Missio Dei SUPER ACTIVITY ZINEHa

ppy Hawthorn!

Fun for All Ages

Issue one, Volume oneJanuary 6, 2010

Poems & A

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Coloring P

ages

Dot-to-d

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Articles &

News

And much

more!

The

EpiphanY

In this issue...Missio Dei News

-Amy Van SteenwykEssays

Forclosed -Sarah LynneShifting Perspectives -Jen ShirkThe Un-kingdom of God-Mark

Van SteenwykPraryers for Epiphany

PoetryProphecy -Daniel WicklanderCasual Confusion -Karl E.J.

Hokansonapril first

Art contributions from...Jared Ingebretson, Bryn Harding,

Derk,

The Happy Hawthorn gathered upBefore the first of May

Burning in the Beltane fireUntil the break of day

Hear the Happy HawthornSing a lullaby

As all the baleful noblesFall down and cry

Peasant children fast asleepWhile princelings toss and turnThe king and queen bellow wails

As the palace starts to burn

Hawthorn crown upon the headOf the Holy King

The people dance round the fireWhile their children sing

Origin unknown

Missio Dei News In October we celebrated Chad and Annas engagement! We found ourselves with an opening in Sattler House after Justin moved out in Sep-tember so we took the month of Oc-tober to process applications and ulti-mately decided to invite Derk to move to MN from North Carolina. Clare House hosted a house concert. It was a night full of music from Kevin Per-tinen w/ Adamas Tres, the Ex-Lovers, and Seth Martin w/ The Menders, kin-dred spirits from Portland. Since Hal-loween fell on a Saturday this year it coincided with our last Hospitality Train for the season. Mark made his harvesty apple and squash soup which was a hit as always. Three of our community mem-bers trekked to North Carolina early in November to visit Hyaets Commu-nity. Derk rode back with Sarah and Jen and thats the short version of how Derk ended up at Missio Dei. The same weekend that the North Carolina crew returned, Carmen and kids came back from Peru! It was wonderful to have them back after spending two months visiting family there. Around mid-November we got some bad news about taxes. Apparently we owe $4600 in back taxes for 2008 for the 1/2 a year previous to us buying Clare House in August and moving in. Although we qualify for tax-exempt status now, we didnt then, so after looking into it fur-ther, it seems were stuck with that to pay ASAP. Then, suddenly, Thanksgiving was upon us. Joshs family and Amys parents joined Missio Dei-ers and oth-er friends for a wonderful Thanksgiv-ing meal and afternoon together. Vin-cents wife Francis commented that it was the best Thanksgiving shed had in 10 years. And that was her first time meeting almost everyone here! We continue to give thanks for such a won-derful gathering (not to mention great food!) As Muslims around the world

and in Cedar Riverside celebrated Eid-al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, Black Friday arrived! Charlie, Derk, Jared, Mark and Bryn went caroling at the Mall of America - carols full of lyrics challenging consumerism and its destructive effects. In an odd twist, they got interviewed by TLC channel reporters putting together a new show: Mall Cops. So the security at the MOA had to pause from kicking them out to let them perform one last time for the video cameras. Our Saturdays and Sundays changed in late November. With the end of the Hospitality Train, we decid-ed to return to having weekly group dis-cernment meetings on alternating Sat-urdays and Sundays. Then we spend every other Saturday doing projects together. So far weve created a more kid-friendly area downstairs which we use mostly for the children on Sunday nights. Weve cleaned out the porch, the basement and the garage at Sattler House and put plastic on the windows at both houses. A few of us also insu-lated the garage at Clare House. December started with many Missio Dei-ers marching downtown in protest of this latest troop surge to Afghanistan. Since then, things have slowed down a bit. Lets just say theres been a lot of knitting and hang-ing out. In contrast to Thanksgiving, many of us were out of town for Christ-mas. In January well be bidding farewell to Boo whos en route to Nor-way in a few months and saving up $ in the meantime. Well also be process-ing applications and welcoming new people into both houses. ~

