At the Margins

The September/October edition of Prism featured several articles about prostituted people.  I just realized that they are available through their archive.

The cover story, Portrait of Exploitation is accompanied by a bunch of pictures of prostituted women taken over an extended period of time.  The images depict a demise like I have never seen before.  They are utterly shocking!

The articles in the issue include:

Portrait of Exploitation
by Laura Coulter
A compelling call for the church to follow Jesus’ example by embracing the victims behind the vice.

Sophia’s Circle
by Amy Durkee
Former prostitutes come together for a time of healing and renewal and in the process become part of a sisterhood network.

Prostitution: Pathway to Incarceration for American Females
by Lisa L. Thompson
As the female prison population increases at alarming rates, it’s time we understood prostitution’s role as gateway to the crimes that are putting women behind bars.

Traffic Stopper
Donna M. Hughes, a leading international researcher on sex trafficking, explains the relationship between sex trafficking and prostitution.

Yesterday I preached for the first time at Fairlington.  Well, kind of–I shared my testimony with Holy Grounds a few months ago and yesterday was certainly not a traditional form of preaching.

I came as Herod and shared in first person my/his perspective on himself.  Then I did a quick costume change and shared as Simeon.

I’d planned to repeat both Herod and Simeon last night, but, because of a wonderful discussion, I ended up just sharing as Herod.

I was just remarking to Israel, that the morning felt like a performance, while the evening felt like a conversation.  Perhaps it was just because I had already done it once, perhaps it was because I know the folks from Holy Grounds better.  However, I think it’s because of a difference in atmosphere.  I knew in the evening that all I had to do was spark–spark thinking, spark conversation–and we would be able to grapple with things together.  In the morning, I felt I needed to impress (ugghhh) and to do a good job–I needed to perform well. I knew that people were only going to be able to take away what I brought and what the Holy Spirit said through me, that we wouldn’t be able to process as a community.

What pressure people who preach week after week must feel!

So many Christians are focused on the fact that Jesus died for us. One of my favorite things to tell people is that “He lives for us,” not to mention “in us” through the Holy Spirit.

Sure, He definitely died for us, but I’m not so sure that that was the sine quo non of His earthly mission. It seems to me the fact that He came to live as one us for 30 odd years is pretty important, not to mention the fact that He still lives now. Oh yeah, and there’s the whole ressurection thing.

I’ll be the first to proclaim that the cost of discipleship is death. Followers of Christ must both figuratively die to themselves for Christ and others and be willing to, in the model of Christ, literally die for Christ and others.

Fixation with Christ’s death however only fuels the oft-quoted, but seldom contextualized, Nietzschen axiom that “God is dead.”

The Church really needs a God that is not dead. A God who is speaking and active in His people. A God that is equipping His people to “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1). A God who continues to reveal Himself to us and show us the Way. A God who is actively involved in the continual transformation and liberation of His creation.

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

For a long time, I interpretted 1 Peter 4:8 as my love for others covers a multitude of their sins.  While this is certainly true, a few weeks ago I realized that my love for other covers a multitude of my own sins.

The interesting thing is that a relationship of unconditional love is the only environment where we actually have the freedom to expose our sins that we may be set free from them.

My friends at Ma Siss’s Place and Quincy Street Missional Church  continue to be featured in the Boston Globe this morning and last.

Part 4: And who, now, will lead them?

My friends at Ma Siss’s Place and Quincy Street Missional Church  continue to be featured in the Boston Globe this morning and last.

Part 2: A call to serve, and to lead

Part 3: A crisis year, a Christmas comeback

My friends at Ma Siss’s Place and Quincy Street Missional Church were featured on the front page of the Boston Globe this morning.

This first in four part series will continue the next three days (I will post a link each day) and features many pictures and some other multimedia.

“From a Dorchester Chop Shop, to a Place to Pray”

Last week’s issue of U.S. News and World Report featured a couple of articles that include Common Table.

The cover story ”A Return to Tradition” and “Mixing Jesus with Java: The Appeal of New Religious Communities.”

Culpeper House’s sister community in Southeast Washington’s Anacostia Neighborhood has asked everyone to go to http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_change_the_world/text/0,,HGTV_30676_65470,00.html and vote for HGTV to help cleanup their neighborhood

There are tons of pictures from my recent trip to El Salvador posted in Facebook.  The good news is that anyone can see them at http://www.mattpritchard.com/pictures/facebook