“Everyone did what was right in their own eyes,” is that memorable phrase from Judges. A book filled with bizarre guerrilla warfare, brutal nationalistic heroes and ethnic cleansing.  But its also a book about people between times, between the controls of martial law and monarchy, tribes trying to address threats to the safety and security of their families.  The persistent appearances of the “other” in the whole book (women, children, aliens and exiles)  make us wonder how much is going on between the lines.  Violence is sown and violence is reaped.  And each time Israel wanders from God’s plans their societies devour the weak and then the outsiders overtake Israel, and Israel cries out as the weakling, and God hears again, and the narrative cycle repeats itself again, and again.

What narrative cycles are we repeating?

Who is our neighbor?

Who sees us as their enemy?

What does it feel like to make our homes amidst chaos?

What marginalized persons are crushed in our efforts to get control over chaos?

This week we will introduce the twelve week series and overview the book.  We’ll also set up some over-arching questions that we will use these twelve weeks to thread through the narratives.

If you want to prepare take some time to read Joshua 24,  and 1 Samuel 2:12-17, and Judges 1-3. And for extra credit, here’s a quote to start stirring the pot:

Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without overcoming this double exclusion—without transposing the enemy from the sphere of monstrous inhumanity into the sphere of shared humanity and herself from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. When one knows that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and imitate God’s love for him. And when one knows that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light of God’s justice and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.
—Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” —Paul’s letter to church of Ephesus (2.10)

“We plan our lives according to a dream that came to us in our childhood, and we find that life alters our plans. And yet, at the end, from a rare height, we also see that our dream was our fate. It’s just that providence had other ideas as to how we would get there. Destiny plans a different route, or turns the dream around, as if it were a riddle, and fulfills the dream in ways we couldn’t have expected.”—Ben Okri

Sure, we can  plan ourselves into a corner, sure life can wreck the best of plans, but planning is still a necessary part to acting on the dreams God has given us.

This will be the second week to dig into what the Abbey’s plans are for 2011.  But as this marks year three of the Abbey we also want to ask what we’ve learned in 2 years and where the next 2-5 years could take us.

Last week we noted that making other ways to connect to the Abbey will be key in 2011.  Anne, Kelley and Leslie picked up an earlier idea of a Women’s group.  Mike suggested a monthly night out to eat play games together.  Joel and Melvin keyed in on the idea of a farmers market or a swap meet.   And of course, plans for Do Love Walk, a 60+ person monthly event around art, faith, and activism are already in the works.

We also discussed the launch of SWAN (Southwest Atlanta Neighboring) a non-profit forming to provide additional support and momentum to our community leadership development efforts.  While we will remain intricately involved in supporting SWAN, the organizational partition should free us at the Abbey to think more strategically about congregational development.  Which leads to questions of how we involve others from our city in the rhythms and practices that we’ve found most life giving in the Way of Jesus.

This week we will return to some of last week’s questions and add a few more:

1. If the Abbey were like yoga or boot camp, how would you describe the way it’s practices make you feel and what value you get from attending?
2. Do you feel this benefit would be valuable for other people you know as well?
3. How do you currently describe the Abbey to your friends?
4. What would you like to add or take away from the events/programs you currently lead as an Abbey co-creator?

And then we’ll ask about the last/next 2-5 years:

1. What have we changed about the Abbey since you first joined us?
2. What will the Abbey look like when more join us?
3. How do we get ready for others?

This week we’re meeting at Carrie’s at 409 Deckner Ave SW 30310 from 4-6pm (heads up: we may change to 5-7pm as early as next week, Jan 30).

They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.

They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
—Acts 2

The goal of ritualization is ‘the creation of a ritualized agent, an actor with a form of ritual mastery, who embodies flexible sets of cultural schemes and can deploy them effectively in multiple situations so as to restructure those situations in practical ways’
—Jonny Baker

With co-creation you are either going to ask others to help you birth your ideas or you are going to help them birth theirs. Done well, co-creation is action that acknowledges and employs the positive aspects of our interdependence with others. Co-creation is essential if a thought form is going to move into the physical world. We can do many things by ourselves, but in almost every instance it requires the assistance of others to realize our dreams.

