a kinda sorta bible school
So no one showed up for Bible school yesterday morning, which was a bit of a downer. But, we got some spraypainting done as the base coat for the mural Jacob is painting on the side of the church:

We kind of looked like hoodlums with our yellow rags to keep us from inhaling too much paint, but no one noticed us.

The kids showed up after summer school got out at 12:30, and we played elbow tag for awhile, since it was a big hit last week. I took some pictures because they were having so much fun.

After that we fed them cookies and lemonade, here are a couple of the really little ones who are really cute. This first little guy just liked to lick the icing out of the cookie and then wouldn't eat the rest. He was cracking us up. The little girl didn't want her picture taken at first (I have one of her hiding under a table), but then she decided to strike a pose.

Then we shooed them out to try to decide what to do for the rest of the week. We decided to do activities in the afternoons - one activity per day - and if they want to be at the church they can participate, otherwise, they can go home. We really don't want to encourage them to just hang around doing nothing at the church. So today we worked on the mural with the kids - it looks phenomenal already, Jacob has done an awesome job, he is a great artist. I will take some pictures of it later this week. We also had the littler ones do some sidewalk chalk to brighten up the area.

We used the Bible lesson we were going to teach yesterday at the bible school for pizza church this evening, which worked out well. Psalm 100 was the scripture we looked at and we talked about how you need lots of instruments to make a band, and you need lots of people to stick together and do God's work. Jacob had an awesome object lesson with a rock and some twine that showed the twine was stronger fused together than spread apart.

After a bunch of the kids left, a group of boys stuck around and started their own little music group, with two playing heart and soul on the piano and the rest drumming beats in the sanctuary with whatever they could find. I brought in the rhythym instruments we'd used for the bible lesson and we had a little band going, it was a ton of fun.

This week may not be shaping up the way we thought it would, but God works in mysterious ways and we are trying to let the Spirit move us in ways that will touch the lives of these children and build community in their neighbourhood. Coming together to do art, to study the Bible, to eat and to make music is a great place to start.

Farenheit 9/11
Today I went and saw the new Michael Moore movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11". It is a very good movie - go see it! I cried through the part of it where they talked about and showed film of Flint, Michigan. It looked just like the neighbourhood we are working in here in Detroit. The movie talked about how many poor people have little choice but to join the military, then look what happens to them. It's as if the poor are disposable members of society whose sole purpose is to ensure that the lives of the rich and powerful remain as comfortable as possible. The movie showed how following the trails of money reveals just how inbred and corrupt not only the U.S. government is, but many of the multinational companies who fund the U.S. government and pour money into the U.S. and global economies. The reason to attack Iraq, as many people know, had little to do with terrorism and much to do with greedy folk who want Iraq's oil.

I know that the sensationalism of the movie was intended to rile me up, and it did just that, and I'm glad. It reminded me of part of the reason we are working with these kids - we want them to have options other than going off to get killed in a pointless war. We want to deal with their immediate problems but also begin to address and realise the institutionalized oppression that maintains the stratification of our society. This is not the way God wants the world to be. Anger at the way things are is a good thing when that anger is productive, when that anger sways votes and creates responsible citizens who are willing to take action to change the world. Too many people are complacently comfortable in their little gated communities. It is that complacency that ends up breeding generations of apathetic, ignorant people who continue to oppress the last, lost, labeled, least members of society.

Go see this movie. Go see what could happen to my kids here in Detroit. Go see how greed can truly be sinful when it kills innocent people. Then remind yourself of whose side God is on - those last lost labeled least.

O Canada
We spent Monday and Tuesday of this week in Canada, which was a nice escape for a bit. On Monday we visited Point Pelee national park, and I stood at the most southern point of mainland in Canada. I also listened to the waves crashing on the lake shore and was slightly homesick for the ocean. We visited John's parents and sister Karen, who were great hosts. It was nice to just relax and read. I finished the first of my three books I have to read for school: "Hard Living People and Mainstream Christians" by Tex Sample. It is a great book that had tons of practical advice and insight for the kind of work John is doing here. On our way back "home" to Detroit, I got a little teary-eyed due to being a bit homesick.

