Since the death of our brother & friend, Andrew, over a month ago, our little community has begun to find healing.  As Kim said, we are trying to find a “new normal”- one that does not deny the suffering and sadness of the past few weeks, but one that celebrates God’s hand in the midst of it.

One way we have done this is expanding our community gardens (which I have yet to get pictures of, sorry!).  Since we are Little Flowers Community, we thought we should be doing some kind of gardening.  Growing veggies together is a great way to learn about the Spirit’s work of bringing new life, practicing simplicity and enjoying God’s wonderful Creation.  We are also planning some covert guerilla gardening for the neighbourhood (more on that later!).

Your continued prayers for us are truly appreciated.  While we are getting there, that “new normal” is still being established.  Other challenges of life & faith don’t stop to wait their turn, so things are always fairly intense these days.  If you want to help out in any other way, you can feel free to contact me for more details.

Peace & good things!

~Jamie

In loving memory of Andrew W. Spoljar
Son, Brother, Uncle & Friend
February 28, 1983 – May 10, 2009

It is with great sadness that Little Flowers Community mourns the loss of our friend & brother, Andrew.  While take great joy in his recent embrace of Jesus Christ, we grieve the pain and confusion that contributed to his unexpected death.  Andrew will be remembered for his quirky humour, loving loyalty to his family and his great artistic gifts.  Please keep his family and community in your prayers.

Andrew’s funeral will be held at 1:30pm, Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at Thomson Funeral Chapel at 669 Broadway Ave, Winnipeg.  In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to:

Youth With A Mission
PO Box 57100
2480 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC    V5K 5G6

This last Sunday evening at Little Flowers we continued our series on our community vows & values.  We have already explored our shared commitment to Simplicity, embrace a number of individual and community practices as a result.  This week we explored the discipline of Submission.  We will look at it over a couple of weeks, pursuing value that we will walk out together.

Our Vow of Submission is inspired by the monastic Vow of Obedience.  Both of these words- submission and obedience- can draw responses from all spectrums, most of them less than positive.  Whether it brings to mind abusive hierarchies or imbalanced gender requirements, most of us can identify with the cringe factor these words cause.  However, beyond their misuses and abuses, this vow holds so much for us as we seek to be Christ’s Body to a watching world.

Through the familiarity of common usage, we can too often lose sight of what it means to follow Jesus as our Lord.  It can become dangerously easy in our evangelical zeal to call people to declare Jesus as Lord in order to be saved, without truly articulating that beyond mere declaration is the absolute submission of our whole selves to the purposes of Christ.  When it is addressed, we sometimes reduce it to basic moral living and spiritual disciplines like prayer and Bible reading.  While these are all important, the life and teachings of Christ, built upon the foundation the story of God found in Scripture, clearly show us that we are called to lives far more demanding and sacrificial.  Consider the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10).  After Jesus affirms that eternal life can be had if we love God and love our neighbour as ourselves, he is asked, “Who is my neighbour?”.  The parable comes in reply.

I recently realized how quickly I dismissed the priest and the Levite as the bad guy, identifying instead with the Samaritan.  And yet, with more consideration I realized that the choices of the first two men were not so unreasonable.  The road was clearly dangerous and these men had many people who depended on them.  Consider a similar scenario in our own world- I live in an inner city community that poses many such threats.  Obedience to Christ’s call of loving our neighbour is a costly one, potentially our very lives.  It was the outcast, “heretic” Samaritan who risked it all for a person who might otherwise have reject him.

But Jesus does not directly answer the question “Who is my neighbour?”, but instead asks, “Which of the three men was a neighbour to the injured man?”.  Clearly the only answer is the Samaritan, which the lawyer states.  Jesus finally answers the “neighbour” question by saying “Go and do the same”.  The lawyer does not ask what he must do to be obedient to God.  Instead, his original question is about eternal life and his follow up question are aimed at discovering his minimal obligation for salvation.  And this is where he misses the point.

Jesus turns the table with his answer.  Jesus shows that obedience is not about fulfilling some external obligations, but rather the externals are a result of the internal transformation of our hearts.  Obedience leads to being transformed from the inside out into the Body of Christ, not hoops we must jump through for our own benefit.  Just as we are called to be loving, compassion and grace-filled neighbours, that which Christ calls us to obey comes as His expression of love, compassion and grace to us, seeking to restore us to His intention for all Creation.

