Cracked Pots

Sounds of Life with Metro Hope Pt. 4

Michelle Diaz, artist, talks about her piece.

Christina Lee Metro “singin it up”

Listening intently

Mayra and Javier hanging out at the lounge. Love the misty affect.

Pic courtesy of Joseph D. Martinez. To see the rest click here. (more…)

Metro Hope’s celebration of the arts at the National Black Theater went so well last Friday. It was the first time we’ve attempted an artists lounge in Harlem and it was worth the effort. We witnessed an eclectic group of artists who donated their talents to make this night a great success. One of our own Linda Gomez, who is an event planner turned the temple space at the National Black Theater into a jazz and spoken word lounge. Truly amazing.

Our line up included displayed art from four different Artists, including the graffiti canvas piece you see here by Matt Litwack. One of our other featured artists, Melissa Diaz, has some art that can be seen here. Melissa is also a phenomenal singer for a group called Yerba Buena. Yerba Buena is the house band for Camarades, one of our favorite restaurants in East Harlem. If you want to here some great Bomba y Plena, Yerba Buena will be playing June 5th at the South Street Seaport, or every Thursday night at Camarades.

We also had jazz, spoken word, hip-hop, rock, and a DJ. The DJ led a competition to see who knew their old school Hip-Hop. Christina Lee who does worship arts for Metro Hope church sang some selections from Maroon Five, Jill Scott, and Bob Marley-all crowd favorites.

One of my favorite acts was a group that had a Jazz and Hip-Hop violinist who was pretty amazing. This is an event worth doing again as we got to network with many artists through out the city.

I just read some of the Reveal study. Jeremy put me on to it. It contains some intriguing research on spiritual growth.

Scot Mcknight at the Jesus Creed blog has some interesting insights about the study in December 2007. Here’s an excerpt from his blog.

To those who, when they heard Bill Hybels confessing that Willow had made some mistakes in thinking programs would by themselves lead to spiritual formation, jumped on Bill and Willow and said, “See, we’ve been saying this all along.” My response: Willow routinely, since it is committed to an assessment model of its work, admits that it messed something up or failed to make the best of an opportunity, etc.. And Willow has been committed all along to discipleship (see below). I wish more churches would do studies like this and permit evidence to shape ministry.

On another note, John Ortberg speaks candidly about what he would do differently if he had to do it over again…Once again, courtesy of the Jesus Creed blog.

If I could begin ministry all over again, I would spend time seeking to become a healthier person, emotionally and spiritually. I spent a chunk of time serving in an area where I simply did not fit well, where some of my deepest convictions were not congruent, because I was not self-aware enough to have a clear sense of what I valued and believed. I was stuck in a tradition and setting that was familiar and comfortable, but where I did not feel like I could truly be myself; where I could not really talk about the ideas and beliefs that resonated most deeply in me. And I needed people’s approval too much to be able to serve them well. And my neediness made me too defensive to be able to learn from the criticisms that are inevitably a part of ministry.

If I could start all over again, I would spend more time in solitude getting ready for ministry. I would have spent more time getting feedback from people who knew me best. I would try to walk through the pain of letting go what I thought I needed to do and who it was I thought I needed to be so that I could have served with more freedom and effectiveness. I would try to put less pressure on my wife to be committed to my success, rather than to embrace her own gifts and calling.

I would have read Dallas Willard sooner.

Its been an eventful couple of weeks. One of the utmost concerns I have as a church planter is whether I’m spending my time in the right places at the right time. Sometimes I feel I’m on. And other times, well, its kind of like groping in pitch blackness. Last week I saw the light of day and felt our efforts as a church were well placed. I say this because its so easy to fall into a routine and believe that the Sunday gathering is “it”. While its an important part, it was nice to see a group of us from our gathering participate in protest, and at a soup kitchen at the Food Change in West Harlem last Friday. I think this is good activity as it relates to who we are as a gathering.

May 23rd we’ll be having our first celebration of arts at the National Black Theater in East Harlem, which will include spoken word, canvas art, live music, and more. For more information click here.