We had a great pizza church on Tuesday night, we brought out a bunch of Bibles and taught the kids how to look up verses, and challenged them to memorize the order of the first four books of the New Testament - an easy task for the older ones, but challenging for the young ones. Thursdays are going to be game night at 4pm for the summer, and today went well for Jacob and I (John couldn't be there). We played elbow tag, and the kids had a blast. I had a good time watching them laugh and laugh. We gave out flyers and forms for our Bible school, and took a pile of flyers to the community centre across the street. This was a big step for Jacob and I! Today was the first time we've walked off the church grounds (and not driven off), and we went by ourselves. It really is safe there during the day, but I was too scared to go door-to-door handing out flyers, so we decided the community centre was enough.

For the Canadians out there, a friend sent me this link which is kind of cool: http://www.politicswatch.com/VoteSelectorQuiz2004.html You take a quiz and it tells you which party you should vote for. Probably not a perfect way to decide how to vote, but an interesting quiz to take nonetheless.

some pictures
Last Sunday John was preaching and wanted to have a powerpoint presentation with pictures of the kids and neighbourhood, so we drove around on Wednesday and took some pictures or the neighbourhood and downtown Detroit.
The pictures were inspired by Isaiah 61:1-4;

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins,
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.


This is the church where we spend most of our days. It is in a primarily residential neighbourhood, not what I had originally pictured, but it is definitely impoverished, as you'll see in some of the other pictures.

















This is about 1 block away from the church, there are so many houses like this.



















Many of the houses, even though they don't look habitable, actually have someone living in them.



















This happens a lot in this neighbourhood, there will be a row of houses that look fine, and then a pile of rubble, a hole or an empty lot where a house used to be.



















This was taken closer to the downtown area, it is crazy the conditions people live in.



















This is downtown Detroit - it looks more like a war zone than a city where people live.



















Here is a window in the church sanctuary. It is broken because of a bullet. (don't worry, we weren't there when it happened)

























Here is John with some of our kids. They call him Pastor John or sometimes even Dad, since many of them don't have fathers. The kids think of the group that meets at the church as a family, which is an awesome way to build community.

update
Last week was busy busy busy. John, Jacob and I have been working hard and we actually have already made an impact up here. There was going to be a grant that is not available now, and instead of going ahead with an underfunded, secular peace camp we met with the mission centre president, Jerry Van Rossom on the 17th and talked to him about this idea we came up with for 3 1 week vacation Bible schools for three age groups. 1st through 5th grade the first week, 6th through 8th grade the third week and senior high in between. This idea came the day we had to tell our neighbourhood kids that their church, pastor john and Jacob & I would be used by someone else all summer (most of the neighbourhood kids are too old for the camp). I have never seen such sad faces. We realised that alienating them that way would ruin all of the hard work John has done so far. Jerry agreed with us about the underfunding, and now we have a manageable task for the summer and we will be able to share Christ with these kids. Also, our Bible school won't be all day, which gives us the opportunity to do ministry in the afternoons and evenings, and maintain pizza church, with our staple food: little caesars ready made pizzas. $5.00 for a large, always pepperoni or cheese, seemingly the cheapest food in michigan by our estimation.

I was happy to see the Pistons win the NBA championship, it is fun to be in a winning city, and it is good to see an often sad, depressed city get excited about something. We were even happier that there were no riots - proving to the world that Detroit can behave itself.

Another exciting thing about our new plan for the summer is that we will get to go to Flint reunion, a mainly young adult reunion at Bluewater campground our last week here. John stays with the director of the camp, Doyle Rice, and he has already recruited Jacob and I to help out. It should be a good time, a nice way to finish up our time here.