Forclosed Rencently, Missio Dei joined other Minneapolis residents in opposition to many of the current foreclosures and evictions, particularly with five woman who have been the victim of predatory adjustable rate mortgages. When we first got involved Rosemary Williams case she was a resident on her block for 55 years, living in her current home for 20. Seven houses on her block already lay empty from foreclosure, creating a forlorn atmosphere in the old neigh-borhood. Rosemarys story doesnt seem atyp-ical. She took out a loan on her house to help her daughter go to college. She was given an adjustable rate mortgage, originally at $1,100 a month. After she lost her job and her mortgage jumped

to $2,100 a month Rosemary was obvi-ously unable to pay. Though she did eventually find work (she was working while we were house-sitting) she was unable to make the new payments. Incensed by the refusal of banks to neogotiate with homeowners facing eviction, especially after they had just recieved huge bail-outs, many Min-neapolitans decided to adovcate for Rosemary and occupied her foreclosed upon house. Basically this means that Rosemary was evicted and boards were put up to close up the house. After this several people broke back into the house to let Rosemary back in. Then many people (anywhere from 5-50 people at a time) stayed in the home with Rosemary, hoping to either

Start End

help keep Rosemary in her home, or at least draw attention to the epidemic of evicitions and foreclosures in the Twin Cities. They and others called govern-ment officials and GMAC (who held her loan) in hopes of pressuring them to renegotiate her mortgage to a rea-sonable rate. At first I felt uncomfortable. Wasnt the eviction fair? No one forced her to take out a mortgage on her house. She should have known this could happen. These were the thoughts run-ning through my head as I considered my involvement. I knew that I had al-ways been told that this was the way the world works. I had heard that peo-ple like Rosemary should know better (or that they were just lazy or indul-gent). I knew the banks had received government money, and had heard that this was somehow supposed to help out the people losing their homes, but at the same time I wasnt sure how that was supposed to work, and all I knew was that losing a house after not paying your mortgage seemed fair. As I spent time looking into scripture on this subject though, I began to see things differently. The banks situation reminded of the parable of the unforgiv-ing servant (Matthew 18:23-35), where a servant is forgiven a huge debt, goes out and imprisons those who owe him. Gods laws on property distribution and redistribution and foregiveness of debts struck me as a very different perspective on justice than captialism had taught me (see Leviticus 25). The prophets proclamation against Isreals refusal to obey these laws and their op-pression of the poor (check out Amos) convicted me of the sin of silence. I began to think about how Gods perspective on fairness and justice seemed ill-aligned with the banks, and with what I had been taught in gen-eral. The most surprising to me were the laws in Leviticus. God requires the Isrealites to return the land to the original families every fifty years. He

requires the release of debts and slaves, and forbids Isrealites to charge inter-est to each other. The most significant part of this to me was the reason why. God reminds them that the land is not theirs, neither can any human really own another. Slaves must also be set free because they are only truly Gods servants. God wants the people who would gain power accumilating land and people to remember that these do not belong to them, and will be fairly taken away within their lifetime. In doing so God puts in place provision for those who would lose their homes, livelihood, and personal freedom. He guards against the kind of systemic, generational proverty that is endemic in our society. We have no such precautions and yet we call our system just. Rosemary can pay for her house many times over while we turn a blind eye to predatory, usurious lending and then we call that justice. This isnt the kind of justice that God intended us to operate on, and considering the reality the God ulti-mately owns this land, I became more and more convinced that he would probably side with Rosemary over GMAC. I figured that that is what re-ally matters. And so I joined my fellow Missio Dei members and neighbors in resis-tance to Rosemarys foreclosure. At this time I just stuck my toe in, bring-ing food, calling GMAC, and spending a few hours at a time there, but plan-ning on ditching when the police ar-rived to reclaim the home for GMAC. I was afraid of arrest. Worried about my ability to get to work and with what that might mean for my employability in the future. Mostly I think I was just worried about what my old friends and family would think. How would I ex-plain this to them? Would they con-tinue to affirm and support me? Eventually Rosemarys home was raided. I was at work. I found out on a ten minute break, which was extended

to fifteen as I struggled to compose myself and dry my tears. I tried to explain to my coworkers. I told them that Rosemary was my friend, because I wasnt sure they would understand why I felt so deeply for a stranger. I had known this would happen, but re-alised that I was crushed that it actu-ally happened. I was also crushed that I wasnt there. As we move forward in this struggle for stable communities, housing, and justice, I think we need to expand our imagination on the subject. We need to re-write the American dream, take on

a new vision of justice, and be willing to stand for the vision. Im not sure exactly what the next step is, but Im afraid that it will require more commit-ment than getting arrested for occupy-ing Rosemarys home. That being the case, Im not sure Im that commited. On the other hand, I want more than anything for Gods kingdom to be re-alised, for Gods justice to be law. The last thing I want is to serve any other master, so my prayer now is that God guides me and gives me the courage and imagination to live into a different way of life. ~

