Organic Faith

Reflecting on Chicago by Chris George

A reflection on our Chicago Mission Trip written by trip co-planner Chris George: 

On March 31st we all met and had a great sense of community as we made tacos and played Hoopla [A boardgame], and had a great opening devotion on the roof of Holy Trinity.  What we didn’t know was what the heck we were going to experience while on this trip, and for some it was an adventure from the start for this was their first trip to the Windy City.  We trekked our way through the fog you couldn’t see through, wand what seemed to be countless hours driving through Ohio, but when we saw that CHicago Skyline it was all worth it.  We had made it to the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago (after switching to the GPS) and were moved into our new home, ready to do some service. 

“...just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” - Matthew 25:40

This whole journey we were on while in Chicago will impact the rest of our lives -- it is written on the mind and hearts of all that went.  Those minds and hearts were impacted in some amazing ways.  They were impacted by the places we walked through, from the affluence of downtown and certain neighborhoods, to the poverty and despair of neighborhoods literally a few blocks down the street.  They were impacted by the people we encountered: from the men and women we served and helped out at the rest shelters, to the people we met and helped with taxes and on the scavenger hunt.  This trip also impacted us in ways that made us think about how this happens.  How does a person with a master’s degree, or a veteran end up homeless?   How can we help the injustice in the world, and help people to be treated the ay people should be treated?  This trip helped us to open our eyes to something completely different then some of the things that we don’t always see every day, and for me, I am even more grateful for what I have been given and all of this keeps me motivated to help out whenever I can. 

 

 

The prayers that remain...

At the end of our Mission Trip to Chicago, Organic Faith held our own Sunday morning worship service.   During the service we each wrote an annoymous prayer. Below you'll find all of those prayers.  Reading and praying through them gives a small picture of our Chicago adventure; it reveals what we took away from the trip.  Let us pray...

 

Dear God, Dear Almighty, Dear Alpha and Omega,

I don’t know what to call you of if you are a you. But there is some understanding force that cannot be seen but somehow holds the world together. Through this force, I am able to look and live in the world without scales on my eyes. And for that I am eternally grateful.

Dear Lord,

Help me to keep what I saw and learned on this trip close to me once we leave, so that it may act as a constant reminder to how good I have it and guide me down a path with which I can look back upon with no regrets.

We pray for Vincent. That the world can learn something from him; that we are all people. We also pray for the removal of demons that stop us from being the friendly people we could be. Jesus be with us as we travel into our communities and help us to use what we learned here for the world.

Heavenly and Gracious God,

Thank you for Nate, Chris, Justin, Shelly, Andy, Jessica, and Hammy, and all of their gifts and talents.

God,

Thank you.  Sometimes I feel like I don’t “get it”. The feeling of hope that comes with helping another person always overpowers any feeling of being lost or not “getting it”. Thank you, I love you.

To continue to find ways to step out of my comfort zone, for patience

I pray for Denise and Sue and Vincent, for the needy people we met, and those we didn’t meet. I pray for my own brokenness, that I might be healed. I pray for all the people on this trip, that they might be guided by your love. I thank you for your grace, and knowing that it means that you love us for who we are, not who we could be.

Hey God,

Thank you sooo much for giving me the chance to be your hands on this trip, to help your people. I also thank you for the people sitting here in this circle, please be with them as we part ways later tonight. I hope they has as much as a great experience as I had. Please be with Vincent as well as the guys at the REST shelter, let them get their break. Thank you again for everything you’ve given me.

Gracious God,

Thanks for bringing communities together throughout history. Thanks for this community and for your presence among us throughout the entire trip. Send your Holy Spirit here. May the story we’ve all begun together be only the beginning. Keep us in loving support of each other and move us to see beyond ourselves              AMEN

 

Think Tank Recap

Organic Faith met on Sunday night for a time of brainstorming, visioning, prayer, and discernment.  We know we are a young community but we also believe that the Holy Spirit is leading us, and so at our Think Tank gatherings we take time just for this purpose; to listen for the Holy Spirit and to plan the future of our community through this process.

Mission Statement: “Newness in Christ, Rooted in God’s Love.” 

In our time together it became clear that our community needs a vision and a mission to own, so that we might gain a greater sense of our identity as Organic Faith.  This mission statement also lead us into crafting a vision statement; we know what we are about so we started to think about what we wanted to become.  

Vision Statement: “We are a worshipping community.  We are honest about our limitations.  We are made new in Christ.” 

(As you might have guessed, we wanted to keep all of our rhetoric simple and we feel as if we’ve accomplished that with both our Mission and Vision statements.)   

But here is the thing about Mission and Vision statements... they are just statements; idle words that really could mean very little.  Like nearly everything a church talks about, a vision and mission statement mean nothing unless we strive to truly live them out.    We’ll do our best to live into our vision and live out our mission, but please feel free to try and keep us accountable.

Prayer Team

As I mentioned in the last point about our Organic Faith Think Tank meeting we are looking into creating a greater commitment to prayer in Organic Faith.  

This is our current plan on this front.  A group of us have begun to meet as a prayer team with our current mission being to write everyone in Organic Faith a letter.  These personalized letters are going to be sent (hopefully later this week) and will include a specific prayer personally chosen or written for each individual.  The hope is to simply invite each member of our community to begin focusing on prayer a little more.  As we continue to grow as a community we believe that we will only go as far as God takes us; the same goes for our own personal lives of faith.  These letters serve as an invitation to each person to embrace this community of prayer that we are forming.  

