This Sunday marks a decisive chapter in the story of Neighbors Abbey.  We will no longer be meeting as a congregation with the oversight of the Presbytery, or the leadership of founding pastor, Troy Bronsink.  But the story of the Abbey is much much larger than our worship gatherings…  The evening will be like a wake, commemorating the end of a dream, and it will also be like a blessing way, marking a rite of passage for so many of us who have or are moving into new chapters of life and faith.

In August of 2008, 18 friends and neighbors sat on our back porch on Dill Ave and prayerfully brainstormed what it would look like to build a faith community committed to its local community.  We chose the “Neighbor” in Jesus’ Good Samaritan Story as our patron saint, expecting our SW Atlantan neighbors to be gifts from God who will teach us.  We chose the title “Abbey” to emphasize the essential roles of contemplation, justice, and hands-on practices to church planting.

As some of you may know, we’ve faced a number of obstacles’ in the past 6 months, most notably the new direction on the part of our denominational supporters. Like many nonprofits the economy has also affected our funding capacity. These caused us to reconsider how we could effectively be “church” in the shape we had first envisioned. However, when we experimented with evolving into a more co-op shaped church, the availability of leaders and volunteers dropped considerably due to real life joys including parenthood, new relationships,  and new employment to name a few. These and countless other indicators are confirming that it is time to quit striving so “force” the next chapter into existence, and to end while we can still end well.

Over the years our participants have been involved in all sorts of local community transformation: founding afterschool classes, mentoring, a flashmob Ash Wednesday service at 5-Points MARTA, local Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter celebrations, serving beer at park events, and leading neighborhood cleanups.  We have been supported by all sorts of groups including the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, North Avenue Pres (PCUSA), and City Church Eastside (PCA).  We’ve been supported by countless individuals from across three continents! We’ve partnered with a wide range of organizations including many local congregations, House in the Park, the American Islamic Fellowship, Hands On Atlanta, and FCS Urban Ministries.  We’ve begun a great youth development agency, SWAN, that has now reached over 50 girls in our SW Atlanta community, hosted forums for community members to know one another, and matched mentors to many of our participants.

But the best descriptions of the Abbey have been the people—those who come as full participants, sharing openly about their faith, doubts, and fears.  We have prayed, sung, studied Christian scriptures, explored poetry and writings from a number of theological and religious perspectives, and eaten well… all for the purposes of facing God, facing each other, and facing our selves- with the intention to Follow Jesus into the Art of Neighboring.

Come be a part of this potluck/celebration from 5-7pm!  As usual, any are welcome. Put some thought this week into stories to share and laugh about and help us toast the years to come!

If you can’t join us, please send a note to troy@neighborsabbey.org with any notes, anecdotes, or prayers.

In Genesis 2:18-25, we read that after God created Adam and placed him in the garden, God realized, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” As sons of Eve and daughters of Adam, we have been given a purpose and a call from God to be participants and co-creators in this world. As we have been given our Adam-like tasks, we each need our Eves- companions, allies, and advocates who will recognize, identify, affirm, and help along the dreams God has placed in our lives and the responsibilities that come with being stewards of creation. When our friends, family, and/or spouses recognize the dreams God has placed in our lives, the best we can do for them is to be advocates, allies, and companions as they strive to be a stewards of creation.

And just as there was a tree containing forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, there are forbidden trees in our lives as well. God made Adam aware of the tree he was not to partake of. From that Adam was able to make a conscientious decision. But the tree was allowed to exist in the Garden amongst the good trees. There are many “trees” in our lives that are very harmful to “partake of”. We need to be made aware of those trees that exist among the beneficial trees. And just as Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and became ashamed of their actions, we also need to maintain a measure of grace in the mistakes we and our friends, family, and/or spouses make, or else our shame will drive us away from each other and from the very God who desires to be in community with us.

Have you noticed how many times, when God calls someone to do something in the Bible, that there are companions, allies, and advocates that come to usher that person along?

