Hi all. First a list of events today, tomorrow and Sunday we invite you to come participate in, rest, reflect, serve others. Good for families, youth, etc. Then an uplifting message from Sara Miles' latest book "Jesus Freak" that is so apt for our small band of community organizers. Come be with us some during the weekend events; we will have a writer for a national magazine here with us this weekend and a good show of support even for a little while will help capture the energy.
Today at 1 pm at Cherokee School, planning, dreaming, working on creating a whole new safer for students, better for business, area on North Peoria around the school and up to the bike trail along the historic old Turley downtown that has all but been cleared over the years with just a few reminders remaining; hope to make it a jewel of the area.
Today making a food pantry run to bring in some stop gap food items for our pantry until our next Food Bank order goes through. Always need help unloading, etc. call 6913223 to get update on when that will be.
This evening 6 pm doing an hour of intensive trash pickup in a few of our illegal dumping areas, then free supper at The Center, 6514 N. Peoria Ave., for all helpers. Meet there at 6 pm and we will figure it out.
Saturday from 8 am on we will be doing beautification projects, plantings, in our TNT, TurleyNorthTulsa area at some of our community and guerilla gardening sites. Surprise the community with a little beauty in an area with so much neglect. Call the number above or 3463475 to find out where groups are gathering to garden or beautify.
Saturday 11 am Turley Area History Talk and Map Making Project to show all that used to be here in this area. Bring stories, memories, photos, etc to share and let the history move us forward into a different, even better future.
Saturday Noon. Live music and Turley Heritage Lunch. Bring soups or salads or drinks if you can, but mostly just come and eat. Freewill donations, but come and eat and listen to Johnny and The Oklahomans play and work on our history map and visit.
Saturday 1:30 pm I will give an overview of our A Third Place projects and our future plans, all about the Miracles Among the Ruins, and other partnerships and projects and ways we together are making a big difference in the area. We will go tour up at the Welcome Table Kitchen Garden Park site we just bought and which will be cleared very soon and ready for our groundbreaking ceremony and start of the transformation project, and we will see the new building we are hoping to buy for the new Neighborhood Center and Health Hub and Spiritual Center.
Saturday 7:30 pm 12 Step Recovery Group weekly meeting.
Sunday 10 am gather at the old Turley Methodist Church building, 5920 N. Peoria; even without power and even after being abandoned for years, we will gather inside for communion, sharing our favorite at the moment bible stories, passages, events, people, etc. and why they speak to us today, and then we will dream about brainstorming design ideas to share with architects. Then we will go back to the Center for the Common Meal.
Why do we do all we do, without pay, with so much else going on in our lives? Sara Miles catches it in her usual wonderful way in the following excerpt: She is what she calls a late arrival to following Jesus. She was atheist activist revolutionary journalist; she is lesbian, she is mother; she discovered Jesus eating food and serving food to the hungry in San Francisco. Here is what she writes in her newest book. It is all about what we call "third places" of renewing community, empowering residents, growing healthy neighborhoods and lives through small acts of justice done with great love.
"The kingdom of Heaven is not privatized. It is not about commerce, about buying what you need for yourself. It is not passive: Jesus doesn't ask his disciples to wait for a miracle, but commands them, with a brusque authority..."You give the people something to eat."Because life in the kingdom means there's more than enough for everyone. (Ron's note: I wish people here in our area as well as elsewhere understood that when it comes to health care resources, so they would share them with all, especially those in abandoned communities; there is enough even among our activists here in North Tulsa to share; we need all of us and more instead of worry about who is getting what piece of what pie).
"Jesus enjoins his disciples to participate in God's work. Then he takes the bread and gives thanks to God to show them that the bread doesn't belong to them. Like everything we have, he says, bread comes from God, and your job is just to break it up and give it away. Give it to the wrong people, to the ones who haven't washed their hands correctly, to the latecomers and the women, to anyone who's hungry (Ron's note: whether they have a social security card or not)..
"Jesus shows the disciples and the crowd that there is always enough to go around: God's economy is one of abundance, not scarcity. By giving away the things God has given to us, by giving as profligately and unconditionally as God does, we receive everything we need.
"We'll stay hungry if we eat alone. We'll be lonely if we think we can only share fellowship with the right people. We'll starve if we believe that a community is a supernatural kind of miracle, or a product we can buy--not something we create by offering ourselves recklessly to others. We'll never feel truly fed if we're constantly competing to get our share. If we believe that love is scarce, and are afraid to give it away.
"But the good news, the promise of Jesus, is different."
Amen. blessings, thanks for all y'all do, and hope to see you here or there as we recreate the realm of "feeding, healing, and raising the dead" to borrow from the subtitle of Sara Miles newest book.
PS. Check out our Dallas Revival; spread the news to others. Extended discount period for registration until Monday, Sept. 27. Then come on Oct. 14-17 or just for that weekend for lower rate, and catch the spirit of progressive Christianity in a liberal free church faith. All the details at www.uuchristian.org. Share with others this news, and the above post.
Ron
www.turleyok.blogspot.com
www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com
www.uuchristian.org
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