We have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” As a community we seek to ‘serve in silence’ and not make a big deal of what we do but since the gang fights and the subsequent killing in the street behind ours was so public and made the news overseas, we thought we’d let our light shine in the hope that it doesn’t glorify us but the God who is transforming our world not through force but through a love seen fully in Jesus.

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Jesus for President (and PM!)

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first posted at http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2007/11/jesus-for-president-and-pm.html

 Guest blogger in the backyard: Jarrod McKenna

Our friend Shane Claibourne, that mega-phone of amazing grace is at it again, this time campaigning for “Jesus for President”!

Amish for Homeland Security 

to read an Australian take click here

For a video explaining why you shouldn’t vote for Jesus this election click here

So as we go into this weekend, big respect to all those who will remember their identity in their baptism not in their nationalism. Big respect to all those that put precedence in God’s good earth and our ecological crisis over the economics of greed. Those who prioritise the poor, the orphan, the widow and the refugee the over promises of empty prosperity of Mammon and protection of a military. Those who remember that our primary place of political engagement is not in an election booth but in being the body of Christ together and living the politics of peacemaking and compassion that are the very texture of the new creation. This I pray for us all regardless if you vote or not. )

Lockridge Community Garden

That’s what us Peace Tree crew will be seeking to do.  In response to the gang related murder on our streets we’ll be firing up the wood fired pizza oven in our Lockridge Community Garden and inviting diversity of mobs to break bread (with yummy topping on it) together.  As Shane Claiborne kindly said of what we’re praying for,

“One of the doctors I met in Iraq said (with tears in his eyes), ‘This violence is for people who have lost thier imagination.’ Jarrod McKenna and the good people of EPYC are prophets of imagination. They are on a mission to create new heroes and sheroes and to reclaim God’s dream for this world. And as they help young folks to learn not to hurt each other, hopefully the nations will take some lessons.”

I think it will be here at the table, in the garden as we share what we have and seek reconciliation we’ll be inspired to find our imagination of a different kind of politics free of coercion.  The politics of grace. All welcome! 🙂 

Risking failure in a world of success

jarrodmckenna

Jarrod McKenna

Jarrod McKenna’s Wednesday’s with Gandhi:

“My experience tells me that the Kingdom of God is within us, and that we can realise it not by saying, “Lord, Lord,” but by doing God’s will and God’s work… Do you know that there are thousands of villages where people are starving and are on the brink of ruin? If we would listen to the voice of God, I assure you we would hear God say we are taking God’s name in vain if we do not think of the poor and help them.  If you cannot render the help that they need, it is no use talking of service of God and service of the poor. Try to identify yourself with the poor by actually helping them.”

–Mohandas Gandhi, (March 31, 1927) from “Mohandas Gandhi: Essential Writings” by John Dear, p. 81

For you or your community what does ‘doing God’s will’ when it comes to ‘the least of these’ look like? What are you inspired by, that it might look like? What do you long for it to look like?

What does it look like to move from ‘church charity’ run by some sweet old ladies, to being a people of missional solidarity?  (not to disrespect radical nannas everywhere doing awesome stuff!)

Our crew have really struggled with this stuff. I don’t mean struggle in the noble sense. I mean struggle in the sense of it being bloody hard! Nearly as hard as living with each other 🙂  And like much of our life as community, it’s left us with not much to show other than some colourful (and painful) stories and a burning desire for God, for healing, for justice, for the kingdom and an awareness of our own brokenness and sin. Should we all move overseas to the slums we have only visited with our expensive cameras? Should we all just join UNOH?  What does it mean to practice hospitality when you’re continually stolen from, physically threatened and taken advantage of?  When all you’re left with is their used needles, hardcore porn, broken promises, and debt. When you show up in court to support them but they dont. When the trees you spent so much time planting and watering in the neighbourhood garden are ripped up. When you’re dumped with other people’s toddlers for days on end while they get high and you have to decided do you ring DCD and your only comfort is the lament of the Psalmist and your sisters and brothers prayers. Only to find out that our parts of the body of Christ are bagging you out without praying for you or seeking to correct or encourage you. Please don’t hear me writting these things out of bitterness. I write as a brother struggling with what ”actually helping them” (as Gandhi put it) looks like (anybody else?).  Sometimes I come out of visiting in prison and just feel like crying for a day. Maybe these are the stories we need to tell too aswell as the times we come out feeling totally inspired.

Recently I was contacted by a pastor (of what most would consider a successful mainstream church), who had opened up his home to someone who had lived on the streets for years. This Pastor wanted to talk through the heart ache of seeing someone throw away the opportunities offered to him because he was stuck in cycles he couldn’t break out of. Maybe these stories are as important to share as the “success stories”? Maybe these are the stories that can ween us of the quick fixes and easy answers that we can so often hear to our worlds deepest problems. Maybe if we told these ones too we’d celebrate God’s transforming grace all the more! And real joy would truely be our strength.

Some of our crew were recently hanging out with a similar community to us in the States called ‘The Simple Way’. The Simple Way have a huge public influence through the success of Shane Claiborne’s wonderful book “The Irresistible Revolution” (which I highly recommend!!)  But we were joking if we were to write a book it would be “A how [not] to” (shout outs to Pete Rollins who I also highly recommend!!!!).  Maybe our book would be called ‘The Resistible Revolution’ or ‘The Very Resistible Revolution’. )

Anybody else need to voice failed efforts? Gandhi said, “Freedom without freedom to fail is no freedom at all.”  God, please keep us from the “success” that would keep us from entering into the pain of our world. And keep us from the failure that would stop us trusting only in the power of resurrection and the liberating joy that comes with it.