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.