God also calls us to be submitted to one another as His united Body.  In my next post I will explore this community dynamic of submission.

PLEASE NOTE!  Little Flowers Sunday meal and service will be changed this Sunday (April 22).  We will be eating at 5:15pm.  Following clean up we will NOT be holding a service, but attending st. benedicts table for the baptism service of our friends Amy & Suzanne.

Thanks!

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece called “The Community Coming To Be Known As Missional” (with explanations in several parts- part 1 & part 2 & part 3).  It is a piece that I am still proud of and often refer to as I seek God in my life and the life of my community, Little Flowers.  It has been a beacon for us for sometime.

However, this morning I felt the need to re-visit some of these dynamics is respect to the realities of being a part of a new faith community, especially in our inner city context.  It may sound cynical to some, but that is not my intention.  Rather, I hoped it would be synthesis of our passionate ideals and honest struggles.  As a result it isn’t as articulate or polished as the previous piece (something that is difficult for the writer in me to leave), but I think that is part of the story.

The Community Longing To Be The Church

Let me introduce you to The Community Longing To Be The Church.  There are many of us, but too often we feel very much alone.

We are community because we are all too aware of our need for others and for God.  We are a community that prefers walking together, even in our brokenness, than being alone in a pretense of togetherness.  We are united by relationship and longing, not achievement or strength.

For us, generosity is a matter of survival, for without each other, many of us would go hungry.  We try to give what we have to each other, though our selfish nature regularly rears its head in very “reasonable” rationalization.  We offer hospitality, opening our homes and lives to welcome the other, though we don’t always like the smells and we too often keep a hand guardedly on our stuff.  But we try and we are blessed and humbled in the process.

We are The Community Longing To Be The Church.  Our success is measured by our faithfulness to God, each other our neighbours and (when we find the time) Creation- which is a stretch in the midst of busy lives and broken relationships.  We celebrate even the smallest triumphs of life and faith, because the small victories are all we can hope for at the moment.  We’ll leave the revolution to the better equipped.

We are ruthlessly committed to people over programs, and since the latter generally requires money (of which we have little), that is probably a good thing.  We cooperate and co-create, trying to resist the impulse to let “the leaders” do it all.  Sometimes we are even successful in said resistance.  We know what is ideal, but need to want it enough to pay the price.

We are The Community Longing To Be The Church.  Each among us wants to lead, but most of like the authority more than the responsibility.  We believe that everyone has something valuable to bring, so we work hard to embrace and celebrate each person.  We are tested in this by the idiocy, immaturity and inexplicable behaviour that everyone displays at one time or another.  We believe we will find Christ in them, but it is very hard to do at times- as hard as others seeing Him in us.

We learn to live with the contradictions and inconsistencies among us, not out of defeat or lack of caring, but out a realism born of experience.  We find in those difference, instead of division, the seeds of learning, humility and love, even when born out of conflict among us.  His grace is ever needed as we seek to come together in His image.

We are The Community Longing To Be The Church.  We live in the paradox of longing to become while already being.  We are the Church.  We are the Body.  And yet we are so far from it.  In this tension- in our sin and selfishness- we discover our desperate need for God and even, often grudgingly, for each other.  We love God with all our hearts, but those hearts are divided.  So we come together, through His Spirit to seek the love of the Father as we seek to become more like the Son.  And we see that this is achieved in the chaos and brokenness of the Cross.  Our hope is that, as we are poured out by and for Him, we can become the community He has created us to be.  It is here that we discover the deeper truth:

We are The Community Longing To Become Christ.

While we know that true simplicity must be born out of inward change, not just outward changes.  However, a lot of the time, we need to be inspired by the ideas of others.  Not all the examples are for everybody, but here are a few sites to get you started:

• The Simple Living Network: This site is probably all you need to start, as it has massive resources, plus links to many other helpful sites.  Take some time to explore.
• Living [Frugally] Well: This is the personal blog of a friend of mine.  Maria has been working hard to explore all kinds of creative ways to live simply, cut costs and escape (and avoid) debt.  Her honest, experimental approach is really helpful.  She is more daring than some, which is great!
• The Story of Stuff: While not a resource in how to live simply, this website and online video will help open your eyes to the implications of not addressing our extreme consumption.  Some might argue the statistics, but if only 50% is accurate, it is still a powerful challenge.

This is not even close to being an exhaustive list, so PLEASE add your suggestions in the comment section.  I’ll add a few to the list.

