The Renew Project

Oakland, Oscar Grant and Prophetic Dissonance

John O'Hara — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:08:44 +0000

I spent a few hours this afternoon crafting the RE:NEW project semi-monthly newsletter, and just as I was getting ready to send it out my twitter feed started lighting up with news about the impending verdict in the Johannes Mesherle trial. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year and a half since the tragic shooting death of Oscar Grant, while in handcuffs, at the hands of a BART police officer.

At the moment of this writing, the community’s response has largely been peaceful and restrained. Many are disappointed in the verdict of involuntary manslaughter, believing that it was a failure on the part of the justice system. Regardless of whether it’s right to do so, this trial and the subsequent verdict have quickly become a referendum on the American justice system and its’ relationship with the African American community, specifically young black men.

I’m not prepared to issue a statement favoring either side of the debate. I don’t know the evidence in this specific incident, and I can’t get inside the head of Mesherle or the jurors to know what really happened leading up to this moment. I do, however, wish to state what I believe will always be the case when a people is faced with moments of historical consequence: that our response is very much a part of the event to which we are responding, and that a prayerful, prophetic dedication to peace for all will pierce the darkness of injustice far more effectively than angry reactions ever could.

This unique kind of resistance – the nonviolent activism championed by Dr. King and Gandhi – will always be the best response because it powerfully shines a light on the futility of violence. It is a beautiful, prophetic dissonance – a peculiar, strange chord that plays like a genius jazz riff against the ugly and monotonous drumbeat of war.

Do you want to make a difference? Take a stand for justice? Turn the other cheek. Fight injustice with love. Speak the truth with tenderness and conviction. Love your enemies and pray for the people who refuse you justice.

Pray for the peace of Oakland. Pray for justice.

May News: “We Need You More Than Ever.”

John O'Hara — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:10:55 +0000

Hi everyone, we realize it’s been very quiet over the last several weeks! Follow the link to find out why, and read our most recent update from The Renew Project. You’ll be glad you did! RENEW May 2010 Newsletter

Punk’d By God

John O'Hara — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:44:55 +0000

I should begin with an April Fool’s disclaimer: this is a true story.

Years ago, before I became an idealistic, slightly confused adrenaline-seeking spiritual artist, I was an idealistic, slightly confused adrenaline-seeking teenager. A very generous portion of my teen experience was immersed in what is known in the evangelical church world as a “drama team,” an evangelistic band of willing cohorts who, with passionate choreography and accurate lip-synching to popular Christian music, sort-of-danced the message of the church into the hearts and souls of whomever might have happened to be at the park where we were scheduled for an outreach on a particular Saturday afternoon.

One night at our weekly practice, our team leader, Chip, entered the room with a wild look in his eyes. We were getting ready to perform for our home church, a tough crowd that had already seen most of our material. We needed something fresh, something unpredictable. What we needed was a show stopper, and Chip had the goods.

Chip’s plan was as simple as it was brilliant: instead of simply announcing the team and doing our thing, we would interrupt the service, running in and yelling at the top of our lungs, wearing ski masks and brandishing (very authentic-looking) air rifles and pistols, and stage a hostile armed takeover of the church service.

This all seemed like a very good idea, from discreetly purchasing the air rifles, to our secret practices, all the way to the moment we entered the room to hijack the church. It wasn’t until a very large, off-duty police officer jumped out of his seat and began to reach for his service weapon, that we began to retrace our steps and wonder, should we have warned someone we were doing this? Maybe told the pastor? Have some kind of safe word?

Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and we survived to tell the story. I learned a hard lesson that night: religious services are not the place to conduct elaborate pranks. However.

However… I’ve been reading the parables of Jesus with fresh eyes lately, and have been surprised at the playful way he turns narrow-hearted religiosity on its’ head to surprise us with a wide-angle lens of love and grace. Try as we might to reduce Jesus’ stories into comfortable little morality plays that fit into three-point sermons on self-improvement, he skillfully and unremittingly weaves tales that scandalize religious moralism: from the Good Samaritan (social outcast who showed loving concern where the priest and pastor did not), to the Prodigal Son (law-abiding older brother is outraged at a father’s overt celebration of his wayward younger brother’s return home), to the Shrewd Manager (guy gets fired and risks everything on his ex-boss’s reputation for generosity by winning allies at his boss’s expense), it’s not surprising to me in the least that while Jesus’ life and teaching were unappealing at best to the religious elite, he was warmly accepted by the misfits, punks and outcasts of his day.

Maybe Jesus is less Pope and more Ashton Kutcher.

What does it mean to follow Jesus and make disciples? As I spend less and less time in the church container, I’m discovering how faith and religion are strange bedfellows. The work of religion is to protect and sanction the ways we approach God, talk about God, and interact with God. This is important, because it provides a rhythm for us to dance with the divine amidst the chaos of life. On the other hand, religion also inoculates us from the surprise twists, unexpected lessons and paradigm-shattering paradoxes that so often characterize a life of faith. Faith teaches us that God exists where religion fears to tread, that beauty and grace are unfolding outside the programs we care for so dearly, and that we are still young on the journey toward love. This is important, because it provides a musicality for us to dance to the hidden rhythms of love in what seem like the chaotic drumbeats of life. The art of following Jesus is found in learning to dance between these two worlds.

