Kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Team

One of the four Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members captured in Iraq is from our neighborhood here in Toronto. Jim Loney was leading the team that is currently being held. Jim co-founded and continues to live in the Catholic Worker houses that are clustered on the street right behind us and are owned by our landlord. We had not yet had a chance to meet Jim as he has been in Iraq, I believe, since we arrived. See CPT's statement on the situation which blames the U.S. and the U.K.'s illegal war for the kidnappings and affirms the team's conviction that 'violent force ... should not be used should they be kidnapped, held hostage, or caught in the middle of a conflict situation.'

Please pray for Jim, for Jim's fellow Catholic workers, for the other team members and their friends and families, and most especially that the situation would somehow help to reduce violence in Iraq and demonstrate a different Christian way of being in the world.

Newspaper Article/ Baby

We met with a reporter from the Toronto Star tonight who wanted to talk about our emerging community and the "New Monasticism." Please pray that the article will be a boon to the community and aid in its growth. Angela has been nesting. The baby could come anytime now. Yikes!

Thanksgiving

My parents. Glad they made it another year! Blake's wedding. The new community coming. The chance to study. Flannel sheets. Yellow yarn. Doug. My students especially my little Jesuit and my Irish lass. Doug's work. Johanna's funny comments. Today when I asked her what is a family she started to sing: We all live in a yellow submarine. From whence who knows. It is so amazing to be part of birth and new life especially when you see that new life begin to bring new things into the world: a new voice, new thoughts, new energy, new love.... Simeons toothy smile. Friends. Friends. That I am still somehow Christ's.

Things

Angela and baby are doing well. The babe is most certainly getting more and more in a birthing postition. It has been amazing to watch Angela's belly drop before our eyes. I am amazed by Ben and Angela. They are doing a good job of planning and resting. Angela looks like some sort of Mother goddess. She has been more help to us than we have been to her. It seems we (Doug and I) are destined to be more in others debt than vice-versa. Doug is doing a good job as street pastor. He is fearless, friendly, compassionate and tough-minded. Exceptional in his ability to be tender and firm. I think that good things are going to come to our community life out of his work. Ben is getting good leads on jobs in labs. Johanna and Simeon have been screwed up a little by our vacation and the new people in the house they are acting like real ratskallians at night. School is going well. I am enjoying teaching but hate passing out grades. I made a girl cry the other day. U of T's grading philosophy is not mine but alas..... Other than that I am working my way into a decent thesis proposal.

Pennies for the Homeless

[Doug approaching the southeast corner of Yonge and Bloor from the South]

:Pennies for the Homeless?!

D: What do you need, I'll get you something?

:A couple of dollars.

D: I'll get you a hamburger or coffee or something.

:But they might be closed, they closed at eight.

D: there's McDonalds or coffee shops that are always open right there.

:okay. let's see. they close at eight sometimes


[walking into Harvey's, one of a chain of fastfood burger joints]

D: what do you want to get?

:I'll have a hamburger with everything on it and a small coke


[D: gets in line while :sets up at a table nearby]
D [with the burgers and a pepsi, starting to sit]: oh, I'll get a straw for you.

:don't worry about it

D: so what's your name?

:Iranee

D: Ira
I [interrupting]: Iranee, it's the masculine form of Irene.

D: Iraneus is my favorite theologian, one of my favorite theologians.

I: ah, most people don't know it ...

D: so what brought you to Toronto [guessing from Montreal by the name and the accent]

I: The two race tracks. They're the best in the world.

D: ahhh

I: If someone tells you races are fixed they don't know anything. It's not fixed. It's all logical. The riders can look at the lineup and tell you if they are going to win or not ... [more on horseracing] ... So what do you do in Toronto?

D: I just got a new job. Pastor. Started last week.

I: Where?

D: It's with the Mennonite Central Committee. Street Pastor. They have me starting with Sanctuary. Right up the street here, you probably know them.

I: A good place. They do good work for the homeless. I do the races ... I just stay out doors for the winter. Like the fresh air.

