John 14:21
"Because a loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we'll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words. The message you are hearing isn't mine. It's the message of the Father who sent me."

A parable to ponder

A group of tourists sit in a bus that is passing through gorgeously beautiful country; lakes and mountains and green fields and rivers. But the shades of the bus are pulled down. They do not have the slightest idea of what lies beyond the windows of the bus.

And all the time of their journey is spent in squabbling over who will have the seat of honor in the bus, who will be applauded, who will be well considered. And so they remain till the journey's end. (A. de Mello)

Get off the bus.

Live

... as if your neighbours mattered.

The Hour of God's love.

I grew up in a really religious, fundamentalist home. I started off going to a Catholic church and Catholic schools. My mom took us to evangelical, Pentecostal churches. I have seen a lot of the Christian faith. I often visit a church in California which is a really, really evangelical church. I don’t agree with what the pastor says all the time, but I like the sense of community. The words don’t reach me but the gathering I like.

The most important thing a church or pastor can do is to be a part of the building and sustaining of a community, a place to go, a place to be, a place to gather together and do stuff. I’m less interested in the political angle of a church, more interested in the humanitarian angle of a church. (G. Stroumboulopoulos)

George isn't big on the Gospel proclamation bit of the Church, but he does want to be a part of a lived-out faith.

Don't we all?

That includes our neighbours.

Wednesdays at the Wilson’s

Sherrie and I have lived on Lost Lane since 1994, when we built our home. Our house is part of an informal community made up of 20 homes and farms that populate a section of county road and the afore-­‐mentioned dead end lane. Our neighbors are mostly friendly, and we wave and even say hello on occasion, but we felt for a long time that there ought to be a greater sense of neighborliness among us. In the fall of 2008, we finally took matters in our own hands and delivered invitations to all 20 homes, encouraging people to gather at our place on a Sunday afternoon when the Packers weren’t playing to share a potluck and get to know each other. Much to our delight, 10 of the homes were represented, and everyone confessed that they had been having the same “hankering” to get together ever since they had moved in. We thought we had started something, so we waited for one of the other families to pick up the ball last fall (09). Nothing happened...

Fast forward to the spring of 2010 and the opportunity to work on Making Room for Summer. The first impact of engaging with the material Randy (Frazee) and Max (Lucado) were developing wasn’t on my neighbors; it was on my view of my own home. Our three children are grown, married, and we are now delighted grandparents of five. Our home is on frequent occasions the happy chaos of all of us together for special events, but our day in/day out life is an empty-­‐nester schedule. I looked at our dining area and saw that our large table that seats eight and can’t be reconfigured had become not so much a place for two to have meals but a resting spot for junk mail and various ongoing projects. In other words, it was always piled with stuff. Two seated at opposite ends of a long table wasn’t appealing, and even sitting next to each other at one of the corners or along one side seemed odd. Meals together had degenerated into TV dinners in the living room while watching the news (depressing food consumed with depressing information). Having guests always involved a major effort to clear the table—which in itself was a dis-­‐ incentive to inviting others over.

Just outside our dining room is a large porch with wicker chairs and a small, round table that fits four nicely. I suggested that we put the big table on the porch and bring the small table inside at least for the summer and try making room for meals together. The change wasn’t easy. Losing the now habitual spot to drop things set into motion a lot of other decisions about living (that’s a longer story).

But the first meal by candlelight fixed by a husband on a mission had the desired effect. After an hour of conversation and interaction, Sherrie said, “I wasn’t sure about this, but now I like it!” That beginning hasn’t led to the continual happily ever after result, but we know this is something we’re aiming at.

Next came the conviction that we ought to again reach out to our neighbors. I decided we need to do more than just a once-­‐every-­‐two-­‐years-­‐in-­‐the-­‐fall gathering. So I thought we’d try something called Wednesdays at the Wilson’s and inform our neighborhood that for each of the four Wednesdays in August we would host an informal gathering for supper at our place. No particular agenda other than acquaintance. We made up invitations and biked around the neighborhood and delivered them. Some of the neighbors were out, others were on vacation, but every home got an invitation and we talked to quite a few who remembered our gathering two years ago.

