SEEDS (Jubilee House Issue #1)

J U B I L E E

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"They Tried to Bury Us, They Did Not Know That We Were Seeds."

-Dinos Christianopoulos

An abandoned clinic that we hope to turn into an outreach center / Jordan Lee working the Garden in our backyard

ON BEING SEEDS Ryan Cagle

"They Tried to Bury Us, They Did Not Know

economic disparity. Every step along the way

That We Were Seeds."

we have been buried. This reality has been

-Dinos Christianopoulo.

purposefully woven into the fabric of our

Land we are seeking to obtain for the use for the Community Farm initiative.

community. From our own legislators to the The malady of poverty lives in the very bones

high-brow liberal elite we know that no one

of the people in our community. One's eyes

is coming here to save us. Those who have

cannot escape the obvious neglect made

caused this suffering cannot heal the scars

apparent in the dozens of dilapidated homes

they left. Yet, despite all of the decay

and buildings scattered across our town.

surrounding us, there is life birthing out from

Some of which are abandoned and others

the depths. There is hope. There is love. There

are yet still somehow homes held together

is joy in the middle of all this wreckage. We

by a patchwork mess of scrap wood, tarps,

are learning to imagine a different world, and

and a whole lot of hope. This place has been

with hands to the plow, we sow seeds for a

abandoned. Written off. It's people left to

better tomorrow. All the while echoing the

struggle against a type of pre-mortem rigor

Apostle Paul's proclamation; "We are

mortis left by the crushing weight of

regarded as dying, but yet look! We live! "

THE PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY FRIDGE PROGRAM After much blood, sweat, and a whole lot of tears the pilot for the People's Community

the country while others have been directly dropped off by members in our community.

Fridge Program lives! As I am writing this only

The reception of the Fridge has been so

one week has passed since the we opened it to

overwhelming encouraging to us, and we hope

the public and the amount of groceries that

that it is just the beginng as the dream has

have flowed in and out of the fridge is nearing

always been a network of these community

$1,000 worth of food and toiletries. Some of

fridges scattered across our county. We hope to

these groceries have been purchased through

one day have a dozen or more of these spread

donations from across

out in the neighborhoods that are struggling against a level of food insecurity that is nearly double the national average. This could not have happened without the generosity of so many folks, and for that I am truly humbled.

Of course where there is life there will always be those speaking death and negativity, and the fridge has already been subject to that.

Many people are worried about others taking more than they "need" or "abusing" the generosity of their neighbors. To that, all I can say is that what is freely given cannot be stolen.

The idea that we should police the people and the quantities that people can take from this fridge could not be further from our concern or commitments to solidarity.

So far we have yet to hear from any local congregations about partnering with us in this work. I hope to take the coming weeks to really seek to establish partnerships with any congregation that may be open to the work, but I cannot say that I approach this with much hope We do not judge anyone for potentially not being willing to sign up for what we are seeking to do. It is unconventional to say the least, and for

many organizations, that depend on at top-down charity approach, we understand that our core tenets and commitments may be perceived as counterintuitive to the goal of proselytization.

We are relentlessly committed to these tenets and we hope see them become a type of seed that, when it takes root, will bring with it the fruit of deeper connection to our community.

CORE TENETS Mutual Aid — This entails people

supporting people horizontally, a reciprocal exchange. Solidarity not Charity.

Community — The People’s Free Fridge

Program is a work that is for and by the people. Community is central to the work.

We hope that eventually the individuals stocking and cleaning the fridge are also those who have been able to use it as well.

We want to work to connect with other community members who want to support this effort.

Open Communication — We want to hear

from people who are using the fridges; this

If you would like to read more about the

includes criticisms and suggestions for

People's Community Fridge Program you can

improvement.

do so at out website: jubileehouse.co/#fridge.

Left Hand Approach — Jesus of Nazareth

You can also support the work via donations!

said “When you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand gives.”

The People's Community Frdige Program is not a tool for self-promotion of any individual, church, or organization.

One Time Donation

https://gofund.me/e0cff5da Monthly Support

https://www.patreon.com/jubileehouse

VERIDITAS (A PARABLE) Ryan Cagle

PARABLE For what is the Kin-dom of God like? What shall we compare it to? It is like a tiny kudzu seed that someone took and sowed in the field of their enemy; slowly and patiently it grew until it had covered the whole field, and the more the enemy tried to uproot it the more it multiplied. The vines crept across their land like a wildfire of unyielding green smothering out their crop before the time of the harvest.

PLANT

Kudzu (/ˈkʊdzuː/; Is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing perennial vines that densely climbs over other plants and trees and grows so rapidly that it smothers and kills them by blocking out most of the sunlight.

PRAYER

Holy Ghost, Greening Power of God, may our love be like the relentless vines of the kudzu plant, smothering out all the seeds of hate and oppression that have been sown by our enemies.

