SWB: Speaking into reality

Image from www.hbci.com
In my elementary school office, the secretary had a poster on the wall that said something like this,

"Garbage in, garbage out - I'm not a garbage dump so don't leave your rubbish here!"

Above these words was a drawing of a cherubic boy with rumpled hair, big ears, a tattered t-shirt, mo shoes and hand me down overalls. The secretary's poster was a reminder to all that children were important and the way they should be treated and spoken too as treasure, not trash. If people are treated like trash, then they will often reproduce what they are provided. Apparently, by hanging this poster the secretary was doing her best to develop and environment of treasure-seeking.


The voices that we've heard our whole lives have a way of molding and directing our paths. I attended a session at Princeton Seminary last Wednesday at the Youth Ministry Institute called, "From voices to vision." In this class, we addressed the different voices that have built into who we are. The instructor, Gregory C. Ellison II, emphasized the importance of being in and with community when facing these compositional voices. Isolation is not the place to try to face and deal with repeated messages that have or can be part of the foundational structure of who we are. While some of the voices in our lives are affirming, like that of my elementary school secretary, some are "gremlin" like and are only to be dealt with via a team approach. Don't allow yourself to try and deal with such things flying solo. A team approach helps to provide more perspective and support and bypasses the trap of this kind of soul-searching in isolation.

Image from blog: Triangulations.

Sleeping with bread is a place for our "team" to share the challenge and the joy, the loss and the gains, the gremlin speak and the supportive school secretary voices of our lives. As we look to face all the voices together, we come to a place of greater clarity and vision for the future - by the grace of God and with the support of community.

As you share your bread this week in the things you leave with God and the things God gives you to hold on too, know that here in this space we can address the past, asses the present and speak into the future a reality woven with faith, hope and love.

We will do this together, as a community, and as a team.
We will bake the bread of wholeness to foster an environment filled with treasure - just waiting to be discovered.
We will sleep and live with bread.