We’ll be continuing in our discussion of “What is an Abbey?” and this week’s discussion will spring out of 1 Kings 17, when Elijah leaves the busied life of the city for a hermit’s life and a life of interdependence with a frail widow and her dying son.  Come pray, sing, contribute to a discussion, and share in a meal/snacks.

Join us at our new location, 639 Dill Ave SW from 5-7pm.  Parking is in the gravel lot just east of the building on Dill.

This Sunday:

This sunday we’ll join our neighborhood for a huge event in Perkerson Park.  Ramone Guyton (Raw-Soul) has been bringing together some of the east coasts best House Music DJs on Labor Day weekend for years now. Its an extraordinary time to meet fun loving, family friendly, creative folks from our city and beyond.

We’ll have a table set up with place for food, we’ll grill hot dogs, we’ll have coolers for drinks of all sorts.  Bring something to share.  Parking gets crazy so if you want to carry stuff bring a wagon.  We set up near the community center and playgrounds.  The event runs from 4-8.  Here’s a link to more details:

“The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for God, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. God makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make God. Starting from scratch, God made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find God. God doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. God’s not remote; God’s near. We live and move in God, can’t get away from God! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ -from Act 17 in the Message

“The creation of artifacts, including both art and liturgy, forms persons and culture.  Identity formation in post-Christendom contexts is an invitation for the people of God to create art that forms our collective imagination around the reign of God.”  – Dwight Friezen

“Within Emerging churches, there is a democratisation of liturgical aesthetics that seeks to reconnect the response of the worshipping body to the universal experience of joy in the midst of creation. Such worship reconnects the missional body to the joyful mission of the Word within the whole created order.” –Paul Roberts

This is our second week in the series, Whats in an Abbey? We will discuss the mission of the church between Gospel and culture,  and connect how that plays out in everyday ways.  To do so we will also have an exercise where we read the above passages, design an artifact to help us in prayer, we’ll pray, and then reflect on the process.

Join us at our new location, 639 Dill Ave SW from 5-7pm.  Parking is in the gravel lot just east of the building on Dill, and we’ll share snacks afterwards.  There is also programing for children.

What is an Abbey?  Neighbors Abbey is a church committed to following Jesus in art of neighboring. This fall we will live into our new space by asking what kind of church that is, and exploring the metaphor of an Abbey.  Come be a part of worship services that include the usual prayers, songs, communion and scripture, and explore such subjects as civil conversation, prayer practices, service-based learning, intentional living, location-based worship, locally grown theology and other things that shape how we follow Jesus together.

This Sunday we’ll lay a framework for the series by discussing shared trust and intention:

1. Intention: Tonight can be a moment of transformation, rest, healing, and or forgiveness, if you choose to make this your intention—approach discussions and rituals as means to nurture and soften, rather than wound or fix.
2. Gift: You (every person in the room) are a gift sent for the healing of others—our engagement with texts and ideas, then, is about calling forth authentic life.
3. Curiosity:  Asking someone a question (not a loaded question) helps them discover their voice, and teaches you and others to be better listeners for God’s direction in your life. And so, a text or symbol or idea is simply a “thing” to enable us to engage Jesus and one another.
4. Facing God: This is open space to acknowledge God’s nearness or to complain (lament) to God about the absence you may be experiencing.

We’ll be looking at Psalms of lament and praise as well as a conversation Jesus had with a religious official as reported by his friend John.

Join us at our new location, 639 Dill Ave SW from 5-7pm.  Parking is in the gravel lot just east of the building on Dill, and we’ll share snacks afterwards.  There is also programing for children.

This Sunday, we’ll be moving into the Sullivan Center. While the renovations and painting will be a few more weeks out, we wanted to get used to the space and do some creating.

Come to the new Abbey property, 639 Dill Ave, between 9am-1pm to share brunch and to clean and to make hymnals!

For more details email Kathrine (at) neighborsabbey (dot) org