D:Yeah

I [launching into a long, long lesson on picking winners]: ... There are four kinds of horses: Frontrunners, Closers, Man-of-War (they can do both), and followers ...

D: Yeah

I [more on the lesson]: ... At the track 90 percent of people lose, 9% break even, 1% win. It's not fixed though. You gotta be smart. Study hard.

D: So are you in the 9% or the 1%.

I: 1%

[I: pauses, thinks for a second]. I just hurt my shoulder, my hand, gotta borrow money from my friend. You know.

D: Yeah.

I: [launches into another soliliquoy, this time on the track's superiority] ... best in the world ...

D: Better than Del Mar, I'm from Southern California.

I: Oh yeah ... [more on the track, now on its relation to picking the horses]

D [having finished his hamburger, cleans his place and siezes on a break in the lesson]: Gotta go, told my wife I'd be home by 8:30 and I'm late already.

I: But you learned something didn't you?

D: Yeah, if I ever go to the track ... [mutters something about not having enough knowledge yet as he heads toward the trash can]

I: Could teach you everything I know in a month and a half.

D: I'll probably see you again since I'll be at Sanctuary.

[D: heads out the door and makes mental note: next time I'll sieze control of the conversation at the start. It'll be all about Iraneus' recapitulatory Christology and political demonology]

At 1:26 PM, John said...
I'm guessing a girl on December 8 at 7lbs 9 oz. ....By the way Jodie - how do I make a 'post' instead of just a 'comment' on this website? I want to be on the homepage too and not just 'hidden!' :-)
At 11:11 AM, Elizabeth H. said...
This post has been removed by the author.
At 11:13 AM, Anonymous said...
John, That guess isn't exactly original. I think that you are just copying me. Jodie
At 12:32 PM, Benjamin ElzingaCheng said...
I'm putting money on Dec 12th, boy, 6 lbs, 8 ounces.Ben

The Coming Child

OK. So I am guessing a girl, born on December 9th, 7lbs, 8 ounces.
Jodie

Angela, Ben and Baby Frisky arrive!

Angela and Ben have arrived! Angela is looking fit and beautiful. They are getting their room ready to have a homebirth! Our community house will be blessed by birth! Doug starts his job this week with the MCC. Angie is also on the verge of being offered a new position doing relational ministry with girls emerging from foster care. Heather, too, we have heard has gotten a job organizing volunteers for 10,000 villages. Would love to get fuller updates from all of these folks in the future. I am currently slogging through end of the year course work and am trying to find a place that fits at the U of Toronto.

Shelter from the Storm

Johanna and Simeon and I trailed along to sanctuary for our first worship service (the ministry Doug will intern with as a preparation for his work with the MCC.) I am really struck by how nice things are coming along for our community. Our home is inexpensive, yet capacious. Our location is close to the nerve cell of so much social justice work. Doug's job is with thoughtful, creative, and engaged folks. That can jam in a way to deeply please us Dylan fans. We are finding place and moorings with in a very large, intimidating city. There are also so many moments of delightful serendipity as Ben and Angela's friends and family back in Vancouver recommend ministries, churches,and people that we too are being drawn too. At times I wish for the big, common project feel. Especially as we paint and try and make this place habitable. Ah, a nice Saturday with everyone here in work clothes taking the vines off the walls, cleaning the basement and the background, fixing the downstairs bathroom.... and then a picnic to follow. Yet, I am content with the known faithfulness of friends, acts of correlation and the hope for bigger and better tomorrows.

Doug's New Job and Angela and Ben Arrive.

Doug has decided (with the help of Jo, Angela, Ben and his Mom) to take a job as street pastor with the MCC. We believe that this will be an excellent way to get our community plugged into the jugular of Toronto. Angela, Ben and little babyelzingcheng will be here this Friday. So our group that started out as "THE GIRLS" are starting to reconstitute bigger and better than ever (families in tow.) In one, admittedly odd, way of figuring the ebbs and flows of our community one of the girls has lived together from the Fall of 1995 til the Summer of 2004. So here's to another decade!

