MercyWork

Bartlett Street Rules

We have an interesting convergence of art happening 8.1.07. Some of you may remember Tahir Selah the Sudanese artist I met awhile back (and wrote about). He has four pieces Gallery 5's up coming show "On the Rocks." At the same time we at the vineyard are taking a evening in our summer breeze series to place a small focus on the arts. I've picked 5 of Tahir's paintings that will be shown. He will join Jake Paris an artist who lives 4 houses down from Tahir on Bartlett Street. I've written about Jake as well. Deborah and I will take Tahir to the sponsors opening night and then we'll be off to Art's at the Vineyard. What a wonderful saviour! To be here in this city at this time is stunning. Our flower and veggie gardens are doing well around town. We provided a lunch for 18 volunteers with Lot's for Gardens and the Monday night meal went well. MOMS group will be passing out school supplies downtown on the 13th of August. We'll finally start the neighborhood block parties on the 14th. Rain has cancelled a couple. My grandchildren (the posse) will be arriving from Cali on Friday. If you hear more police sirens then usual...I'm meeting with Rebecca and Kate tomorrow to put together a art show for mid-october in their new space on Park Street. We'll be planning a series called "Days of Kindness" in several area's of the community.

Neighborhood

"In our world of strangers, estranged from their own past, culture and country, from their neighbors, friends and family, from their deepest self and their God, we witness a painful search for a hospitable place where life can be lived without fear and where community can be found." -Henri Nouwen

I was thinking of parts of this quote recently when Deborah and I were watering gardens downtown. What does it feel like to be African in Lewiston Maine? Imagine being 24 years old and a single mother with 3 children. Imagine the images of the past that may continue to haunt as she walks down Walnut Street. Where is her mother and father? Does she have siblings nearby? Did she live in the refugee camps in Kenya like hundreds of thousands do today? How does it feel to be on your own, a complete unknown....

The kingdom of God that Nouwen describes as a "hospitable place" isn't brought by us to the neighborhood. Rather, it is recognizing the outpouring of God's activity in the culture around us. That may be the grocery store, bank or a planned "outreach". For this reason loss and emptiness are not the last word in the lives of people suffering from the displacement of being a refugee or caught up in the cycle of addiction. The Kingdom has an agenda of hope and freedom as we invite people to the way of Jesus and the community of his people. 

Speaking of Art

Check out jakepaint.com. My wife Deborah and I met Jake in one of those unlikely kingdom moments. We have adopted several different spots around Lewiston to plant flowers and vegetables. Lots to Gardens does great work in town and they asked if we would plant in the middle of an abandoned playground. After planting we made our way up Bartlett Street in the middle of the poorest neighborhood in Maine. We've noticed a house that has some lawn space out front (rare in this part of town) and some flowers growing. We noticed a guy out front planting and stopped to ask him if he'd like some additional flowers. A conversation developed and it turns out Jake and his wife are followers of Jesus and are committed to creating beauty in abandoned places. It turns out he lives just a few houses down from Tahir Saleh whose work I wrote about recently. We hope to have coffee soon and share cross cultural ideas and dreams. Could anyone have imagined the day when 3 artists would live on Bartlett Street and bring dignity and beauty to a neighborhood that is on the far margins of our culture.

Happenings:

Four gardens are planted and doing well in Lewiston. Stop by the corner of Pine and Bates Street to see our beautiful new garden. Tucked in behind the Italian Bakery is an abandoned playground. We have planted veggies in two spaces and flowers in a third. We hope to paint and create in this space over the summer and fall.

We gave away 100 fruit and veggie bags Monday night. Grapes, apples, banana's and a lone tomato were placed in each bag. It was awesome to see the # of single mothers take one or two bags and then sit with their kids and eat. We also gave away 300 or so popsicles to kids. It was a bit of a madhouse their for a minute or two! Gives new meaning to the expression "coming out of nowhere." Water was passed out in the skatepark and the evening meal at the Food Pantry went well.

Last night the Vineyard hosted a cross cultural evening with two local Somolian advocates. About 70 people came out to learn more about their culture. Ismail noted a powerful distinction between an immigrant and a refugee. He stated that he was forced to leave his country due to war and not by choice. Rahima mentioned that she would love to return to her native country but cannot. Many of the 3,500 refugees now living in Lewiston lived in refugee camps for years. The children were born and raised in the camps. Two cultural anthropologists from Taiwan came to the meeting. They are in Lewiston for several weeks working on a project. I'll post more later.