Wounded Healers

John O'Hara — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:10:03 +0000

The call came out of the blue. An old friend whom I hadn’t seen in years wanted to meet up with me to talk about our new experiment in grassroots Jesus-discipleship. We met in Temescal, on Telegraph Avenue – ground zero, the neighborhood we hope to move our family into and begin the life-rhythms that will eventually become the substance of our spiritual work: cultivating families, food, work and play together. My friend already knew the neighborhood – it was the space between two medical facilities he was scheduled to visit.

We caught up on each others’ lives while standing in line for our food. We talked about our families, our health, our mixed-bag experiences from our years of leadership in the local church. We are both, in one sense or another, on hiatus from formal pastoral ministry, and yet we both feel very much in-tune with a sense that God is up to something big, bold and beautiful in our time and place.

We sat down at a makeshift table out on the sidewalk, an ironing board that has become a local calling card of this particular neighborhood bakery. Just then, an employee came out with a tray loaded down with samples of pumpkin pie and handed us each a slice. “This place is like that,” I said. ”you can’t even walk by without being fed.” I think it struck both of us as a kind of parable. Rain had begun to fall lightly, and I was reminded of the profound reality of God’s love. Here I was, walking through the story with an old friend and covering all the familiar themes of crisis and faith, heartbreak and comfort, betrayal and trust. At the risk of sounding trite and pastoral, I felt very much like Christ was a third party in our conversation as we sought to encourage each other to keep the faith even as ours were, respectively, being put to the test. After all, Jesus chose vulnerability and accessibility and, according to the timeless poetry of that Pauline epistle,

“Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”

The day after our meeting I sat at work and typed this thought into my phone:

“We invite Jesus to touch our wounds. Jesus invites us to touch his wounds. What a fascinating relationship.”

That meeting could not have happened the way it did if either of us held the unassailable position of “pastor.” Somehow, the timing was just right for both of us to be equally human, equally damaged, and equally present to each other.

This month, as we celebrate resurrection stories, I’m struck by the magic of Jesus’ life and teaching. Too often, in our well-meaning efforts to do right by God, we miss the essence of what makes Jesus uniquely attractive. Where we are often preoccupied with being successful, Jesus is simply occupied with us, present with us, inviting us to touch his wounds and share his humanness. Taking his lead, we open ourselves up to the love of God, the possibility of reconciliation, and the hope of living more fully and harmoniously.

The Renew Project is an experiment in living the creative mission of God for our world. We want to discover and embrace the miracle of ordinary life, and cultivate a spiritual theology of family, food, work and play. If you’re local to the Bay Area or would like to consult with us about your context, get in touch with us: http://www.therenewproject.org.

ECHO: partnership event

John O'Hara — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:25:14 +0000

The Renew Project is proud to sponsor ECHO, a poetic theatrical performance on the subject of human sex trafficking written and directed by Regina Evans.

WHERE:

Central Works Theater, Berkeley, Ca (Berkeley City Club), 2315 Durant Ave (between Dana And Ellsworth)

WHEN:

Saturday, April 10, 2010, at 8pm.

TICKETS:

$10* in advance or at the door. Ticket sales begin February 20.

Share this event on Facebook

* 50 percent of event proceeds to Dreamcatchers Runaway/Homeless Youth Service and M.I.S.S.S.E.Y.

Playing With Labels

John O'Hara — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:05:29 +0000

I was walking down the canned vegetable aisle at my local grocery a few nights ago, looking for crushed tomatoes when a rather juvenile and mischievous thought entered my mind: the idea for an epic prank. WHAT IF, I wondered, some anarchist-types descended on this very aisle and began systematically removing every label from every can, then piled them into a massive heap of ambiguous metallic cylinders? It would create quite a headache for somebody like me who depends on labels to make sure I’m picking up crushed tomatoes instead of kidney beans, not to mention the financial loss the store would have to take. Those flimsy, glued-on colorful paper wrappers are just as important as the content – assuming, of course, that the two match up.

The labels we use for people and institutions are far more tricky a proposition. Since the Good Lord didn’t see fit to equip us with metaphysical can openers to pry into the deep recesses of each others’ souls, we rely on perception – and perception tends to be far less reliable than a can opener. We wear lenses that skew reality with the shape of our prejudices, insecurities and personal histories. It’s very difficult, especially in today’s world of 140-character reporting and 30-second sound bytes, to dwell with another person beyond the surface noises and get a clear picture of what might reside within. Yet even with an intimate portrait of another human being, the reality is that we remain mysteries to each other and to ourselves. So we resort to labeling, which serves a functional necessity but should carry its’ own warning: DO NOT TRUST THIS LABEL.

Jesus certainly didn’t trust the labels his society placed on the people with whom he came into contact. Words like leper, tax collector, adulterer, even nice labels like “good teacher” or “rich young ruler” didn’t blind him to something deeper and more resonant – their very humanity, the substance of their being as children of God. Jesus was able to look upon people with total compassion because he looked past the label and into the soul.

