Pentecost Seattle

In May, Evangelical, Emerging Church, Catholic, and Mainline Christians together with those who are spiritually inclined but unrelated to any Christian community will gather in Seattle.

Our gathering theme is “Faith and Justice in the 21st Century. The context is the needs of our neighborhoods and cities in a time of economic recession calling us to new forms of engagement. The agenda for the day will be relaxed, giving us all room to share what we hear the Spirit calling us to do in our neighborhoods, in our cities. While we honor the gifts of the traditions in which we live, the organizers of this gathering no longer believe it is God’s will that our traditions divide us as we carry out the mission to which we are called.

I’ve been invited to participate again in the Film, Faith and Justice Festival. Last year I moderated a panel discussion on immigration issues. This is the 3rd festival that The Other Journal puts together. Each one of them have been provocative and challenging.

Some of the issues that will be address this year will be poverty, patriotism and faith, the myth of redemptive violence, and violent constructions of race.  The speakers for this year are:

• Chris Heuertz of Word Made Flesh
• Eugene McCarraher of Villanova University
• Rita Brock who is the Co-Director of Faith Voices for the Common Good
• J. Kameron Carter of Duke Divinity School

I highly recommend this event. Hope to see you there. Follow the link below for more info about the films and presenters.

The Other Journal at Mars Hill Graduate School :: Film Faith and Justice 2008
Film, Faith, and Justice is a forum exploring the relationship between theology and social justice.

As host to the Traveling Human Rights Watch Film Festival, this forum utilizes film, keynote lectures, and discussion panels to engage modern issues of faith and social justice critical to countering modern exploitation and injustice.

The friends of Nickelsville – a homeless camp in Seattle – are in dire need of Legal Counsel and/or Representation. If you are interested to show your solidarity and support or know of someone whom might, contact Dustin Cross at 318-349-6535 or bro_cross@yahoo.com

WHAT IS NICKELSVILLE?

Nickelsville is a permanent homeless shantytown in Seattle WA which will accommodate up to 1,000 people. Nickolodeons (Nickelsville’s residents) will live in permanent structures (not tents) and will not have to move every few months. Emphasis will be on safe and sanitary conditions.

WHY NICKELSVILLE?

This year’s one night count showed an increase of 15% in the number of homeless people sleeping outside. Sleeping outside is dangerous; unfortunately there are not enough indoor shelters. There is safety in numbers, there is power in being organized.

WHY THE NAME NICKELSVILLE?

Mayor Nickels’s edict to systematically drive people out of their encampments and to destroy their property was the trigger for the present crisis. It is only befitting that our shantytown be named in honor of Mayor Nickels and his “humane” treatment of the homeless.

WHO?

Anyone who is homeless, willing to take charge of their living conditions, participate in a community and follow some basic rules is welcome to Nickelsville,

WHAT STANDARDS?

Houseless people are neither better nor worst than housed people. Resident of Nickelsville will be held to the same standards as those of any civilized neighborhood. Nothing more, nothing less.

Cut from the footage of over 100 media activists, This is What Democracy Looks Like captures the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. The film marks a turning point in collaborative filmmaking and acheives a scope and vision possible only through the lenses of over 100 cameras.

See full video online.

Tonight we had our first community dinner night with Dustin and Joy, the new communitarians at Mustard Seed House. After several times together and several times of prayer and discernment, we invited Joy and Dustin to be part in this adventure of living in intentional community.

Here is the Afro-Celtic prayer we prayed as way to begin this new season in the Mustard Seed House.

The Mustard Seed House (MSH) is an intentional Christian Community in Seattle. I am very fortunate to be one of the original core families and conspirators in this liberated space in which we try to embody God’s Kingdom value as a new kind of family.

Here are some photos of some of our gatherings, activities and ordinary family life. There will be more added soon. So keep checking them out.

Photos of the Mustard Seed House (via Flickr)

Here is their vision to fight global poverty.