Last Wednesday was our first W@W. One young mother and her three kids (one baby) showed up. We had a delightful time. We prepared a salad bar and the kids loved the variety. We hadn’t met the Mom before other than at the door when we delivered the invitation. I think she mainly appreciated two grandparents who attended to her kids while she ate, but we had some moments of conversation and assured her that we were thrilled with the outcome of the evening. She promised to return and bring her husband (who had had to work).

We realize this whole idea of making room for neighbors isn’t the promotion of instant intimacy or sudden closeness, but there is an unmistakable sense of satisfaction in having attempted something to bridge the gaps. We’re not sure how the other Wednesdays will go, but we’re determined to see them through. Making Room for Summer has already had a lasting impact on our lives (and the lives of others)! (Neil Wilson)

Can you live a life within walking distance?

Give it a try for a week.

The good life is close to home.

life in the 'hood

Pour yourself into your neighbourhood...

How does your spirituality manifest itself?

Are we supposed to be crappy neighbours?

A couple of days ago a friend of mine posted on facebook, 'My neighbour is a moron.'

My friend has been frustrated for sometime about the person living next-door to him for various reasons, yet has failed to see that this 'enemy' maybe the very person God wants him to love.

One of the reasons many Christians don't want to get to know their neighbours is what if their neighbours don't like them, or worse yet, 'they don't like the neighbour!'

Now it's always easier to say that to someone else. But if there is no one in our life that we don't get along with, we might not be reaching out beyond our circle of affinity.

Try reading Matthew 5:43-48 in the context of your local neighbourhood:

"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

Get outside & meet your neighbours!

Sometimes we have to give up the comforts of a warm living room....

rEPENT

Most merciful God
We confess that we have sinned against you
In thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
And by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. (Book of Common Prayer)

love your neighbour

To Love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: 'You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.'

We all know well that we can do things for others and in the process crush them, making them feel that they are incapable of doing things by themselves. To love someone is to reveal to them their capacities for life, the light that is shining in them. (Jean Vanier)

Do you have enough bandwidth to join in a neighbouring movement?

Is it time to give something up to make some space for neighbourhood availability?

The key

I sought my soul, and the soul I could not see.
I sought my God and God eluded me
I sought my neighbour and found all three.

Just get used to it...

The presence of community does not mean the absence of differences.

Reach out across your fence

“The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him, ‘What are you going through?’” S. Weil

Something's going on

Under the radar

It's not always happening in the big building (why keep looking there?!)

it's happening in the small buildings

it's happening in your neighbourhood.

Welcoming the stranger

Invite a neighbour over for the first time.

Overcome privacy.

The best parable has always been the life of a human being who is able to listen to GOD and live with Neighbors. (J. Wesley)

Neighbour luv

Just shovel snow for someone in need in your neighbourhood.

Be fully present.

Share some Christmas presence in your neighbourhood today.

There are abundant opportunities to serve and engage with our neighbors

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

"The harvest is huge. But there are only a few workers. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers out into his harvest field."

Time For Some Bluegrass...

There are many people
who will say they're Christians
and they live like Christians on the Sabbath day

But come Monday morning, til the coming Sunday
They will fight their neighbor all along the way

Oh you don't love God, if you don't love your neighbor
if you gossip about him, if you never have mercy
if he gets into trouble, and you don't try to help him
then you don't love your neighbor, and you don't love God

In the Holy Bible, in the Book of Matthew
Read the 18th chapter in the 21st verse
Jesus plainly tells us that we must have mercy
There's a special warning in the 35th verse

There's a God almighty, and you've got to love him
if you want salvation and a home on high

If you say you love him while you hate your neighbor
then you don't have religion, you just told a lie

Oh you don't love God, if you don't love your neighbor
if you gossip about him, if you never have mercy
if he gets into trouble, and you don't try to help him
then you don't love your neighbor, and you don't love God

then you don't love your neighbor, and you don't love God

1 John 2:6
Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Long ago, in a distant land, a prince dreamed of creating more than a geographical or political kingdom. He dreamed of establishing a community in which all persons were committed to each other in loyalty and equality, where every person sought the welfare of the neighbor even at great cost to the self. So the prince called a great meeting of all of the heads of clans, all the wise and trusted people of the land, and dared to tell his dream. Each chieftain and his clan were invited to join in the foundation of new society.

