Biblical Community: Orange Insurance

 Biblical Community

            After reading the book Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne a few years ago, I became fascinated with this idea of living with other Christians with the same intentionality.  I looked at his adventures and I wondered what shapes this could take and how it could happen in my own life.  I applied to the Pink House after hearing about it during my time at FPU because this really was the most clear route I could see that would help me get to my goal.  While I did not make it into the Pink House, the Hub was a place that I saw the possibility not as an alternative, but instead, where God truly intended for me to be.  Upon arrival I knew this experience was going to bless me in ways I had never dreamed of and I turned out to be right on all counts.

            Things have not always been perfect around the formerly named “Stonepine Apartments” (The name is currently “The Courtyard at Central Park”). We have had to deal with everything from constantly breaking blinds, no electricity in half the apartment for weeks on end, a freezer that becomes packed with ice once a month to things of more importance.  Neighbors who are so desperate for jobs that they need to find transportation to get hired as a stripper, a roommate who has had his car stolen twice, and still other Hub members who have lost family members.  No matter what the situation, we work through these things together.  One of the most simple, yet beautiful things about the Hub as a community is our willingness to share.  When it comes to transportation, there is no shortage of it within the Hub.  We have bikes and cars that are almost freely interchangeable whenever needed.  If there is food in the fridge or the pantry that looks good, all we need to do is ask and it shall be distributed.  Sharing stuff is not the only area in which we are learning what it means to be stewards of God's Kingdom, but more so sharing life as a whole.

            As it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”  We have laughed together (oh boy have we laughed), mourned together, danced together, sung together, rode bikes together, beat-boxed together and processed this life together.  Passing out oranges to the neighborhood kids may seem like a small thing, but because the kids know that we always have oranges they come by our door on a regular basis.  Josiah has come up with something called “Orange Insurance” where if they bring some little thing of food to us (i.e. gogurt, apples, bananas, etc.) we will give them an orange in return, this way they have a sense of trade at a young age instead of looking constantly for hand outs.  Though I can definitely sympathize with Shane in his description of what the early stages of the Simple Way looked like, “Folks drop in all day to say hi, have a safe place to cry or get some water or a blanket.  Sometimes we turn people away or play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who answers the door on tired days.”  It can be exhausting opening up so much of our lives to our neighbors, but the end result of doing these things for them is worth the effort.  When they come over with questions all about the book of Matthew after having read some of it for the first time.  When they come over asking why we have chosen to remain celibate until we are married and they, in turn, have decided to make that same commitment because of how we answer them.  We tell them that boyfriends should not be treating their girlfriends as objects to be used only for sex, instead, we tell them that each individual is a treasure to God.  When a seventeen year old kid comes over in tears after a fight with his mom asking how he can find God.  This is not just one person from the Hub's stories, these are all of our stories and we are working through them together.

            Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book Life Together, “The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.”  Even when the dishes have not been done, when books, bags and clothing are left strewn all over the apartment, when the toilet has not been flushed after use the worst crime we can commit within our community is refusing to listen.  The past seven months we have spent together has been a roller coaster ride of trials and celebrations.  I do not know what I would do if it were not for the men in the Hub who have held me accountable for my actions and lifted me up in my triumphs.  None of us knew what we were getting into when we began this ride, but now that it is almost winding down it is just the beginning of our time together.

~Thomas Wise

Apply yourself for one year in Biblical Community, Leadership Development, and Urban Ministry through the Hub or Pink House. Visit www.fiful.org or www.highwaycitycd.com to apply. Applications for the Hub or Pink House 10-month internship are due April 20, 2011. Apply yourself today.