I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, CREATOR, INTRUDER, AND AGITATOR ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, CREATING AND IMAGINING STILL, OF ALL THINGS, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE, DIVERSE AND EXPANDING. AND IN MY SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, THE BELOVED CHILD OF GOD, ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN BY GOD BEFORE THE PLANETS WHIRLED, DIVINITY FROM DIVINITY, LOVE FROM LOVE, TRUE GOD FROM TRUE GOD, BEGOTTEN, NOT MADE; OF THE SAME ESSENCE AS GOD. THROUGH CHRIST ALL THINGS WERE MADE. FOR HUMANITY, THE UNIVERSE, AND OUR SALVATION CHRIST BROKE INTO THE CHAOS OF CREATION BECOMING INCARNATE BY GOD’S SPIRIT AND THE YOUNG, POOR MARY, AND WAS MADE FLESH. CHRIST TAUGHT AND LIVED A LIFE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE, DINED WITH PROSTITUTES, OUTCASTS, AND FOOLS; DENOUNCED RELIGIOSITY AS THE WAY TO GOD’S HEART, INSTEAD OF LOVING ONE’S NEIGHBOR; AND GAVE UP ALL POWER FOR THE SAKE OF LOVING THE WORLD. CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, SUFFERED, AND WAS BURIED. ON THE THIRD DAY GOD RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD, ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND IS EXTOLED TO GOD’S RIGHT HAND. CHRIST COMES AGAIN AND AGAIN AND ONE DAY WILL COME IN GLORY TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. GOD’S REALM HAS ALREADY BEGUN AND WILL NEVER END. I BELIEVE IN GOD’S SPIRIT, ACTIVE AND MOVING, THE GIVER OF LIFE AND BREATH. GOD’S SPIRIT DANCES WITH CHRIST AND GOD IN ETERNITY, AND WITH GOD AND CHRIST SHOULD BE WORSHIPED AND GLORIFIED. GOD’S SPIRIT HAS SPOKEN THROUGH THE PROPHETS, PAST AND PRESENT; CONVICTS THE UNJUST, HEALS THE WOUNDED, AND MOVES AMONG THE UNLOVED. I BELIEVE GOD’S SPIRIT HOVERS OVER THE ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH. I AFFIRM BAPTISM AND COMMUNION AS SACRED MOMENTS IN THE BELOVED COMMUNITY. I LOOK FORWARD TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, AND TO LIFE IN THE WORLD TO COME. AMEN. ―― THE NICENE CREED RADICALLY REVISED /TIMOTHY WOTRING | BLACKFLAGTHEOLOGY.COM

ABOUT JUBILEE Jubilee House is a dream about what it means to collectively struggle for a different world. A world free of the evils of racism, oppression, and alienation.

Jubilee House is a dream of a radically different future for Walker County, a future shaped by jubilee (Leviticus 25, Isaiah 61:1-12, Luke 4:18-19) in which the material and spiritual needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized are met through acts of mutual solidarity.

Gustavo Gutierrez once said, “Every attempt to evade the struggle against alienation and the violence of the powerful and for a more just and more human world is the greatest infidelity to God. To know God is to work for justice.

There is no other path to reach God.” For us, Jubilee House is our attempt to be faithful to the struggle for a more just world by facing the evils of racism, oppression, and alienation head on, starting with Walker County, Alabama.

We do not see ourselves as saviors or heroes, but rather as those willing to bear witness to the reality that the Spirit of Liberation is already present, working in and among those who are the most marginalized (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and the poor) in our towns and communities.

We have a long road ahead of us, but we know that a different world is possible and we are left with no other choice but to love, dream, and fight for it. For our future.

“The prophet engages in futuring fantasy.

The prophet does not ask if the vision can be implemented, for questions of implementation are of no consequence until the vision can be imagined. The imagination must come before the implementation. Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing. The same royal consciousness that make it possible to implement anything and everything is the one that shrinks imagination because imagination is a danger. Thus every totalitarian regime is frightened of the artist. It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring and proposing futures alternative to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one.” ― Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination “The scandal is that the gospel means liberation, that this liberation comes to the poor, and that it gives them the strength and the courage to break the conditions of servitude.” ― James H. Cone, God of the Oppressed “Communities of resistance are creative places, full of invention, performance, freedom of identity, consensual relationships, and gift-giving. But they can be a destructive force, too; as each member confronts their domination by modern society on their own terms, little pieces of that world crumble away. A community of resistance is a demonstration of the lives we want— individually, we may be stuck in the real world, but collectively, we inhabit another real world.” ― Unknown

VALUES Anti-Capitalist | We believe that poverty and economic class today are not ordained by God or by some kind of natural order, but are established by the exploitation that comes from the machinations of capitalism which can be overturned through the material and spiritual liberation taught by Jesus Christ.

(Luke 4:16-19; James 5:2-6) Anti-Racist | We believe that racism is anti-Christ and that Christ calls us more than simply being “not-racist.” Rather we believe that we must be committed to the active dismantling of hatred, bias, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific minority groups in Walker County.

(Ephesians 2:14; Revelation 7:9-10) Solidarity Not Charity | We believe that solidarity, rather than charity, most accurately reflects the Kingdom of God. Charity is top-down aid that only addresses the symptoms of the issues present in our community while solidarity seeks to change the systemic problems from which the symptoms arise through horizontal acts of love and mutual aid.

(Acts 2:44-45; 1 Corinthians 12:12) Open & Affirming | We wholeheartedly celebrate people of every gender, sexuality, religion, race, and socio-economic circumstance as being made fully in the image of God - just as they are.

(Galatians 3:28)

Transformational Way of Jesus | We are rooted in a very spacious Christian theology and seek to accompany folks on their spiritual journey wherever they are we are not trying to convert anyone.

(1 John 4:16) Peacemaking & Social Justice | We seek ways to actively be good news by not being apathetic to the injustice in our community, and posturing ourselves to labor for reconciliation and healing in Walker County.

(Luke 10:27) Curiosity | We believe in dialogue, the interplay of faith and doubt, the importance of asking questions, openness to the mystery of God and movement of the Spirit. Because we know that we do not have it all figured out.

(Matthew 7:7-8; 1 John 4:18) Well-Being | We care about the’ entire well-being: social, emotional, spiritual, physical, and intellectual of those in our community by embodying a holistic approach that is exclusively focused on religion or spirituality.

(John 10:10b) Collaboration | We will seek to partner with a variety of people and organizations that share our values in an effort to create something meaningful and positive for the people of Walker County.

(Romans 12:4-5)

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