Community Living

February 28, 2013

It is time, finally time, for me to bring forth some of the thoughts swimming around in my head.  To be honest, there will never be an ideal time to write.  My first half of Mission Year has passed by and this blog has sat here underutilized, only serving as a final resting place for my monthly newsletters.  But I promised that my voice would be written down in the pages of this blog and now is the time to begin.

The mug that is holding my milk states: “Dig Deep.”  Dig deep... that’s what I’ve been doing.  The beginning of the dig may be exciting, but once you leave the surface the muscles start to ache and the weight of the dirt is ever heavy.  There is nothing to think about, there is nothing to write.  There is only the dig.

Community is a tough hole to dig.  The dirt I’ve been digging in has been staining my clothes and I never get to leave the work at work and go home.  Community IS home.  It is formed during our most vulnerable and messy moments.  I live with 5 other people in intentional community and after a hard, stressful day at work the work of community is just about to begin.  I wake up at 6am to do devotionals with my team and arrive back home after work at 6:30pm to find my team yet again.

I could describe what our interactions look like, but, frankly, that would be rather tiresome for you and me.  You already know what it looks like: the laughter, the tears, the anger, the yelling, the passive-aggressiveness, the bitterness, the joy, the celebration, et cetera.  Additionally, since we are being intentional about living in community, there is no sweeping under the rug in this house.  Conflict is brought out into the open and discussed, not just ignored.

What I think would be more beneficial for all parties present are the things I have pondered and the lessons I have been learning.  The lesson that comes first sounds simple: staying at the table.  But before I dive into that, I’m going to take a break.  If your attention span is like mine, you could use a break too.  So, I’ll give myself some time to think, write, and enjoy my day of rest, and I’ll come back most likely carrying more questions than answers.

To those who dig: may you dig deep.

January Newsletter

Hello Friends and Family!

I’m back in the City of Brotherly Love. Temperatures have finally begun to settle into the low 30s as my house and I begin the winter trimester of Mission Year.

Two weeks ago we all came back from our Christmas vacations. It was only a two-week break, but it gave me time to step back and reset. It was tough to spend almost four months away from my fiancé and family while I was here on the East Coast. This is a unique time in my life; I’m far away fully involved with life here in Philadelphia, yet I’m far away this year in order to come back as a more fully prepared man to serve in California. I have to be fully here, but I cannot neglect the relationships that I have back home.

Last trimester, my house spent a lot of time building and developing the foundations of community and friendship. However, this next chunk of Mission Year will bring new challenges. We will need to battle apathy and comfort to keep developing as a community.  It would be easy to stay comfortable with where currently are now.  We’re friends, we know people in our neighborhood, and we perform well at our service sites, but how will we push forward from here? What is God going to do with our house?

            God has brought me several glimmers of hope and life that promise to flower during the cold of this winter. One of the most promising moments occurred at the beginning of the month. A teenager from one of the families we know well on our block came to our house to escape a fight that was going on between his siblings. He saw our house as a place of refuge and safety. After that, he and his brothers have been coming to our house more often. We have spent time with them outside on Saturdays, but it is a very different experience for them to be in our house and seeing how we interact with each other in our home. We get to naturally share the love that dwells in our house.

            Please understand that the winter months can be the most difficult time of Mission Year. Seeds have been planted, but we now need to be patient and wait as we cultivate the relationships we have built. This is a time when we learn what it is like to do ministry once it has become mundane, part of everyday life. Please pray that I can find new life in my relationship with God. Pray that our house continues to develop.  Pray that we would continue to be diligent as we water the seeds we planted in the fall. We rely on your prayers.

My roommate Schuyler in the snow outside our house.

With Love,

Michael Mann

michaelmannfb@gmail.com

December Photocollage

After a short December in Philadelphia and a wonderful two week Christmas break at home, I am now back in Philly to begin the second third of Mission Year. I wanted to do something a little special, so I put together some pictures of my teammates and Logan Hope for you. I'm a very visual person, and sometimes things can be very abstract when I just read about them. The people you pray for and support here are real people just like me or you. We have people back home who still rely on us, we have really tough days alongside the good days, we are constantly learning new things, we try to get enough food and sleep, and we try to stay focused on the Lord throughout it all.

November Newsletter

Hello Friends and Family!

The end of November is approaching fast, so it is time for another update on life here in the City of Brotherly Love.  It’s difficult to get myself to sit down and write these newsletters.  Part of me thinks that because this looks like another paper to write I am drawn into the same procrastination I fought during my years and years of school, but another part of me thinks that it is genuinely a difficult task to condense this rich and complex experience into a page of words.  Or perhaps it is a little of both.  Either way, I pray that I might enrich and bless you with this newsletter.

At the beginning of this month, the three Philadelphia teams were led by Chris Lahr, a Mission Year staff member, through an experience called PROP (Paupers Right of Passage). 

We began Thursday evening with a documentary that followed the lives of several homeless individuals for a year called Homeless Home Movies.  There were about 5 people who were highlighted in the film.  An incredible amount of diversity in age, family status, difficulties, and outlook on life were portrayed.  After discussion and a simple dinner, we headed over to his church to spend the night there.  We woke up early in the morning, ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and were driven to Center City, the downtown area. 

The main section of PROP was our day in the city.  We had boundaries, no money, no electronics, and were challenged to panhandle for food money.  With the exception of an hour of required solitude, we had eight hours of unscheduled, unstructured time before we were to be picked up.  God showed me a lot during those eight hours.  Listlessness, boredom, frustration, happiness, hunger, anger, discovery, and realization: I felt and experienced all these things as I began to understand a small portion of life on the streets.