In the last several months, I have personally gone through some drastic re-labeling. Once a member of the professional clergy, the paper was removed and several colorful combinations have taken its’ place: graphic artist, entrepreneur, theologian, networker, activist, author, and yes, even barista. The process has taught me the fragility and temporality of these labels – they belong to consumers of our identity. This season has also taught me to cultivate a deeper awareness of the true stuff of who I am, behind the label and under the lid.

For the Renew Project, there has likely been some head-scratching and speculation about what we are to become in the coming months and years. Some are at the ready with paper and glue, ready to label us. Whether we are an Organic Church, or a society of disgruntled Gen-X deconstructionist postmoderns, or New Age, or Missional or Apostate is anyone’s guess, and each will likely carry some water to one extent or another. What’s important to remember is the nature of labels, their basic limitations, and the importance of following Jesus in the art of seeing beyond them as we begin to take shape and become aware of ourselves, each other and the Spirit at work among us.

#in6words (Renewoakland is on Twitter)

John O'Hara — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:42:41 +0000

The Renew Project is now on Twitter (are you following us yet?), and we’re celebrating with an experiment… or “twixperiment,” if you will.

Inspired by Smith Magazine and their Six-Word Memoir, The Renew Project is making our January event an online collaboration in short-form literature.

The theme is renewal: autobiographical or observed, fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose… take it wherever you wish, as long as it is exactly six words. Just login to your twitter account and post your Renewal Story, mentioning @renewoakland and using the tag #in6words.

Check our website often for re-posts of some of our favorites. Our desire is that this experiment collects a beautifully diverse expression of newness and hope, a sign in winter that spring is sure to come!

Make Something! Parties a Big Hit

John O'Hara — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:57:35 +0000

“I like what you’re doing here — I like what you’re about.”

I heard this a few times last weekend, as we kicked off our Make Something! Parties in Castro Valley and Oakland. Standing around a cluttered table and surrounded by the festive music of this season, we sewed folio pages into journals, glued scraps of paper to box lids, and painted our way toward Christmas Day. For me, our December Make Something! Parties were an opportunity to “show and tell” what The Renew Project is about; a preview of things to come for our friends and family who have been curious, but not quite sure, what we’re dreaming about.

Even though many of us are motivated by the practical need to find affordable alternatives for Christmas gifts (and at $3-5 per gift, we have that going on), the most valuable dimension of this workshop is that it ramps up our imaginations about being more creative and resourceful with our lives. In the Advent Story, our Creator brings something supernatural – the Messiah, teh Son of God – but he does it through a very human process (just ask Mary). So a big part of our renewal experience is getting back in touch with what’s human in our spiritual journey. In other words, by not just grabbing something mass-produced off a store shelf and wrapping it in a pretty bow, we are engaging something spiritual: the act of making something that reflects our personality, our concern, and our love.

We had our own party in Castro Valley last Saturday, which saw participation from 15 people; then we joined Christ Church in Rockridge for a Project Peace Make Something Party the following day. In case you missed the first two, we have one more happening in Oakland next Saturday, December 12. RSVP to Serena and get directions via e-mail. Come and tap into your creative potential, and get a new sense of what we’re up to with The Renew Project.

Experiments in Advent

John O'Hara — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:30:11 +0000

For many of us, Advent is a vaguely familiar tradition – something we do in the context of a church worship service to offset the craziness of an otherwise completely secular holiday, a gentle reminder that the tree and the presents and the shopping are loosely based on the story of Jesus.

This Advent season, we want to try focusing more intentionally on preparing our entire beings for the arrival of Messiah. We’re doing this through what I’m calling “Experiments in Advent,” activities that engage our thinking, planning and doing; and hopefully lead us to a posture of anticipation. We invite you to join us:

Saturday, November 28: MONOTATION – Details online at http://therenewproject.org/2009/11/24/monotation/.

Sunday, December 6: Make Something Party – Details online at http://therenewproject.org/2009/11/05/december-make-something-parties/

Do Something Different This SATURDAY (date change).

John O'Hara — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:24:40 +0000

The season is upon us, and many are searching for a meaningful alternative to the shop-till-you-drop frenzy of ~~Black Friday~~Advent.

Come and create your own MONOTATION this ~~Friday, November 27~~SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28 at 10 am in Oakland’s Temescal District, at a live Ustream simulcast led by Spencer Burke.

Whether your camera is a cellphone, pocket, digital or professional SLR, bring it along with you to this 2 hour hands on workshop – learn by doing.

Spencer will kick off our time with a quick overview and vision for MONOTATION. Then we’ll walk the neighborhood ~~with Spencer available for feedback~~(I’ll be available for feedback, pointing out possible images to capture). Then the group can share, learn and collaborate with each other on the word they may use for their MONOTATION.

This could be a great way to set the pace/focus for the holiday season and meet some creative people.

WHEN: Friday, November 27, 2009 10am – 12pm

WHERE: Meet at Pizzaiolo, 5008 Telegraph Ave., Oakland

COST: Free.

RSVP with John at jfohara@gmail.com or (510) 499-8218.