Job, Sim's first step and 8th tooth....

Doug has been offered a job as a Pastor for families at a medium sized, upper-Middle Class Baptist church in Toronto. We are still waiting to hear about the job as street pastor for the homeless with the MCC. We should find out in the next 24 hours. The benefits for the future community for the second job seem endless. So we are hopeful. Please keep us in your prayers. Simeon took one tentative step the other night and has gotten six teeth in the last week. Johanna is heading a way from the terrible twos (finally!) she is now less will and more imagination....

Need more to be Dunn.

Right now we feel a little bit like we are rattling around in our too big house. The large room down the hall and the large space upstairs needs to be filled. There are space at our table, extra servings at Dinner, more blankets than we need, we got the kind of plenitude that is getting ripe to overflow. All this is making us expectant. I ask for prayer that we will get more than just physically ready for guests.

Angela's Post

Reflections on living in the Salsbury Community
Angela ElzingaCheng
We came in late at night, and worked in the dark to pull everything out of the moving van we had rented to move our stuff from Rupert and 22nd to Salsbury Dr. We each took turns flopping down in the truck and resting on the last item to be removed – two futon mattresses, while the other two gamely carried our furniture and boxes in. What was this crazy adventure we set ourselves on seven months after moving together across the country? This short-term housing available to us for six months, this Nebo House, ready to be turned into Crossroads?
Heather, Jessica, and I had moved together from Grand Rapids, Michigan in August 2002 and saw the chance in April 2003 to be closer to our church and begin getting involved in bigger ways. We had already met with Michelle, before we moved in and shortly after Beth joined the house to make a full cadre of five people. Five people, knowing they needed to look for new housing in six months, but somehow hoping (not yet drawn into the Crossroads saga), somewhere in a dream world, that it could be longer. And it was (to our muted delight and Crossroads detriment).
In the Beginning…..
The houses are put together with people who are committed to the idea of living well together. They are not necessarily committed to each other, just the concept of each other. Much can be said about this, however, it is clear to me that it is very important to spend time together and intentionally get to know one another before much else happens. Visioning together, fun stuff, etc. great tools. Not sure if it needs to be facilitated by an ‘outsider’, but it is always helpful to have people who are good facilitators.
It was helpful to have a mandate to create something that talked about what we were about as a house and a deadline to get it in. The overarching vision of Salsbury helped us articulate some things, and then, our own passion, or lack of it (also very relevant) guided the ways in which we might express our own vision.
Love the application process – though not everyone is a writer. Perhaps that should be emphasized – it is important for someone’s heart to come through, not their ability to write???
Ongoing
A look back at our vision for our own house would give us a reminder, would hold us accountable and play a major role giving us courage to move forward. Great to do this with the other houses…
Meeting the other houses in Salsbury to talk specifically about living well together – who are you, why are you doing this, what do you do about the toilet, how do you work out this vision, what about meeting together, what about those dishes? We didn’t get to know the other houses too quickly – intimidated by these people who had been at it for awhile. We proved to be short-timers. We learned a lot in that short time, but this is recognizably wearying for those committed for the long term.
Regular group gatherings absolutely essential to our health as a house, can’t say enough about this. Meal together and business meeting after. We met every week, but I would say that’s not necessary. We started with all nighters – dinner, meeting, something fun. Not advisable. Especially when getting together is a stretch for some people in the first place.
Ending
We ended badly. One person leaving, the next, and so on… believing that we might continue and stay stable and sane. This did not set a good precedent for the present house of people that have gathered much like a Phoenix.
Overall structure
Very interesting having a separate board, financial backing and staff. Has set up an infrastructure for stability and has the benefit of being an ongoing catalyst to dreams of community living. As well as a resources for building vision, ongoing conflict, and energy for bringing things together as a whole. From this I will take the importance of having mentors, and an attachment to a church body for accountability, resources, and grace.
Conflict – It’s all about the dishes.
Talked a lot about this in a previous meeting, perhaps it could be expanded on here? I learned A LOT about myself, about others, and the absolute value of having people who are good facilitators be part of the resolution process. I was forced to confront my own demons because I made this commitment to an ideal – we have a commitment to each other (right??), which made conflict safer, but the stakes and end results much more important. For me this increased the intensity of any conflict, making resolution all the sweeter and stronger.
Our _expression of hospitality
We chose to express hospitality through MANY dinners served to more than our house and an open door to others coming in. The _expression of hospitality through the everyday ‘ness’ of a meal (and dishes afterwards) led to relationships of realness and vulnerability much quicker than a coffee, or just coming over. Over the summer, we had maybe one dinner served inside. We had many people stay with us – mostly friends and family, but also others. This led to two things – the need and necessity for your own space, as well as helping teach each other how to support others in the house in their _expression of hospitality. This also led to instability and stress.
In Transition – or looking for stability?
Living with people who previously did not have a stable place to live, which is a basic necessity according to Maslov’s hierarchy of needs (yes, I am a social worker), means that, of first and foremost importance is the stability of the home. Conflict is very stressful – it could mean getting kicked out, so one must fight hard and win. Having others in the house that are in transition could be threatening. A reminder of where one has been and could be.
We often had conflict about unrelated things (such as dishes, cleaning, etc) after at time of particular chaos/hospitality, or a time when someone who was not in a stable situation came and stayed with us for a while. Once housing is stable, someone can then move on to meeting other needs in themselves and others.
In the end, this was probably one of the harder living situations in my life, and one of the most vibrantly amazing.

