Posts Tagged ‘story’

“Teaching Little Kyla…”
A series on Travis and Sarah’s journey of parental flubs, flaws, failures and accidental^ fortune.

The Invisible Children and Remember Nhu Clubs at MVNU are hosting an Art and Poetry awareness and fundraising event tonight (Wednesday) in the student union. Kyla will be presenting her piece of art that she and I composed this weekend. Her piece is called “Red and Yellow, Black and White” in reference to the song, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” As we talked about “all the children of the world” and our need to show and express love to all, Kyla used her hands and fingers to paint red, yellow, and black around a cut-out of Africa that I drew, cut out, and taped to the canvas board making a white silhouette of the country where the dehumanization of children continues through militarization and exploitation. Though I cannot talk with Kyla yet about child soldiers and sexual trafficking, she can begin to understand that love and kindness for all of humanity. Eventually, she’ll hear their stories.

We are incapable to loving absent from relationship. We are incapable of relationship absent from the context of story. We have to learn about each other. We have to be aware of the formative life experiences that make us who we are both individually and as a collective group of people in a global community.

The world is our canvas. May we cover it with strokes of love.

^ There is someone(s) greater than me/us (a divine being and a community of people) that intercede with grace and giving.

Due to my campus life involvements at MVNU and requirements for my current M.A.M.L. course, Community, Context, and Transition , I was unable to attend the Emergent Village gathering in D.C. (EVDC09) this last weekend. I was hoping to stay somewhat informed about the conversations and happenings through updates on Twitter tagged #evdc09 . Emergent Village tweeted, "Search #evdc09 on Twitter for updates from the ‘future of Emergent’ gathering this weekend in D.C. … There will be some but not a lot …" and "@makeesha " said, "tell us what you want emergent village to be – we convene this weekend in DC. email, dm or reply tweet #evdc09"

There were not enough tweets during the gathering to post any responses but I did reply tweet about what Emergent Village should be:

"@traviskeller : oh yeah. hey #evdc09 … EV needs to be defined by… LOVE. i’m sure we don’t know what all that means except that the self must be executed"

I received a couple of direct replies from @makeesha and @soupiset that noted that the self was, indeed, executed. I’ll be looking forward to blog posts about that. Some notable words I’ve heard/read that really stick out on Twitter in response to EVDC09 now that it has ended are artifact, gratitude, clarity, hope, resolve, consensus, energized, drained, stories, beautiful, processing, honesty, inclusivity, and outcome.

Additionally and more centrally I’ve heard/read statements about being "home."  Home. Home. Home. Prior to the gathering tweets mentioned the acts of packing, traveling, and attending. Following the gathering everyone updating seemed relieved and/or excited to be "home." If Emergent Village is really a generative friendship should the gathering have felt more like home? If I am at my physical residence with friends, family or myself, I feel at home. If I am at the house of a friend, I feel at home. When I arrive home from a Sunday morning gathering of Christians I have feelings of tiredness and exhaustion. I didn’t feel like I was at home. Why is that? Am I not connected with the 100-1,500 other people? Is it even possible to connect with that many people? Should Emergent Village cease to seek national and global "friendship" and rather function in the same manner as Twitter and Facebook, as an online tool for resourcing, networking, and collaborating? Or… am I wrong? Do church gatherings feel like home? Did EVDC09 feel like home? Is an online relationship really a relationship at all? What is the value of our networking for our local and proximal communities? Do I have any place to speak a thought into an Emergent gathering?

An extremely valuable response to the concept of community came to me via e-mail (many responses actually are via e-mail or phone calls from friends). A friend and mentor who shall remain nameless for the time being granted me the permission to use his response to my question, "What is community?" in any way that is "helpful to the conversation." He included the following concepts which I have adapted for consistent language and clarity. In my attempt at revision I was able to process to a greater degree what I hope to be interpreting correctly as the genuine thought of my teacher.

// Story ::

Stories preserve wisdom, share meaningful traditions, warn of impending problems, and create the back-narrative for moments which are "rights of passage.” Without stories community is unattainable.

// Place ::

Even nomadic communities have a place. A place is a physical area with which to be concerned and for which a community is responsible. Followers of Jesus might understand the birthright and inheritance of responsibility (not to be confused with “ownership”) for place as “stewardship.” If a community loses its responsibility for place then it sacrifices that which keeps it “grounded” both literally and metaphorically.

// Connectedness ::

Community is relational thereby requiring purposed connection.

// Values ::

It is not necessary for those living in community to agree completely on an assorted number of issues; however, basic values are needed to retain trust in one another. A good question to ask is, “What are the values of the community concerning economic development?”

DISCLAIMER: The language of “values” may be burdensome for some as it carries negative perceptions and connotations due in large part to the tainting by political rhetoric.

// Conversation ::

Honest and open dialogue of a spiritual, political, academic, agricultural, and/or economic nature is critical to community.

// Commitment ::

Longevity in a place and with a people provides the fertile ground in which community can grow.