Foti

Some of you may remember Foti, my Greek neighbor, the guy I got in a heated debate with. The debate was roughly about the existence of God, whether or not the “whole idea” of Christianity is ridiculous. We spent close to a year eye-balling each other as I passed his house, getting a little closer when the church helped Big Doug when his house burned down, and finally getting invited to Foti’s son’s birthday party this summer.

Well, Rebecca, Foti’s wife, came to last week’s community dinner. She mentioned that Foti is a little shy around crowds of people he doesn’t know, but that he really does want to come one day.

The day after (Friday), I stop by the house and Foti is there. We get to talking a little bit. I can’t really go into all he said, but he really opened up. It was an amazing conversation. I think if you said, “There’s an atheist who really can’t stand pastors and church,” you would not think we’d be friends. Foti says he appreciates that I could listen to him and then “fight back.” He is hungry for what he called “real conversation.” Amen. It’s good to have an argument, some deep thing to discuss over coffee or Indian tea.

So we’ll see where it goes.

Oh, there’s this. Rebecca is from India. A few weeks ago, Jessica introduced us to a friend of hers from India, Kulo. He has a powerful ministry in the villages of a state in India. John keeps his brochure in the car and reads it whenever we go somewhere. He went out to the car, got it and showed it to Rebecca, telling her about Kulo and letting people know about Jesus. Melissa said that when she prayed for John before he was born, she kept sensing that she would “lose” him to the mission field. I think back to the time we were in Las Vegas and John wanted to know if the people there knew Jesus, and maybe “we should go to places and tell them about Jesus.”

Assignment

Go to the space on your right, where I've linked some blogs. Click on Lew Ross. Read his post "Knother Knee Jerk" Scroll down a bit when you get to his blog.

We were separated at birth.

Great Quote, Random Note

Carlotta got kicked out of Tai Chi classes.

"Restraint is overrated." -- John Gallaher

Community Dinner

I always look forward to Thursday nights… it’s when we have our community dinner on Highland Park Drive. It’s a time I can’t quite describe. In a lot of ways it brings together what I am striving for here: Christians who will move in and connect with their neighbors, and be in each others’ lives; opening up houses to hospitality; reading Scripture together; praying together; doing evangelism by close living with people who don’t know Jesus; and getting together for the joy of it.

Luckily, we have not only ours, but 12^th Street’s dinner as well. I was mentioning a few days ago how good it is for the boys. It was after an encouraging walk with Peter White that I thought why wouldn’t I want my boys to grow up around Peter and Jackie? Or any of the folks who are a part of our lives here?

The process is kind of amorphous right now; I wish I could map out how it will work/is working. It’s a growth in relationships that is precious to me.

Last Thursday night, 2 folks from the neighborhood came, and a third guy showed up as we were leaving. Magilla had a Tupperware of chili she was taking home, and she gave it to him. It was a big step for him to show up. Slowly but surely, the neighborhood will see that we mean business, that the strange group of people who meet at my house mean it when they ask you to come eat with them… There are moments when it feels like we should take communion, and we would not really need the anamnesis (the ritual of remembering) because Jesus is with us, and we remember Him in our faces and voices.

Reading Mark

A few weeks ago, Jessica and I were talking about a professor at the seminary, Dr. Dongell, a guy we both really like. She took a class from him that I took, a study on the Gospel of Mark. We had it some years apart, and he still starts it off the same way: by having you read the gospel out loud. We both remarked how much we liked the assignment, and then at about the same time said, “Wouldn’t it be neat if we read it out loud with a group of people?” The assignment was to do it by yourself, to hear it. But we began wondering what would happen to a group of people if we were formed by the Word? Our goal was simply to listen. Not to have anything to say.

So Saturday, we did it. We cooked breakfast Saturday morning and then we read Mark. It was good to have some fellowship in the kitchen and around the table, and then to read. It was me, Jessica, Meg, Christy, and Christopher. It was wonderful to hear each other’s voices. It was wonderful to read through the gospel without stopping, to catch its immediacy, its entirety.

It took about an hour and a half to read it. But it felt (at least to me) like it went fast.

I had a couple of “feelings” during the reading. Somewhere around chapter 6, I was captivated by the sense of “I believe this?” “I believe this?” Finally, “I believe this!”

When Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray Him, He immediately broke the bread, taught them that it was His body and gave it to them. I thought, “He has just spoken of being betrayed and then He just gives Himself away. I betrayed Him, and yet He has given Himself to me.” It was one of the most powerful moments I have had in a long time.

At first, Christy knew she had a lot of studying to do, and thought she would not stay for it all. But she could not let it go. Christopher is a boy who is going through a rough time, and I was very proud that he could sit through it. When we were done Meg said she was not leaving until I told her when we were going to do it again.