“Communion is based on some common inner experience of love; it is a recognition of being one body, one people, called by God to be a source of love and peace.  Its fulfillment is more in silence than in words,  more in celebration than in work.  It is an experience of openness and trust that flows from what is innermost in a person; it is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Community is above all a place of communion.  For this reason it is necessary to give priority in daily life to those realities, symbols, meetings and celebrations that will encourage a consciousness of communion.  When a community is just a place of work, it is in danger of dying.”

(Taken from “Community and Growth” by Jean Vanier)

Recently I have been thinking a lot about our neighborhood and my job as a community organizer here.  As we have become more a part of our community as a neighbor and friend, my heart has been more and more burdened to see our neighbors learn and grow with us in this journey of deeply communing with each other as friends.  I long for us to be of one heart and mind and to pursue peace and justice with our neighbors and for our neighborhood together with Christ as the foundation of all our effort.

As we continue to strive to organize our neighbors around different things that they have voiced they want to see change or happen in our community, I am reminded that we must daily give priority to the things that cause us to “commune” together as friends. The daily, simple things of life that consist of sitting on someone’s front porch chatting, going to the park with our family and allowing our family to bless and be blessed by others, bringing a meal to a neighbor in need, taking long walks that are full of many stops to speak words of kindness, love, truth and hope to to others- these are the things that bring life and the light of Jesus.  Scriptures say that we will be known as His disciples by our love.  Love must start with these simple things.

Mother Theresa sought not to do great things, but to do small things with great love.  What an example for us to follow as we seek to bring the light and love of Jesus to our streets.

It is good to slow down and regain perspective.  It helps me focus on the right things.  The things that really bring transformation.

One of practical note-

I would like to highlight one of the efforts of the “Ujima Initiative” that we are gearing up to launch this fall.

In response to our neighbors desire to figure out practical ways to help each other, we are beginning a community wide “Time Bank” system.

“At its most basic level, Time banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community. That hour goes into the Time Bank as a Time Dollar. Then you have a Time dollar to spend on having someone doing something for you. It’s a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections” (Time Banks USA- for more information check out www.timebanks.org)

Time Banking is a creative way for neighbors to help neighbors practically while building relationships that affirm each other’s gifts and abilities.

See the follow clip from ABC News for a brief news report about this movement and its effects on communities.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7082441

This summer we will begin the premiliminary work of identifying and training community leaders to help facilitate the administration of the Time Bank and with the help of interested neighbors and our summer interns, staff and volunteers we will begin surveying the community to assess all the skills and needs members of the community bring to the table.

A couple things we need immediately are-

A computer for the sole purpose of Time Banking

One time financial donations to help offset the cost of the Time Bank Software/ Program

Reams of recycled paper to print the Skills/Needs Surveys on

Pray for us as we seek to commune with our neighbors daily and create ways to encourage and empower people to transform our community together!

Posted on April 23rd, 2009 by Erika
Filed under: Family & Friends, News, Ujima Initative, VOICE