Farm or Country?

Should our community eventually lead people out of the city? Is city life against are goals for Christian community? Doug and I wondered this as we drove from the bucolic paradise of N. Michigan to Toronto. Is it just a matter of aesthetic preference: fresh air over smog, fields over buildings, woods over playground? Or is there something about the city that stunts people: their moral development, there common feeling towards others, there sense of wholeness and responsibility.

Link to CT article

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/009/16.38.html

Introduction

michael gulker said...

I read the CT article. Some interesting things in it. Currently, I am serving as one of 3 pastors at a small Mennonite church in Des Moines, Ia (about 100 people). We are also in the process of beginning a community living arrangement. One of the other pastors and his family of five are in it with us (us being me, my wife Jodie - not Jodie Boyer, but Jodie Gulker - and our 1 year old Samuel). I am hoping the article serves as a challenge to us, since the form of to community seemes to be taking on the tone of WMC (white middle class). We are in Des Moines, after all. Not sure how to press through it yet, other than to forward the article on to some other folks planning on joining us. Looking forward to this as a place to kick some things around.

mg

11:53 AM

Almost Dunn?

Doug, Johanna, Simeon and Holly are moving into 74 Dunn Ave, Toronto ON. The process is a lengthy one. There is still junk from the old tenants, there is painting to be done, and sanding and deep cleaning. We are, however, making headway. At times it feels like: "This is it!" Or at least a modest sapling that will someday bloom into a full grown community. Other times it just feels like a mess. I never expected community here, in this way, with this kind of start. There is much to do. What IS the difference between being communitarian and roommates? When do we invite others in? And how? But, right now I feel happy just sanding and painting and waiting.

Parkdale:
Last weeks someone was shot in our park. In the Head. Dead. Johanna's park. Where she has played (maybe 12 times already.) The area is full of people with mental illnesses. There is the constant smell of chain smoking even on the wide business street of Queen and we are told that the sex trade just recently has moved from an area now gentrified to where we are living. YEt, the area is bursting with life. Kids are everywhere. Ebulliant and playful. Whenever the winds is a southwesterly we get an amazing breeze off Lake Ontario (only a block away.) Queen street offers a full range of shopping options and the street car rattles along ready to wisk you to the subway and to all points Toronto. Just behind us a group of Catholic Workers a block away the Sisters of Charity..... I think this is a good spot. But, time will test. I didn't want to post twice in a row but my first post hardly counts.
-Jodie

First Post

I wanted to create a place in which to dicuss matters of our community, community matters, and to make a web community for us. So here is a start.