As part of the community's inauguration, each was requested to search his cellar for the best wine produced from his ancestral vines. These treasured bottles would be uncorked, poured into a great communal vat, and blended, as the true community it represented, into a common vintage.

"How can I mix my exquisite wine with that of my neighbors?" asked one of the winegrowers invited to this covenanting.

"I would sacrifice the unique variety of grape, the special climate of the year, the sweetness of a late harvest, the indefinable magic of bouquet, and I would violate my art as a winemaker. Impossible! Give up my distinct variety? Lose my separate self? I will not be adulterated in such a common cup."

So he corked a bottle of tap water, affixed his most beautiful label to the bottle, and at the time of the ritual poured the water ceremoniously into the vat. When the covenanting was solemnized, all filled their glasses for the communal draft, the toast that would seal commitment to community. As the cups touched their lips, all knew the truth. It was not wine. It was water.

No one had been willing to pay the cost of community. (David Augsburger)

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.

Wisdom walks...

... across the street, down the block and into the lives of your neighbours for an epic journey together.

40 Life Principles For A Significant & Meaningful Journey

Friends will make you or break you

Be the person you want others to become

What's in the well comes up in the bucket

What you see is what you get

Leave the mark of Jesus

Your words are powerful and permanent

A little humility goes a long way

Put your money where your heart is

Pay attention to God's little nudges

God rewards good deeds done behind the scenes

There is greatness in everyone

Prayer does change things

A step of faith often means "stay," not "go."

Guard yourself, because temptation lurks

Give deeply of yourself, and you'll never go wrong

Make your reputation match your reality

Reclaim the real you

Engage God daily-no matter what!

Little things always become big things

Narrow the focus for greater life change

Take every thought captive

Forgive...then forgive again

Expect it, get ready for it, and stand against it

Put off the old; put on the new

Be sold out for what you believe

Life is a battleground, not a playground

Follow the visions God places on your heart

Life is not a "me" thing---it's a "we" thing

Serve big, or go home!

Don't steal the glory

Pray like your life depends on it

God uses the few who are faith-full

The path you pick leads to life or death

Admit it, forget it, and get back in it

Stay connected to the Source

Do everything you can to change someone's world

Make your life worth catching

Live light and free on earth Hold tight to heaven

Be controlled by the Spirit, not your-self

Live every day like it's your last

Want to improve your spiritual life?

Try improving the spiritual lives of others first.

Neighbourhood life means...

that I no longer have private territory set apart from God.

Colossians 2:6-7
My counsel for you is simple and straightforward:
Just go ahead with what you've been given.
You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him.
You're deeply rooted in him.
You're well constructed upon him.
You know your way around the faith.
Now do what you've been taught.
School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it!
And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

In neighbourhood life...

You become you.
God alone is God.
And we become we.

Suffering from Affluenza?

In Canada, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day. I’ve read that it’s the largest retail spending day of the year up there (akin to America’s Black Friday, which follows our Thanksgiving feast). Inheritors of the largest economy to ever exist on earth, we North Americans celebrate our holidays on both sides of the border with great demonstrations of abundance—and we come down from our consumption by . . . shopping. If there is any single temptation that North Americans share, it’s the persistent call of One More Thing.

But for Christians, the day after Christmas is a day to remember Stephen the Martyr. Our great celebration of Jesus coming to dwell among us is followed by a solemn reminder of what Jesus actually said about following him—that it leads to a cross in this world. Incarnation is good news not because it offers us a way out of the mess of this world, but because it shows us what God’s love looks like here and now. Jesus’ birth is followed by his death and resurrection, just as the birth of the church is followed by the witness of those who are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the gospel. And so the good news spreads.

When we pay attention to the peculiar memory of the church, we hear the echoes of a quiet revolution—the gentle insistence that the way things are is not the way things have to be. Another world is possible; indeed, another world has already begun. We can be part of it now, but it costs nothing less than everything.

That Jesus took on human flesh and moved into the neighborhood means we have seen the way of love lived out. We know what it looks like. In first-century Palestine, it meant that Jesus went to Golgotha. It looked like Stephen praying for his enemies while they threw the stones that would kill him.