I attended a Sean Bell Protest in Harlem today at 3:00pm. There were five other protests in strategic places in the city. The energy was intense while people with fists pumping in the air shouted chants of, “No justice no peace” and “We are Sean Bell…” This latter statement was symbolic of the collective pain a community feels after a barrage of 50 bullets took Sean Bells life outside a club in Brooklyn. It was good to see both black, white and Hispanic marching together. As the march swelled it formed a blockade at the intersection of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. It was at this intersection I ran into Derek and Liza who are part of my church.

As the crowd grew larger and larger it headed east toward New York Cities’ Triborough Bridge. The Triborough bridge connects Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens. It was here I joined Lisa Sharon Harper, Executive Director of New York Faith and Justice. It was great seeing Lisa here and she is posting some of her thoughts at her site as well. Lisa is planning a time of prayer for the Sean Bell family and our city this Saturday in Harlem at 7pm.

While walking in the midst of this vibrant march, all I thought about was, “What is the value of a black man’s life?” And as we search our hearts deeply, I know the answer isn’t to hate the police. That isn’t the way of Jesus. Whether people dislike the police or not, we can’t forget Jesus’ poignant words to love both enemy and neighbor alike. I talk to many who are angry at the police and want to focus their frustration on the NYPD. However, I realize, that our vocation, our prophetic task as followers of the way of Christ is to be peacemakers. Peace making is in our DNA. It’s our identity (…for they will be called children of God).

So where do we begin? I’m not even sure, I haven’t come that far in my analysis. I suspect that the first couple of places might be prayer and protest.

Brian McLaren’s Deep Shift tour came to the Latino Pastoral Action Center in the South Bronx. The backdrop of this tour was Brian McLaren’s new book Everything Must Change. It’s a great read and well, you’ll feel deeply shifted after reading it. I’m sure.

I sat on a panel on Saturday and we had some stimulating discussion about power, justice and Race. Ray Rivera, CEO of LPAC was also highlighted as being “emergent” before the movement existed. We also got to pray for Alexi Torres Fleming, Executive Director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice. Alexi has been doing environmental justice work in the South Bronx for the last 12 years. The other panelists were: Lisa Sharon Harper, Executive Director of NY Faith & Justice and Gabriel Salguero of the Lambs Church. Gabriel makes me proud of my heritage and is a prophetic voice for the Hispanic community.

Latino Leadership Circle co-hosted this event with LPAC. Dave, Belinda, Luis, as always you guys are pursuing the dream. I can’t believe its been like eight years since this movement started.

Liz Rios coordinated this event and did a wonderful job along with her team.  Jeremy has the photographer’s touch (photo left) and re-capped the event.

I was overwhelmed yesterday (in a good way). Our gathering focused on concern & justice. I’ve always thought that focusing on this kind of stuff doesn’t “sell tickets” in church. But thankfully I was wrong. People were receptive, supportive and wanting to act.

We had worship songs that focused on the theme of concern and justice, along with liturgy that spoke about the world around us. My teaching yesterday focused on James 1, “be doers not just hearers of the word.” We described how one aspect of justice is participating with Christ in restoring the dignity of humanity, since people have all been created in the image of God Almighty. What was great about yesterday was that the application points of the teaching came through an on-stage dialog with Mayra, Derek, and Liza (Derek & Liza photo to the left). We had a photographer come by yesterday so we’ll have some images up here and on our site soon. The lighting at our meeting space has provided some previous challenges when capturing photos.

Derek has been a part of our gathering for a year. He and Liza have dedicated their lives to serving the poor. Derek says that he takes the bible literally when it says we should care for the the least of these. Derek has lived with the homeless in NYC, providing friendship and referrals to those who have substance abuse issues. Among many other things Derek participates in many protests in our city fighting against police brutality, army recruitment in inner city neighborhoods, unjust gentrification, to name a few. Derek and Liza be traveling together over the next year with a group of people to do justice work in Arizona and Bolivia. They’ll be living among some of the indigenous tribes in these areas.

One important question was also answered yesterday. “What about those of us who can’t travel and live this kind of life? What if some of us work 40-50 hours/week? These were some things Derek and Liza suggested people could be involved with as a way of doing justice everyday. Derek and Liza’s hand-out:

Metro Hope’s applicable works of Justice

Matthew 25:34-36
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’(In other words every human has the image of God within them. To love and help them is to love and help Christ.)

