From Boston to Turley/North Tulsa

From The Welcome Table Community Center, The Welcome Table GardenKitchenPark, The Welcome Table Free Universalist Missional Community, A Third Place Community Foundation, 5920 N. Owasso Ave, 74126.

Hi all.

I am writing to you from Boston tonight. This coming Sunday morning I will be preaching at First Unitarian Church in Worcester, MA on the spiritual life that comes from going and serving in "abandoned places." I will be drawing on Jesus' parable of the leaven, on the work of civil rights leader and founder of the Christian Community Development Association John Perkins, and what we have learned from others here in our part of the far north Tulsa area. Then Sunday afternoon I will be preaching the sermon at the installation of the Rev. Jay Libby at the Church of the Pilgrims, founded 1620, in Plymouth, MA. There my "epistle to Plymouth" will be a call for progressives to go missional in our understanding of church, looking at the covenants of the free church and the ones we have neglected, and how our mission can broaden our own understanding and fulfillment of becoming church itself. The text will be the beginning of Genesis 12, in the shadow of the destruction of the tower of Babel in the preceding chapter, and Abram's answering the call of Adonai to leave his home at the age of 75 to become the seed of God among the scattered peoples. I will post both sermons next week at www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com.

Because several of us are out of town for Spring Break still, we won't have any programmed worship gathering at the building this Sunday; of course anyone with a key is welcome to go and have fun and just be there in case anyone shows up or to do some work. Worship will resume the next Sunday at 11 am with a focus on celebrating Women's History through scripture, singings, communion, and conversation, and our usual common meal. Remember we are mostly the church during the week so come stop by and help one another.

Here are the important events coming up at The Welcome Table Community Center and elsewhere here at the gardenkitchenpark, at Cherokee School, at our guerilla gardening sites, etc. as we begin relaunching to the public our new building and programs and projects. You are invited to all of them. Please share with others.

Friday, March 25, from noon to 7 pm come anytime to Community Art Day here at our The Welcome Table Community Center, 5920 N. Owasso Ave., just off Peoria. We will be joined by graduate art therapy students from Kansas who will help residents create art for our building and grounds, especially after our vandalism attack. Free, with Food, and for all ages....This will be our first major public event in our new building. Help Us Launch our new space with beauty and justice both. All artists are welcome, all who just like to have fun are welcome, all who like to see a place of abandon come to life are welcome.

Saturdays beginning March 26 call us at 9186913223 to find where and when we will be working at Cherokee School gardens, 6001 N. Peoria, and our other public gardens underway here...Tuesday, Mar 29 7 pm community meeting at O'Brien Recreation Center, 6147 N. Birmingham Ave.

Sunday, April 3, I will be speaking on Life and Death and Resurrection in the 74126 on our gardens and center and community renewal projects during a presentation at 11:30 am at All Souls Church, 2952 S. Peoria Ave., then go to lunch with us, and then come back north as we hold an "Economy of Love" workshop based on the book and DVD of that name by Shane Claiborne, part of the new monastic movement, author of The Irresistible Revolution and co-author with John Perkins of Follow Me To Freedom, and other books; from 2 to 5 pm followed by common meal here at our Center. Check it out at www.economyoflove.org as we seek to create a different economic relationship that fosters instead of destroys endangered communities and people. This is a major Lenten program and is open to all who seek a transformed way of communal life.

The Big Weekend: Friday to Sun, April 8-10 we will be calling all helpers to come help us on renewal projects at our Center, especially at the GardenKitchenPark at 6005 N. Johnstown Ave., at Cherokee School, cleaning up illegal dumps on our streets, and working at our sites around the area where we have started guerilla gardening. Opportunities to serve going on all day each day with free food for volunteers. Come for the full weekend of service; come for just an hour; come by yourself; bring all your family of all ages, your church, youth, etc No experience or tools needed, though bring them if you have them, all ages welcome.

Help us launch our new visibility in our new spaces. Check out more at www.turleyok.blogspot.com where you can help us receive a matching $1,000 donation (we have received $750 so far) and www.progressivechurchplanting.blogspot.com. Check back often as we keep creating new ventures, partnerships, and worship opportunities here.

blessings, thanks for all you do where you are and for who you are, and more to come soon,
Ron