Shifting Perspectives Last year I lived with some friends in South Minneapolis. I inten-tionally moved into a poorer neigh-borhood because I felt like God had given me a heart for the poor. At the beginning of the year I was focused on networking. I wanted to rub el-bows and create all the right connec-tions to get a prestigious education and earn enough capital to live out my de-sire to help the poor. This desire to climb up societys ladder was rebuked when I started observing a man who pushed a stroller through our alley at night, digging through our dumpsters. It broke my heart. My roommate and I tried to place things we perceived as more valuable outside or near the top for him. I felt a striking guilt over the fact that while I was planning a suc-cessful future hob-nobbing it with all the right people who could fund my dreams, Jesus Christ was quietly dig-ging through my trash.

I experienced many profound perspective shifts when I came to Mis-sio Dei last spring. Ironically, I often found myself partaking of delicious meals sometimes entirely scavenged from the dumpster. And I began to re-alize that the man digging through my garbage identified with Jesus in more ways than simply being poor, rejected, and misunderstood by our greater soci-ety: this man was a salvager. This man was a dealer of bro-ken things. He took the things that to me had no value and transformed them into something useable, something that someone considered valuable. The pity I used to feel changed into re-spect and admiration for his resource-fulness. And as long as we continue to be a profoundly wasteful culture, he will have more job stability than any of us. ~

PRAYERS FOR EPIPHANYThe word "epiphany" means "to show" or "reveal." Epiphany (January 6th) is the day when many Christians remember the revela-tion of Christ to the Magi--the day when the Son of God was revealed to all nations. Epiphany marks the ending of the Christ-mas season. The season of Epiphany (which leads up to Lent) is a time to reflect upon the mission of the church to reveal Jesus Christ to the world.

The following is a daily prayer for the Epiphany season, which concludes on Ash Wednesday.

[Facilitator read regular aloud, All read bold aloud]

Evening Prayer[Begin by lighting a candle. After a long mo-ment of silence, the evening prayer facilita-tor begins the evening collect.]

Call to Prayer

Holy Creator, A new light in the sky proclaimed the com-ing of liberation and redemption. May that liberation dawn in our hearts And may the sun set upon unrighteousness and injustice.Sustain us this night as we depart in peace.

Holy is the Onewho is like a lamp in the night.Who leads us in through the darkness.Who turns our mourning into dancing.Who liberates us from the sting of death.Holy is the One who is like a lamp in the night.

[pause for contemplation]

Simeon's Song

Now, O Lord, you let your servant go in peace,according to your promise. With my own eyes, I see your liberation,which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples,A light that reveals you to the Nations, and the glory of your people, Israel.

Scripture Reading

Sunday: John 2:1-11Monday: John 4:46-54Tuesday: John 5:1-18Wednesday: John 6:1-4Thursday: John 6:15-21Friday: John 9:13-41Saturday: John 11:33-44

[prayer after a time of meditative silence]

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven,Hallowed be your name.Your kingdom come;Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily breadAnd forgive us our debts,As we forgive our debtors.And leads us not into temptation,But deliver us from evil;For yours is the kingdom, And the power,And the glory,Forever. Amen.

Evening Sending

God of peace,in humility your Son is revealedto the powerfulmay they bend low before youand before all who are lowly.

And may we, empowered by your Holy Spirit,follow in the ways of your Sonas we strive to bring the light of the Gospel to those living in the shadow of Empireto those suffocated by the reign of death.

We ask this though Jesus Christ your Son,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Scripture Reading

Sunday: John 6:29-35Monday: John 8:12Tuesday: John 8:57-59Wednesday: John 10:11-13Thursday: John 11:21-27Friday: John 14:5-7Saturday: John 15:1-8

[prayer after a time of meditative silence]

The Lord's Prayer

Sending

God of peace,in humility your Son is revealedto the powerfulmay they bend low before youand before all who are lowly.