-Love all those around you!

-Walk with the poor, buy them a meal, and befriend them. You just might be the only friend they have. (Maybe even just smile as you walk by acknowledging their existence)

- Work at a local soup kitchen. Join your community who is already working on social justice issues. teaching kids, being mentors to children with out mothers or fathers, help people pay rent who can not afford it, read a book about an issue you are not familiar with, help kids stay out of jail, join protests about local or global issues, help plant a garden, and in the end as Christians we are just try to be peacemakers in anyway possible.

* Remember not everybody has a lot of time. Not every one can do all of this, but maybe just one thing or one day a week, or even once a month. In the end as Christians in some way we are called to help and walk with the poor.

** The internet is a good tool to find out what is going on in your communities!

Its been a busy and historic time in NYC with the Pope in town and all. The city has definitely been a great host, and its was nice to hear his statements about caring for immigrants in our country.

Yesterday we had our first connections class for new people at Metro Hope who wanted to get to know us better. It was a chance to discuss our DNA as a gathering, along with where we’re headed. One thing that keeps me accountable to our trajectory is sharing vision over and over. For some reason, discussing audacious goals out loud can be both sobering and hope-bringing.

So I say lets dream on.

I spoke at City College at an Intervarsity Event called “Faith, Justice & Poverty in NYC”. I had a wonderful time. Some months ago I made a fruitful connection with Savina Kim, a director at Intervarsities City College Chapter. Its nice to know like-minded people who are concerned about the fusion of faith and justice in every-day life. I love speaking about this stuff as well. But what I enjoyed all the more is helping people re-think how they view the poor through the lens of the gospel. Jesus never blamed the poor for their condition, or did not put pre-requisites on people in order to receive love, or even the miraculous from him.

What I also find is people want their lives-their everyday actions to count for something. As a crude example about simple acts of faith, I find people often ask,  “what good is it giving a homeless person $5? What if he plans to use it toward something illegal or frivolous?”  Or “What difference does it really make?”

If God owns everything, then even that $5 isn’t really ours. We can think of that $5 as grace tended to us then shared with someone else. The gospel teaches us that we re-orient our lives when we enter the God’s kingdom. This means rather than just being “givers”, we become channels that allow grace to flow into the lives of others, as we have received it ourselves.  So every act that sheds love and light becomes an act of justice (in both an individual and systemic sense).

I’m finding that the news of Christ does changes lives. It gets us thinking differently about the world around us. And if we’re encountered at the point of our own ideas/ideologies about life. Our life is bound to be changed and challenged if the words of Jesus truly take a hold of us. We will be compelled to be more generous, more tolerant, more loving, more just…

I never realized how impatient I was until I became a church planter and a father. Its a totally new rhythm and I’m still learning to dance. Patience however, is “doing her work.”

Mayra and I set out to plant this church with the unchurched and de-churched in mind. This in many ways has meant a massive re-orientation to the way we do the faith journey. It means being (not doing) people we weren’t before.  Prior to church planting it felt as if we were just busy being busy, coming and going.

In this journey we’ve had the privilege of meeting so many people who are in the faith journey entertaining questions about faith and spirituality. They maybe Muslim, Buddhist or Agnostic, or formerly Christian. And many of the questions are often the type we may all ask about faith if we truly admit it to ourselves.

So what have I learned about my interactions? I’m learning to just be-friend people, not treat them as evangelistic targets. Tim Keller had shared with a group of us recently that instead of doing what has often been coined as “friendship evangelism” why don’t we just make friends? And this part of church planting has been gratifying. Let me make friends with out agendas. Maybe someday they’ll find what we have to say about Christianity interesting. I know the process has made us better people. One thing it has me also thinking about is the many people who aren’t Christian, who are alot more hospitable, less insular and more loving than us, and many times more Christ-like.

