my favorite night of the month

The last Friday night of nearly every month at our church (that's tonight), we host a Community Supper. We began this shortly after I started on staff eight years ago. The idea was (and is) simple: cook up a bunch of something good and invite all our neighbors to share it with us...no strings attached. No having to sit through a message before the food is served, no commitments or sign-ups required, just a chance to connect with those in the neighborhood and enjoy an evening together.

The first time we tried this, we cooked for a couple of hundred and fourteen showed up! We were disappointed, to say the least. But one man told us that he had received one of our flyers that night as he was contemplating suicide and decided to join us instead. That made the entire effort worth it. Nearly eight years later we average 100-150 monthly, many of them homeless and marginalized. Our biggest month is August when we give away backpacks and supplies to kids for school. Our numbers swell to almost 500 on those evenings!

Our hope is to connect our people from church with those from the community in a relaxed and informal manner. Each month as we prepare, I remind the volunteers (and they vary from month to month) that their primary objective is not to serve food, but to get to know people. I ask them to grab a plate, sit with those who are eating and simply initiate conversation that will build a relationship.

That's it- relationships. That's what we emphasize. Because we're convinced that the greatest life changes take place through avenues of relationship and connection. So when we host a Supper, we don't try to simply move people through (remember, it's not just about serving food), but we try to make sure that everyone who comes has a memorable time with each other. I believe that's the way church was designed to be. And for some of our neighbors, this is the only church they get.

And best of all, it's working. Lives are changing, on both sides of the tables. And people keep coming. That's because we aren't just serving food- we're serving each other.

Gotta go now- gotta get ready for my favorite night of the month. Don't know what's cookin', but I know it's gonna be good, all the way around.

what 1992 showed us...again

My family and I lived in the Philippines 1983-1995. During the LA riots in 1992 we were horrified at what we saw, especially since our home church was in Long Beach, one of the hard-hit areas. We were also struck with the realization that in spite of how far we may think we have come as a nation in terms of race relations, issues of bigotry, inequality, pain, and division lie just under the surface...and it takes little to set them into motion.

I once again realized a simple fact: issues or racism, bigotry, prejudice and hatred are not simply social, governmental, or environmental. At their root they are spiritual issues. Government programs or societal band-aids will not repair the damage. We've already seen that. The group with the power to deal with spiritual issues is the Church. The ability to provide healing and remedy, to help with reconnection and reconciliation across cultures belongs to those who say they follow Jesus Christ. He came to break down those barriers and create a new community that would see beyond color or class.

Sadly, those of us who claim that name have not done what we should- we've too often been more a part of the problem than a part of the solution. We have the chance to be bridge-builders and connectors, solutions to this great need that exists not only in our culture, but throughout the world. Just as God reached out to reconcile us to Himself, we now reach out to be agents of reconciliation among all peoples. Are you part of the solution?

eden's what?

I've mentioned to a few friends the name of this site, eden's dust. The response has been the same when I tell them: "Huh?"

It's simple, really. The name reflects the desire and focal point of my heart. I've spent the better part of my life working with others in a quest to reconcile relationships, with God and with people. And God has allowed me to spend the bulk of my time in a cross-cultural environment, both in local urban settings and internationally. I've found that the Church has focused on helping people understand what it means to be reconciled with God. But we've not done nearly as well spelling out the need to be connected and at peace with each other, especially across racial, cultural, socio-economic or generational lines. We've too quickly and too easily separated ourselves according to color, class or interest, often disengaging with and disparaging those we deem not like us. We've focused on differences even as God has called us to focus on commonality.

You see, we're more closely connected than we might imagine. Trace the lineage of humankind and you find that we have common connections. All of us. In fact, go back far enough and you discover that we come from the same neighborhood- Eden. And in that first garden we see that this connection comes from the fact that we, through the first man, come from the same material, the dust of that ground- Eden's dust. This suggests (to me, at least) that we share more in common, a sort of initial DNA, than we might have ever considered.

What does that mean for us? That's why I'm writing. To reflect, reconsider and continue to engage this challenging prospect of connection- with our God and with each other- through the lens of nearly 40 years of involvement with it, lived out in the lives of people and situations I have encontered both locally and globally. Thanks for joining me on this journey.