And may we, empowered by your Holy Spirit,follow in the ways of your Sonas we strive to bring the light of the Gospel to those living in the shadow of Empireto those suffocated by the reign of death.

We ask this though Jesus Christ, your Son,who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Morning Prayer[Gather by standing in a circle, facing one another. After a long moment of silence, the morning prayer facilitator begins the morn-ing collect.]

Call to Prayer

Arise, shine; for your light has come!And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, And thick darkness the peoples; But the Lord will arise upon you, And his glory will be seen upon you. Nations shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Glory to the One who has shown us the light!Who leads us out of darkness.Who turns our mourning into dancing.Who liberates us from the sting of death.Glory to the One who has shown us the light!

[pause for contemplation]

Mary's Song of Liberation

My soul glorifies you, O Lord My spirit rejoices in you, my Liberator;You have looked with favor on your lowly servant.From this day all generations will call me blessed;You have done powerful things for me Holy is your name!You have mercy on those who fear you,From generation to generation.You have shown strength with your armScattering the proud in their arrogance,Casting down the mighty from their thronesAnd lifting up the lowly.You have satisfied the hungry with good thingsAnd sent the rich away empty.You have come to the aid of your servant Israel,Remembering your promise of mercy,The promise made to our ancestors,To Abraham and his offspring for ever.

A Recipe for HospitalityWest African Peanut Stew (this will make a lot of food!)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil6 medium onions, chopped10 large red bell peppers, chopped12 cloves or 4 Tbsp. minced garlic8 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, with liquid24 cups vegetable broth or stock1 Tbsp pepper2 tablespoon chili powder (optional)3 cups extra crunchy peanut butter2 cups uncooked brown rice

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes, vegetable stock, pepper, and chili powder. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.2. Blend with wand blender until creamy and smooth.3. Stir in rice, cover, and simmer another fifteen minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in peanut butter until well blended, and serve. Invite ALL your friends! ~

Revealing the Un-Kingdom of God Traditional kingship (with ab-solute power, hoards of wealth, and power over the weak) has nothing to do Jesus; its something Jesus rejected (John 6:15). Traditional kings demand allegiance and servitude, but Jesus is about liberationfrom suffering, sick-ness and death, exclusion, persecution, and our own sin. Jesus is a king who serves the least of these, and who fi-nally receives torture and execution for the freedom of others. As we see in the Gospels, Christs kingship is inconsistent with traditional structures of power; and for this reason, Jesus tells Pilate that My kingdom is not from this world (John 18:36). Passages like these have, unfortunately, fostered an ineffectual other-worldliness among Christians. And they have been used to legiti-mate real-world kingdoms. In other words, Jesus rules some magical sky-kingdom, while the princes and Em-perors can dominate flesh and land. But Jesus' reign isnt other-worldly. It isnt apolitical. It's just political in a radically different way. Rather than taking Caesars throne (or any throneincluding the one Satan offered him) Jesus is saying that Cae-sars days are numbered. By saying my kingdom is not from this world he isnt saying my kingdom is only spiritual, so you dont have to worry but rather my kingdom doesn't work like yours does...yours is obsolete, mine trumps yours. As heirs to Jesus kingdom, we are ambassadors of the new reign, priv-ileged to share the mercy, love, peace, and justice of Christ with the world. In the early daysthe first century of the Jesus movementthe church was invisible to most people in the Roman empire. But they had a growing repu-tation as an alternative and seemingly anti-social community that lived in the nooks and crannies of Empire.