—Bill Eager

This is that time of the year for the Abbey to check in on our goals and programing.  Since the Abbey is co-created collaboratively by those of us who attend, we need to be sure we have clear communication. Our purpose is to outfit people to walk in the Way of Jesus in their context and to join together neighbors in SW Atlanta. How are we doing at this purpose?

Here are some questions to come ready to discuss.  If you cannot make it this Sunday, please send your observations and ideas ahead of time to troy {at} neighborsabbey {dot} org :

1. Our Story: What metaphor, comparable-model, or scripture could or do you use to describe Neighbors Abbey?
2. What’s 1 thing that really worked in 2010?
3. What’s 1 thing that did not work?
4. Think of 2-3 folks you care for who do not currently have a place to explore faith life with others.  What one or two things could we co-create this year to include those folks?

We will be meeting from 4-6pm at Anne and Mike’s at 563 Manford Rd SW, Atlanta, GA 30310.  Bring a dish and/or drink to share.

Epiphany, “a moment of sudden realization or insight” is marked as this season in the Christian calendar by the story of the fearless Magi, the royal guests from a culture practicing Zoroastrianism, who stepped out in faith bringing gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold.  In Matthew’s gospel we learn of the long deliberate action of these men who “observed [the child born king's] star at its rising” and pilgrimaged with their entourage “to pay him homage.”  Herod, on the other hand, reacts without thinking, with urgency, and the result is deception and slaughter.

These two characters each had an epiphany but responded differently.  The magi’s long studied process  lead to fearless non-defensive action. Herod’s encounter with their fearless quest threw him into fear that lead to threatening reactions.

Margaret Wheatly writes:

Urgency is the unavoidable companion of crisis.  It seems to be a valuable reliationship—crises demand immediate attention and response… [But] when we work from this place of urgency, we set ourselves up for failure.  We work very hard, push our agenda, get aggressive when we think we need to, and end up more exhausted than effective… And we get angry. Anyone who doesn’t respond immediately becomes our enemy… Captured by a sense of urgency, we create categories—those for us and against us, those who get it, those who don’t.  Enemies proliferate.  As they increase in number, we respond with greater ferocity.”

Now, from our vantage point as readers of the story two thousand years later, Herod had a high stake in keeping challengers from the throne.  So, granted, his defensiveness was not just the symptom of urgency.  And yet we can see how his two reactions were compounded by anger and emnity: he manipulated the wisemen and eventually killed all boys in Bethlehem under the age of two.

The wise men, celebrated in Epiphany were less reactionary, they came with long-range intent, and they approached authorities like Herod with fearlessness.  Wheatly again:

Fearlessness [like courage] has love at its core. But it requires a great deal more of us than an instant action.  If we react too quickly when we feel afraid we either flee or act aggressively.  True fearlessness requires that we take time and exercise discernment.  Then we can move with love into right action… Fearlessness demands that we take time to look at whatever feels threatening to us in all its complexity.  We step into the fear, into the moment, and watch how by acknowledging and moving closer, fear dissipates and fearlessness arises.

In the Tibetan tradition, fearlessness is known as an act of ultimate generosity, one of the greatest gifts we offer others.

This Sunday, as a bidding prayer for fearlessness this Epiphany, and this New Year, we will trace our year, acknowledge the threats and urgent opportunities we’ve faced as well as those we expect to face in 2011.  We’ll discuss what hold they have on us and compare that to the lives of Herod and the magi.  Then we’ll consider letting go of the hold they have on us, and offering them, like those magi, back to God who is creating us.

In preparation for Sunday, think of the threats and urgent opportunities that you encountered last year.

Come contribute to making space for a long range epiphany.  We’re meeting at Alison’s place, 1474 Desoto Ave  SW 30310.