.... what the random?!.. and SOAR

This week, the Flatlanders community and WCV are hosting a team of students as they explore inner city winnipeg as part of SOAR Heartland.  They are joining in our daily life and hanging out with members of our community.  Today was fun.  We hung out with Larry  and talked about worship.  (I'm learning how well known Larry is - you might know him as the poet who sits at River and Osborne)

The discussion was interesting, and Larry did end up taking out his poetry book (its usually attached to the back of his wheelchair) and compiling some of our discussion in there.  While I sent the students (some of them led by my husband, who seems to be loving teaching and sharing about our neighborhood!) out on a 'prayer artifacts walk', I typed up Larry's compilation.  Here is an excerpt;

Worship … A Group Poem

Worship is an Act of Love

Worship comes from the source of humanity

Worship is Light .... what we do to encourage life

Worship is putting God’s glory into action

In every human interaction

Worship is a conversation,

Not just with God, but our fellow human

Worship is being submissive

An act of mission

Worship is a declaration

Worship is a lifestyle

A means to reconcile

When your mind is focused on God, that is worship of the heart

Growing close to God intentionally

All our hearts in harmony.

Larry is a great poet and a great teacher.  Look for him if you're in the village ... he'll gladly write you a poem!  He is not homeless (as a recent article in ChristianWeek suggested), but he won't mind if you pay him nicely for his creativity.
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Spending time with this group sent me looking through the archives of this blog for the last time I was part of leading a group of young people in this community... except I didn't even live in Winnipeg back then!  I wrote these words  a couple of years ago when I led a team of Saskatchewan college students on an inner city exposure trip...

"I must say I LOVE THE NORTH END OF WINNIPEG!!

This trip has reconnected me with some intense emotions from back in the day when I worked (in this neighborhood) .. My heart is so at home here, and I've been startled at some of the events our team feels unsure about, because my steps in this place are sure and confident. This is the place where I learned to rely fully on the Lord each and every day... Re-establishing that familiar connection on familiar streets - even with familiar faces - feels right and good.... but also brings many other mixed up emotions, too!"

... funny how things work out, huh? :)


If you're still reading.. here is a little snippet from Jamie's blog - its from an interview with Stuart Murray, who has written a book called 'The Naked Anabaptist'...

" My argument is that, in our post-Christendom western culture, the moment has arrived when the Anabaptist tradition is needed more than ever before. It is not the only tradition needed as we face new challenges and new opportunities, but it offers gifts to the wider church. These include a deep-rooted commitment to peacemaking in a fragmented society, experience on the margins of society in a context where all Christians are becoming marginal, a commitment to simplicity and community in a consumerist and individualistic culture, and a focus on the life and teaching of Jesus in societies that are sick of institutional Christianity but still intrigued by Jesus. It is not necessary to become Anabaptists to receive these gifts and to explore ways of working on these issues in many traditions and contexts. "

... words of encouragement to a homeless anabaptist... !

Thanks for reading.