Christians were thought to be extreme, subversive, stubborn, and de-fiant. The Roman writer Tacitus called them haters of humanity. They re-jected the central facets of Roman reli-gious and political life. In his view they actively undermined society with their indifference to civic affairs. Some crit-ics even blamed Christians for the fall of Rome. So, when Jesus said his king-dom wasnt of this world, he wasnt un-derstood by Pilate or by the Jews or by his earliest followers as talking about the afterlife or some abstracted spiritu-al truth. Rather, Jesus clearly usurped and challenged Caesar as Lord. Their two kingdoms clashed. The kingdom of God that Je-sus announced and embodied is what life would be like on earth, here and now, if God were king and the rulers of this world were not. Imagine if God ruled the nations, and not Obama, Kim Jong-il, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But in order to imagine that, we'd need to recognize that the king-dom Jesus is interested in isn't the sort one holds with an iron fist. Rather, it is an un-kingdom. Where Obama insists on a troop surge, Jesus calls people to love their enemies. Where Kim Jong-il seeks to secure his own power and prestige, Jesus calls people to serve one another and lay down one's lives for friends. The social, economic, politi-cal, and religious subversions of such an un-reign are almost endlesspeace-making instead of war monger-ing, liberation not exploitation, sac-rifice rather than subjugation, mercy not vengeance, care for the vulnerable instead of privileges for the powerful, generosity instead of greed, embrace rather than exclusion. Jesus is, I believe, calling for a loving anarchy. An un-kingdom. Of which he is the un-king. ~

'Casual Confusion' (written in high school circa '94)

the roles are played subconscioulyand tendencies are assignedby the awkward hand of randomnesspurposefully by design

by this we cannot classifythe shapeless patterns of blameto reveal the incongruitiesof the doubts that sew our shame

and with no frame of referenceexistence is but a dreamthat places our relativity at the center of what we seem

so boundless are our own instinctsthose constant urges to explainthe elusive mysteries of lifethoughts so often entertain

yet in it all the answer liesunperceptible to scienceand rather quietly it waits to speakagainst human self-reliance

this answer is not heard by thosewho listen, but do not hearbeyond the reality of this lifeand the concept of these years

truth simply lies within our faithnot from the questions that we raiseour God exists in love's pure intentwhich confusion cannot phase

-Karl E.J. Hokanson

april first

instant desires, instantly vanquishedgone with the blackthe budget diminisheswith honorable meanssustained pleasure pursuedplease forgive our debtsas we forgive our debtorsthe oppressed, our heartsreturned to the earthcollective guiltcollective paincollective healingthrough abstineneceradical inculsion hurtsproud moments of frustrationwelcomed eternally, satisfaction eternal

What What Were Reading

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursla LeGuin

End Game Derrick Jensen

What Does Justice Look Like? Waziyatawin, Ph.D.

The Silent Cry Dorothee Solelle

Enders Game Orsen Scott Card

Gary Snider Reader Gary Snider

Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut

Loaves and Fishes Dorothy Day

Hooked by the Spirit Rita Steinhagen

How Can I Find Healing Jim Glennon

About Us... Missio Dei is an urban inten-tional community that includes resi-dential members (in three houses) and members who live nearbye. We are committed to following Jesus way of simplicity (seeking a sustainable life with a proper relationship to posses-sions), hospitality (inviting friends and strangers to share our life together), prayer (being rooted in life-giving spiritual rhythms), and peacemaking (breaking our addiction to power as we get in the way of violence and injus-tice). We are rooted in the West Bank area of Minneapolis, committed to Anabaptist beliefs, and seek to em-body the radical love of Christ in the shadow of Empire.

Visit us...Sunday evenings at 5pm, we gather to eat together, pray, engage scripture, discuss, and sing. We meet at Clare House (2717 8th Street S in Minne-apolis).

Monday is a day when we open up our houses for people to come pray with us. Clare House hosts Lauds at 9am and Sattler House hosts Vespers at 10pm.

Wednesday nights at 6:30pm we have an open meal. That night we make a large meal and welcome everyone to dinner. Weve had anything from 4 to 26 people join us for dinner. We share our lives and struggles over dinner and then spend time praying afterward for those who are able to stick around. Our Wednesday night meal is at Sat-tler House (3312 31st Ave S in Min-neapolis).

www.missio-dei.com

3312 31st Ave. S.Minneapolis, MN 55406

Upcoming...Twin Cities Community of Commu-nities Quarterly GatheringOur winter gathering will be hosted by the Visitation Sisters (www.visi-tationmonasteryminneapolis.org) in North Minneapolis. Join us on Tues-day, January 19th at 6:30pm. Their monastery is located at 1527 Fremont Ave. North Mpls, MN 55411.

Interested in living in community?Missio Dei has openings in our houses. To make an inquery email (info@mis-sio-dei.com), send a letter, or visit us to get an application, also see our website for the latest information.

Missio D

ei3312 31

st Avenue S

outhM

inneapolis, MN

55406