If you’d like to join us, even if you aren’t currently a part of Organic Faith, please email <nate.preisinger@gmail.com> and we will be sure to write you a prayer letter.  

Updates from the Think Tank

Last night, Organic Faith held it’s first ever Think Tank.  This gathering was designed to create a space where a team of people could get together and dream and plan together where Organic Faith might be going.  Thanks to our Soul Cafe gatherings, we had some extra tea and coffee lying around for the Think Tank to share as we envisioned together the future of Organic Faith.

We began the evening by simply praying and listening.  We asked for the Holy Spirit to lead and then waited until one of us was struck with inspiration.  After two and a half hours of Spirit lead inspiration we had some neat ideas and new convictions moving forward with Organic Faith.  

First, we want to become a community that is more committed to prayer.  We want to pray together more often, be people who are not afraid to ask for prayer, and encourage one another by writing and sharing prayers together.  In addition to this new ideas we also hope to implement in the near future a Monday morning and Friday evening prayer gathering as a way to frame our entire work-week around conversation with God. 

Second, we are going to hold another day of generosity at Bidwell Park.  We all agreed that we hope to share the gift of community that we have with others and what better way to do this then by having a party in the middle of Buffalo.  More information on this generosity day will be coming soon. 

Finally, we hope that Organic Faith can become a community that affirms the Arts.  We believe that artwork (be it poetry, music, painting, or something more off the radar such as event planning) in all forms is to be celebrated and affirmed simply because art is a sign of life and a reminder of the Resurrection.  We hope to become a community that is consistently creating and sharing these gifts with the world.  

So, there’s your recap of Think Tank #1, please feel free to join us next month as we continue to pray and vision where God might be leading us.  Our next Organic Faith Think Tank will be June 6th. 

Recap of Spring Retreat: Rebirth, Renewal, Resurrection

This past weekend was Organic Faith’s Spring Retreat.  A group of 10 of us journeyed down to Lake Chautauqua Lutheran Center and spent Friday night and Saturday night enjoying the company of community and the time to search our lives for the places we need renewal, the places we see rebirth, and the places where we experience the Resurrection.  

The incredible thing about a retreat is that, for a brief period of time, you actually share life together with the people who have gathered.  For the length of the weekend you are living together with those who are on the retreat.  

Here is what is particularly interesting about sharing life together.  This is exactly what the disciples did following the Resurrection of Jesus.  After they experienced the power of Jesus’ victory over death they began to live together, to share their property with one another, and to continually remind one another that Jesus is Lord and has risen from the dead.  

As our retreat progressed we began to realize that this is what the Church is all about.  To be the Church means to gather together around the Resurrection and to recognize again and again the ways that God, through Jesus Christ, is bringing life where death once was.  

As Organic Faith continues to grow and strives to do a better job of being The Church we are aware that it begins by simply gathering together around the Resurrection.   Our call is to be people who believe in Jesus’ Resurrection and who look for signs of that victory over death in the our lives, in community, and in the world.  

If you, or someone you know, is looking for a community to share life together with, please let us know, we’d love for you to be a part of our community of Rebirth, Renewal, and Resurrection.  

A Season of Transformation

At the Organic Faith Bible Study this past Sunday night we read through the transfiguration story and mused about its placement as the text you read every year the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.

In a way, we came to an agreement as a group.  We were thinking that the Church hears of Jesus’ transfiguration before moving into the season of Lent so that we might see Lent as a time of transformation for ourselves.  All in all, I think we had some pretty good ideas at this particular Bible Study. And then, on Tuesday night I came across a blog post with the following words in it: 

“But Lent isn’t about denial, it is about transformation. It is the season in which we prepare to encounter Christ’s sacrifice by endeavoring to become more Christ like ourselves. Transformation is about letting ourselves be filled with God’s presence so that we can be shaped by God’s grace. Our acts of kenosis – denying ourselves in order to empty ourselves enough to allow God to fill us – are means to an end. They are disciplines that prepare us to be transformed. We deny ourselves so that we can be reborn as new creations – to live more fully as the Kingdom citizens God desires us to be.” – (taken from julieclawson.com)

This Lent, on Wednesday nights, Organic Faith will be leading the Lenten worship gatherings at Zion Lutheran Church.  Our hope is to share with the people of Zion a little piece of who we are, and how we understand and practice our faith.

But not only that.

Organic Faith also hopes that these gatherings can be a time of transformation for all who gather.  In the worship, in the songs, the prayers, the music, the silence, and in the discipline of Lent, we all are slowly learning to allow the transforming power of God into the emptiness of our lives once again.

The Super Bowl of Generosity

On Saturday, February 6th the people of Organic Faith descended upon Delaware Park with two missions in mind: 1) To play some snow football 2)To grill lots of hot dogs and give them away to passersby.

The idea for the event was past simply on the idea of generosity.  Organic Faith has been talking a great deal about the idea of generosity and how important it is for us to ask ourselves the question, "What has God given to me? How can I give that away?"  Since the Super Bowl was on Sunday, we wanted to play a game of snow football and give away some food to anyone who happened by.

Here is the story in pictures:

 

Here is what you can conclude from these pictures.  Conclusion 1: It was really cold on Saturday.  Conclusion 2: We didn't take that many pictures because it was so cold.  Conclusion 3: We didn't take any pictures of the football game because it was too cold.  Conclusion 4: We had a pretty decent turn out

Since it was sooooo cold, we didn't actually manage to give away too many hot dogs, but it was a great experience and a good practice run for a day of generosity when the temperatures are a little warmer.