Two key ideas that I was thinking about while on the streets were power and privilege.  PROP was not just about the “homeless”.  Not having a home is only a symptom.  PROP is really about the marginalized.  Marginalize: to trivialize, isolate, cut off, shut out, disenfranchise, alienate, estrange, or discriminate against.  Many who spend their months and years on the streets have been cast away by society.  How do we humbly serve our fellow brothers and sisters whom society has marginalized?  Being in the position that day where I had nothing to give but myself was freeing.  I could establish real relationships with people I encountered.

It is encouraging to know there are people to read these newsletters and care about what I am experiencing and learning.  Thank you all for supporting me and keeping me in your prayers!

With Love,

Michael Mann

michaelmannfb@gmail.com

michaelinphilly.blogspot.com 

Books I’ve been reading this month:

The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen

Community and Growth by Jean Vanier

Divided by Faith by Michael Emerson

Flat Broke with Children by Sharon Hays

Exploring Church History by James P. Eckman

October Newsletter

Reedland Street: Our Block

October 2012

What brings you rest? It’s currently the morning of my Sabbath.  I’m sitting downstairs alone listening to the sounds of the rain outside.  Soon, I’ll be taking the trolley to Center City, our downtown area, to walk the busy metropolitan streets and eventually settle down for the afternoon in the main branch of the public library.  But right now, I reflect.  I reflect on the last month here in Philadelphia.

The 6 weeks of our technology fast is over.  Living without the use of our phones and computers has contributed greatly to the cohesion of our team.  Mission Year is a tough balance of being totally present here in Philadelphia, yet still staying connected to our friends and family back home.  We have taken a vow of dedication to this city and its people for this year.  In order for that to take root in each of us, we each needed a time to disconnect from the outside world in order to develop our love for the people here and embrace the simplicity of community living.

Moving out of our technology fast, my house began to create our team covenant.  This covenant is a list of expectations and commitments that will guide us through the rest of the year.  We covered topics including our alone time, our use of technology, and our relationships with neighbors.  We also established “check-ins”, a time every week where we will gather as a team and individually share where we are in our relationship with God, relationship with ourselves, and our relationships with others.

After a week and a half of long discussions, our team covenant was completed.  That Thursday night, the three Mission Year Philadelphia teams gathered together to eat a meal together and participate in a commissioning service.  We met in our city director’s church at night and ate in the basement where the Sunday services were held.  This church had taken over a beautiful, old, abandoned church building in the neighborhood.  After the meal, we climbed up into the old, abandoned church sanctuary with its huge, soaring stained glass windows.  It was lit by hundreds of small tea lights.  There was such an overwhelming beauty there in the crumbling, decrepit sanctuary.  We worshiped together, each team shared their covenants, team leaders washed and blessed the hands of their team, Mission Year alumni prayed over us and offered their wisdom, and finally we took communion with each other.  Throughout it all, the building that surrounding us provided a powerful metaphor of the transformative power of the Gospel, the work that God does to transform the broken and marginalized into something beautiful.

Thank you so much for keeping me in my prayers and supporting me.  The days are long and it is easy to grow weary, but God is working in and through me in this place.  Next month our house will be starting a fun fundraiser, so look forward to hearing more next month!

With Love,

Michael Mann

michaelmannfb@gmail.com

michaelinphilly.blogspot.com

Books I've been reading this month:

Restoring At-Risk Communities by John Perkins

Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Tatum

Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling by Mark R. McMinn

God Space by Doug Pollock

The Line

We just watched this video for our last city-wide gathering.  It gives a good picture of what poverty is beginning to look like in America.

September Newsletter

September 21^th, 2012

Greetings from Philadelphia!

My third week of Mission Year Philadelphia has come to a close.  It has been amazing how different the city appears to us now compared to our initial gut reactions.  We have found that Philadelphia is a wonderfully diverse city.  Just traveling from our home to the city center, we encounter a huge amount of ethnic and economic diversity.  The public transit system that first confused us is now becoming second nature.  The neighborhood that seemed so foreign feels so familiar.  Both our neighbors and our new church family have warmly welcomed us.  Our carpets may be a little sticky, but this house is rapidly becoming a home.  I’m going to like it here.

This month, I’ll only give you a brief introduction to my team, but I’ll give more thorough introductions throughout the year.  At the top left is Katelin.  Katelin is from Wisconsin and studied education and history in college.  She has a desire to be a teacher and is spending this year with Mission Year to learn how she can bring the Lord into whatever she does.  Next to her is Rachel.  Rachel is from North Carolina and spent last year in art school.  She has been journeying to find Christian community and God has finally led her here.  To the right of Katelin and Rachel are Ashley and Ashleigh.  Ashley, on the left, is from Texas and graduated high school last year.  She looks forward to discovering more about who she is as a woman of God.  Ashleigh comes to us from Virginia and spent the last several years working a 9 to 5 job after graduating college.  She’s searching for what else God could have in store for her.  To the left of me is my roommate Schuyler.  He is also from Texas and also just graduated from high school.  God has put a desire for community and service on his heart, so he is here to experience exactly that.  We are all here for similar reasons, but we are each different and bring something unique to our house.

We have completed two weeks of training in preparation for the year and have begun working at our service sites.  The days have been long and the weeks are packed.  In two weeks we had a crash course in topics including community, conflict management, multiculturalism, and the city transit system.  This last week I began work at Logan Hope, a kindergarten through 8^th grade Christian school.  I will soon begin teaching art to the kids.  The school is a wonderful place full of chaos and joy.  The teachers genuinely care about their students and provide them with quality education.  I’m eagerly anticipating what God will be teaching me through these students and teachers.

As I bring this newsletter to a close, I want to point you to the blog I’ve set up for this year.  It is located at http://michaelinphilly.blogspot.com/.  We are continuing our technology fast for several more weeks so my computer time is very limited, but look forward to hear more about what I’ve been learning and experiencing.