But what does it look like to live God’s love in our world today?

What if you’re not a wandering preacher from Galilee, living under Roman occupation?

What if your greatest temptation is the alluring call of One More Thing on the day after you’ve eaten ham and opened presents? (Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove's Forward for The Cost of Community by Jamie Arpin-Ricci)

How do you know when you are beginning to impact a community?

You will discover you have favour within your neighbourhood.

Right where you live, God is at work.

Our lives are our ministries.

Hospitality is the warmth of a neighbourhood.

Get to know your neighbours instead of giving icy stares...

Look for possibility

Jesus really didn't spend much if any time whining while he wandered around the Judean countryside.

Let's create & participate in restorative conversations, healing opportunities, reconciling relationships and loving community.

Grace can never stop with us. Grace is meant to flow to one another.

STOP WATCHING THE NEWS

Instead, use that time to make some Good News in your neighbourhood.

Shovel a neighbours walk.

Invite someone over.

Pray for opportunities to show God's love in practical ways. Then walk the neighbourhood asking God to help you see these opportunities.

Yesterday a friend arranged to do a Samaritan's Purse shoebox day with her neighbours. When she proposed the idea it was very well received. She commented, 'These friends want to help others but lack an outlet & connection to make it happen. They just needed someone to get the ball rolling.'

What a great start to help frame the Christmas season in the appropriate vein. Too often it's all about, 'Gimme gimme gimme' & our kids completely miss the impact of the birth of Jesus.

Materialism doesn’t make us happy. Materialistic folks tend to be dissatisfied with their lives, have low self-esteem, be less integrated into their community, find less meaning in life, and be less concerned about the welfare of others. The list goes on and on: Materialistic people are also less satisfied with their family lives, the amount of fun and enjoyment they experience, and they are more likely to be depressed and envious.

Materialistic KIDS don’t do as well in school, and are at greater risk for depression, anxiety, and unhappiness; they are less inclined to connect to and help others in their neighborhood and community. (Christine Carter)

Is there something you can initiate in your neighbourhood this season to combat materialism & help give flesh to the real meaning of Christmas?

Tune into the neighbouring movement...

When you focus on place, you do everything differently.

Why not discover and demonstrate the Kingdom of God where He has placed you?

You may not be the first to think of a great idea - you may simply be the first to act on it

That Jesus took on human flesh and moved into the neighbourhood means we have seen the way of love lived out. We know what it looks like. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Most seekers are interested in enlightenment only for their own sake, only for their own personal liberation. Indeed, when we begin the spiritual life, the most important thing to us is our own happiness, our own personal experience of expanded states of consciousness, our own enlightenment.

But there comes a time when some of us begin to recognize that spiritual experience is not only for our own welfare.

Because we have gone deeply into the spiritual experience, we have discovered something sacred. It is the recognition of an obligation, an obligation that literally commands us to cease to live for ourselves alone, but instead to live for the sake of the whole.

In that obligation, it becomes apparent that this life is not our own in any personal sense, and that true liberation can be found only when this life is lived not for our own happiness but in the service of a cause that is always greater than ourselves. (Andrew Cohen)

What kind of core change do want to be a part of in your neighbourhood and city?

When Jesus was talking about the kingdom of God, he was thinking of concrete realities on the earth, he was thinking of the Church being the embodiment of the Jesus dream, and he was thinking of you and I living together in a community as we should. (Scot McKnight)

How much risk are you willing to take?

This is NOT Neighbourhood Life...

What would it look like if God lived in your neighbourhood?

God's best plan for saving the world is to put on flesh and live among us. (Jamie Arpin-Ricci)

He's already made it plain how to live, what to do,
what God is looking for in men and women.
It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don't take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously.

Halloween is a great opportunity...

To meet your neighbours.

To work together for the greater good of the neighborhood.

To be kind to others.

Become a living tract...

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Are you willing to notice unnoticed neighbours?

Matthew 10
Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.

Life in the neighbourhood...

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

It's Your Kid Not a Gerbil

I love this book idea!

"Do activities rule your family?

Do you have a superkid - or a super-stressed kid?

Does your busyness keep you from leaving the indelible imprint you long to have on your child's life?