I would say the greatest challenge in church planting are the internal battles that go on. The mind is often fertile ground for discouragement. At times there seem to be more set-backs than good news in this church planting deal. And things never seem to go as fast as we would like them to. But there’s always glimmers of hope. When folks of other faiths come by and decide to hang around Christians. Or when someone who has heard or better yet experienced the gospel of grace again for the first time, encountering Christ’s love again for the first time, post-legalism, post religious burnout, post, post, post…

It’s happening slowly. It’s embryonic. It’s in seed form. But I think we might be on to something.

We’ve entered our 7th week as a church plant.  God has been doing wonderful work in our growing community.   There’s definitely a buzz and people are telling there friends about the church.  Visitors are finding it to be a safe and welcoming place, while others are rediscovering and engaging Jesus.

The gathering is also seeing a certain diversity which is reflective of New York City and a dream of God’s kingdom.   I think the interesting challenge and opportunity in outreach is reaching out beyond the concentric circles of our own natural networks (particularly as a second-generation Latino).  We believe that our church (as other churches) has an important message to communicate to both non-Christian and Christian alike since none of us are beyond grace.

One answered prayer for community inroads has come to life though.  I’m speaking at City College in Harlem at an Intervarsity event April 17th.  I’m excited that there will be non-Christians there who are engaging questions of faith.  This aspect of work brings me the most fulfillment, that is, engaging folks that don’t believe what I believe.  Learning how to bring the story of Christ compellingly, and reasonably has definitely sharpened and increased my own faith.  There was a time that I didn’t feel passionate about the story.  I was just going through the motions.  My preaching felt dry.  My spiritual life was centered around church activity.  Some how, some way, Jesus had a way of meeting me in unexpected places. Particularly in places outside the church.  And its in those Emmaus Road moments I realized that grace seeps into places I didn’t expect.

This is an article “On Faith” by Gabriel Salguero a friend and pastor here in Manhattan.

I think that Jesus, if nominated, would not run. Jesus’ function as a prophet transcends political partisanship. I am utterly convinced that he would have a corrective for all political parties, this is what prophets do. Let me be clear that Christian does not equal blind allegiance to any political party or ideology. This is dangerous and idolatrous. Jesus would also be critical of religious practices that oppressed and ignored any group that includes Jews, Muslims, Hindus, agnostics, atheists, secularists, etc.”

Read more.

Tim Keller’s new book.

Well, as of last Sunday our church has gone weekly.  It’s a huge adjustment for us but we believe the timing is right.  We’ve been getting new visitors and people who are actually walking to church.  It’s a prayer of ours that we be able to befriend our neighbors here in Harlem. 

Yesterday we had my son’s baby dedication at our service.  He was such a trooper the whole time even with camera bulbs flashing in his eyes.  Javier’s so jovial and really lights up a room.  Luis Alvarez of Latino Leadership Circle did the honor of leading the ceremony.  Pics to come.

Here are some other church plants you can pray for (including ours) that have recently launched or are launching.

Renovate Church

Hope Community Church

The Church @Hoboken    

The Clinton & Obama debate continues to heat up: Makes me want to become an independent. 

Caught Juno yesterday with Mayra.  It was nominated for 4 Oscars.  It was witty, real, and I think deserving of 4 nods.

Looking to retreat one day next week at one of these two spiritual retreat centers.  I’ll see which one gets back to me first.   On the church plant front, our official launch date is February 10th.   Just looking to get away, pray and receive some spiritual direction.  Good thing the retreat places are both less than one hour from the city.

Finally, Brian Mclaren is participating in an inter-faith dialogue in Switzerland.  He’s received some heat from James Dobson and Focus on the Family.  McLaren argues that this dialogue is “both important and truly Christian.”  He writes a rebuttal with extremely insightful questions for his critics.  We’ll be attending his Everything must Change Tour, which will be hosted in New York by Latino Leadership Circle and Latino Pastoral Action Center in May

Pax. 

The late Jewish theologian and activist Abrahm Heschel coined the term “praying with my legs”. Religions & Ethics Weekly had a segment dedicated to him. Here’s a piece:

It was his participation in the civil rights movement that first made Heschel widely known. In a famous photo of the Selma march in 1965, its leaders wearing garlands, Heschel was the white man with the prophet’s beard, two to the right of Dr. King. That was the occasion on which Heschel said he felt he was praying with his legs.