This past Sunday we have begun a series exploring the three monastic vows of the Franciscan tradition- poverty, chastity and obedience.  Within our community we have articulated our values accordingly as Simplicity, Purity and Submission.  Sunday we began to explore Simplicity.

One of the core lessons we have been learning is that simplicity is an external manifestion of genuine inward change.  We do not simply adopt practices for their own value, but out of a response to seek first God’s Kingdom.  We were blown away how much the Scriptures speak to this theme and how far we are from practice them.  Next week we will begin to explore how to walk this out, both individually and as a community.

For a great list of Scriptures on money (a starting point), check out this link.

Peace!

Over the last few week, as a community we have been exploring what kind of church we are called to be.  That is, we are exploring what patterns do we want to embrace as a reflection of our intention to be a missional community to our neighbour, the city and the world.  While this will be an ongoing process, of course, we are currently looking at four patterns.  We are drawing a lot from the excellent book “Treasure in Clay Jars: Patterns in Missional Faithfulness” (Lois Y. Barrett, editor).

Drawing from 2 Corinthians 4, the four patterns we have been exploring are:

Pattern 1: A Community of Discipleship & Spiritual Formation
“It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ Since we have that same spirit of  faith, we also  believe and therefore speak.”   “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:13, 16)

Kim led our discussion last week about this topic, reminding us that we are all called to be disciples and disciplers, to learn as much as teach.  We believe that the Holy Spirit in us as a community is the central means through which we are to learn from Scripture.  She also reminded that we be committed to what we have come to call the 3 H’s- the Head, the Hands & the Heart (mind, will & emotions).  Each of us tends towards one over the others, which is why we need to trust and rely on one another.

In the coming weeks we will be looking at the follow patterns (not necessarily in this order):

Pattern 2: A Community of Calling
“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” (2 Cor. 4:1)

Within the larger mission of God, we are committed to understand and engage in our part of that mission, specific to our giftings, our context, etc.  To do this, we have to understand what constitute “success” in this mission.  While believe that conversion is an essential result of God’s work, our ultimate measure of “success” must be obedience and faithfulness.  Mission is a centrally defining aspect of who are as a community, as a church.

Pattern 3: A Community of Contrast
“Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded  the minds of unbelievers, so that they can’t see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”   “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but  not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Cor 4: 3-4, 8-9)

At the same time that we seek to be a contextually relevant witness to our community, we also recognize that we are called to a life that is counter-cultural.  We know that following Christ will put us into the conflicting path of the principalities and powers of this present age, such as consumerism, individualism, etc.  This means we are open to asking and answer difficult, complex and even personal questions.  We will face very real internal and external conflicts and challenges, and must do so with humility and courage.

Pattern 4: A Community of Practicing Beliefs
“Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort  the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Cor. 4:2)

Beyond embracing ideals, our beliefs must inform our actions and define how we actively live our lives.  To that end, we seek to identify and pursue those core practices of the faith we believe central to our community.  Radical hospitality, reconciliation, accountability and generosity are just a few core practices that must be genuinely personal and communal acts, careful not to simply be goals in programed projects.  This will mean committing to a sharing a rhythm of life together.

I am really excited to explore these points in more detail in the weeks to come!

This past Sunday marked the first Little Flowers Community gathering of 2009.  We gathered in the afternoon to prepare supper together which we shared together.  That evening we told the story of how Little Flowers came to be, starting with the founding of YWAM in the city and our growing friendship with Mennonite Church Manitoba through Norm Voth.  It was great to share our history with everyone.

Later that evening, we discussed what we hope Little Flowers Community would become.  We were all excited to build together a missional community following the Mennonite tradition.  We are all also considering developing the community around a missional order, drawing also from the Franciscan tradition.  More on that as it develops.

We hung out for most of the evening.  The ladies left, leaving only the men for the later hours, which turned into a great chat about possible men’s groups, outreach ideas and just hanging out.  Good times!

If you are interested in joining us on a Sunday, contact us for details.

Well, 2009 has finally arrived and with it the next step in moving forward with Little Flowers.  In the coming week the community core will be gathering to pray and strategize about the next step.  We hope to be able to welcome more people into our community in the coming months and serve the neighbourhood as best we can.

If you are interested in being a part of the community or want to help out in some way, feel free to contact me (Jamie) at: info@littleflowers.ca

Happy New Year!