Does next week's schedule leave you exhausted at the mere thought of it?

Most kids today can text faster than a woodpecker with ADHD. But do they have the relational skills that will bring with satisfaction and fulfillment in life?"

It's no wonder so many families struggle with the idea of Living Local & investing in their neighbourhoods.

We tend to be preoccupied with ourselves and we feel overwhelmed when others threaten to occupy our space & time.

Neighbourhood hospitality helps create spaces & places where strangers can become our friends.

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.

Don't name your baby, "Mars Hill."

Does God really care what you call your church?

Whose church is it anyways?

Aren't all the churches in the NT identified geographically, such as a city or neighbourhood?

The Church is the largest company in Edmonton.

It is the only group that has everything it needs to change a neighbourhood from the inside out.

Does God have an opinion of where we live?

Til in the garden where he put you.

Build together in the neigbourhood...

How you do life is your real & final truth.

God is already arranging the building blocks...

Is someone showing you how to grow old with grace?

Some of the examples pop culture chooses scream out the wrong way to do it.

Maybe the right example lives next door to you, or just down the street.

Find life in your neighbourhood...

Church on the move...

... means different things to different people.

How do you church in your neighbourhood?

It has been my profound conviction for some years now that the greatest need of the Christian Church is a revival of the New Testament standard of Christian living. There seems to be a very wide gulf between what we believe and how we live, a marked contrast between our position in Christ and our actual experience. Too often we claim to believe our Bible from cover to cover, but fail to live out its truths in daily conduct.

Before we can ever see a real movement of the Spirit of God in blessing to the world in our day, surely the Church must face afresh the New Testament pattern, the whole revelation of the Word of God, in its claims on holiness of life and ethical conduct. A. Redpath

A lifetime of great relationships.

Recently a local high school student was asked in his Leadership Class to comment on a significant turning point in his life, ala The TSN Turning Point in a sports game. Here's what he wrote:

I doubt I would even be taking this class if I didn’t live in my amazing neighbourhood. Moving there in December 2000 shaped me into a person who would not have otherwise existed. The April after we moved my parents registered me in learn to play soccer. It was the year before kindergarten and so I had not met many other kids my age yet. I will always remember the first day of kindergarten when I saw Josephs' name on a cubby. Somehow I made the connection to soccer and didn’t feel so alone anymore. I felt connected.

Soccer was the first medium for meeting buddies and it was on the pitch that I met three of my best friends today. I have always loved soccer and I believe that getting me into such a great program so early on played a huge part in dictating what sports I play.

My parents were committed to being a part of the neighbourhood so they enrolled me in the local elementary school. I became great friends with the kids I had met in soccer because I saw them everywhere: in the park, on the streets and in school. I not only made connections with my friends, I made connections with their parents and with my teachers and because I saw people in more than one setting, and thus my neighbourhood became my extended family to me. Even today I can walk my dog down the street and create conversation with the people I meet because our neighbourhood is more intimate than just a bunch of friendly acquaintances. This feeling of being connected has molded me more than anything. This familiar feeling of being connected is also the main reason I was attracted to my current local school, S********** High.

The friends I’ve made, the sports I’ve played and the people I have interacted with make my neighbourhood a unique community and have made me the person I am today. Moving to L****** is the most influential moment in my life.

Habakkuk 3:2
LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known.

Who are the neighbourhood pollinators in your community?

Have you joined them?

Are you inviting others into healing conversations?

Is it your passion to connect people with abilities & resources with those who might have a need?

Somewhere in your neighbourhood someone is praying.

And serving.

Someone is loving.

And caring.

Somewhere in your neighbourhood someone is going out and sharing Gods love.

Let's keep spreading it around...

Hebrews 10
Let us consider how we can stir up one another to love. Let us help one another to do good works.

Live in the world you inhabit.

Maybe try spending less time in your car & settling down for a change...

We love our neighbourhood so much we can't move.

Have you ever said that, or heard someone else say it?

It's a beautiful thing to discover the art of neighbouring.

From our friends at Building Blocks in Arvada, Colorado.

Move to your front yard.

It has been great for us as a family & our local 113.

what if jesus really meant that we should love our actual neighbours?

Oh dear, are you ready for that?