"Green" Code

The city of Buffalo is currently going though it's first rewrite of it's zoning code in 60 years.  It has titled the new code it's developing, the "Green Code".  However, as we've gone through the process of its development, I've been left wondering what color this code really is...

Is it Mayor Brown's "Brown" Code, because of it's failure to really include innovative opportunities for greening a city filled with brown fields?

Or is it the "White" Code, because it is being shaped primarily by input from affluent white folks (in a minority majority city, nonetheless)?

Either way we want to let city hall know that they have to work harder to address these issues.  Last week we sent out a flyer to folks throughout the community to make sure the land use plan for the West Side neighborhood took into consideration the unique people of the West Side, and the unique opportunities the neighborhood represents.  We called for three basic things:

• Food Production: In cities where many of the West Side's immigrants came from, food production is an integral part of the "urban fabric".  Also many of these immigrants are looking to supplement their income by selling food, so safe commercial production of produce, poultry, and fish needs to be allowed.
• Pocket Parks: Parents lament over and over about the lack of playgrounds on the West Side (not one exists on the Upper West Side - not even at schools!)  Kids play in the streets, and we need the city to identify vacant lots (that it already owns!) to build safe play spaces for people to stay active in.
• Air & Water Quality: The smells from the sewage treatment plant, and diesel fumes from I-190 & the Peace Bridge are something the neighbors are sick off, literally (45% of West Side residents suffer from asthma).  Environmental buffers to prevent sewage from reaching our waterways and clean the air around our highways need to be established.

Many responded to the flyer and flooded the inboxes of city planners!  So far city hall has been responsive.  The lead planner for the West Side has promised to include these economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable initiatives in their plan, and the city's senior planner has contacted our church about getting more input from the community. 

The reason for the lack of input from refugees, the poor, and disenfranchised on the West Side are many and complex.  But we feel called, as people who do have the ear of city hall, to advocate for those that don't.  Our neighbors contribute so much to the West Side neighborhood that makes it a unique and exciting place to live, the least we can contribute is our voice and efforts to protect that.  

May we all contribute what we can to make our communities places worth protecting!

Baptism

I've heard Dallas Willard say, "You can get them wet any way you like, it's about immersing them in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

Our recent travels have caused us to missed all of the neighborhood barbeques in August. Fortunately we made it back for the last one of the month. On the last Friday of the month we move the barbeque from the church to a corner on Grant St. (the heart of the West Side's business district), right across from the church's men's discipleship house. The music team plays worship music while we eat good food, share with each other, and invite others in from the neighborhood.

This Friday we also added the baptism of one of the guys living in the men's discipleship house. Four of his six housemates stood by to get him wet, but everyday Eddie lives immersed in a community of disciples that are seeking the Father's heart, learning from Jesus, and living the life of the Holy Spirit. None of them are doing it perfectly, and there's plenty of conflict and learning hard lessons taking place. But this is what it means to be baptized into the life of Christ.

We too have been blessed to be immersed in community with so many disciples of Jesus, especially the Schenks who live right downstairs. Again we don't do it perfectly; sometimes we run and hide in our apartment, sometimes there's hurt feelings and misunderstandings, sometimes there's harsh words. But there's also parenting together, which teaches me so much about the Father's love. There's long talks around the dinner table, where we ask hard questions and learn together what it means to live like Christ. There's moments of forgiveness, where the Spirit binds us closer in unity.

It has been these things that I have missed most about being away from home, and it is these things that I hope to experience more and more in the months ahead. May we all be immersed in a community that is loving with the Father's heart, learning from Jesus, and alive with the Holy Spirit!

"Community" Garden

El jardinero (the gardener) is what the neighbors around the church know me as, and working in the community garden has given me fun opportunities to begin building relationships with them.

The neighborhood kids that worked hard helping us create the garden are now enjoying the fruits of the harvest. I've gotten Hector (the young guy on the left) hooked on pesto, but only after double-dog daring him to try it for the first time! The little veggie stand we put out at weekly BBQ's offers neighbors healthy local food choices. A real need in a neighborhood where a good deal of grocery shopping takes place at corner stores - not usually known for having extensive produce sections.

Another real need in the neighborhood is jobs, and training in job skills for the youth. A dream of mine would be to employ a few neighborhood teens by helping them run a small farm stand, or microbusiness selling produce to local restaurants. Today we took a small step towards that goal, as teens employed by the city's summer youth employment program, most of them from refugee families, worked harvesting veggies and turning the compost pile.

The garden project is also adding a splash of beauty to the neighborhood. Kids in the after school program created a mural with the help of local mural artist, Cornelia Dohse-Peck. Then last week, a youth group from Rochester helped install a native-plant garden in front of the church building. Small things like this can send a powerful message about the value of our urban neighborhoods.

I still have a lot to understand about the real needs of our community, and even more to learn about what it takes to meet those needs. But it has been a blessing to see the garden project begin to bless others in the neighborhood.

May we all be blessed with a chance to grow relationships that cause us to grow.

A Letter from a Crack in the Sidewalk

To Fellow Weeds & Seeds:

Grace and peace to you from God, the Gardener.

So here we are in Buffalo. What a trip it’s been to get here. Some of us came in on peoples’ shoes, others drifted in on the wind, and others even came through birds’ digestive systems; but what a blessing we've landed here in this crack in the concrete! There isn’t much soil, but there’s enough, and these seeds are beginning to grow. We may never be that stately maple growing across the street, but we have in our DNA what it takes to keep on growing, and keep spreading; keep cracking this concrete, and surviving being stepped-on and cut-back.

Kingdom come is coming, in small yet invasive ways... like weeds, sprouting in the cracks, growing in the empty lots, and shooting up in the midst of the ruins of the empire. What a blessing it is to be a part of this.

Feel free to follow along with us here, and in your prayers as well.

May God rain down blessings on you and bring growth in grace!