First Newsletter From Minneapolis
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Greetings from the Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis!
I hope you are enjoying
the crispness in the air and the changing of the leaves as fall quickly comes upon us, only to leave in a few short weeks! Now that I am finished with the cycle of school years (I graduated from Wheaton College last May), it is up to the changing of the winds and the trees to make me feel like the earth is still rotating and life is still moving. So why am I experiencing fall in Minneapolis, MN and not in Yakima, WA?
Here is the short answer: many of you will remember that I spent three months last summer in San Francisco interning with InnerCHANGE, a Christian order among the poor. That incredible experience opened my eyes to God’s special concern for the poor and the joy of working among people on the margins. In the middle of September, a last-minute opportunity came up for me to join InnerCHANGE for a year-long apprenticeship with them in inner-city Minneapolis. I felt that it would be a great fit for me and a place where I could recieve spiritual formation while actively living the gospel among a people who are in desperate need of good news.
What will I be doing?
In a phrase: house-church planting. I will be working alongside long-time church planters to establish appropriate expressions of the church among the urban Ojibwe Native American community. The Ojibwe make up almost all of the Native population in Phillips neighborhood and have historically had an antagonistic attitude toward Christians (sadly, for good reasons). My primary goal throughout this year is to be a friend and a learner - to learn about Ojibwe culture, spirituality, and to hear their stories. As our stories and lives become intertwined, my hope is that the power and presence of Jesus in my life will be apparent. I hope to find “persons of peace” among them whom God has already been at work in to be open to the gospel. From this group of people, by God’s grace, we hope to start a gathering of believers to bring the kingdom of heaven to fruition.
To become a genuine friend and learner requires that I first become a neighbor, so I intend to rent an apartment in an area of Phillips where I can have day-to-day interactions with the Ojibwe, as well as the numerous Mexican and Somali immigrants in the area. Secondly, I hope to find a part-time job nearby that will give me more chances to connect with people and possibly give me another way to enter the community.
Why are the urban 
poor such a big deal for InnerCHANGE? We don’t have a choice whether or not to love our neighbor; Jesus made that clear. But we do have the choice every day whom to make our neighbor, and there’s the rub. If Jesus had asked the Levite and the Priest who walked by the wounded man on the road to Jericho if they had loved their neighbor, at the end of the day I think they would have said yes. They simply did not see him; or if they did, their daily routes made sure he would not be in neighborly proximity to bother with - the “other side of the road” excuse. That is the point upon which the whole parable turns - the Samaritan made the choice to make his neighbor that person who was in the most need, when that person was actually the farthest in natural proximity from him! This is the choice Jesus commends. As religious people, we can attempt to follow the whole law by loving those in social proximity to us, but that is not enough, - and that is not what Jesus is teaching in the parable. He told it to answer the question “who is my neighbor?” And after telling the parable, he gave another command: “Go and do likewise.” This move to the Phillips Neighborhood with InnerCHANGE is my best attempt at obeying it.
Walk with Me! 
The kindgom of heaven grows by faith, and faith is acted out in prayer. Pray for me at any time, but if you would like to commit to pray regularly for me, I will be posting stories, photos, updates, and prayer requests weekly on my blog (the link is listed on letterhead). This purposeful lifestyle to plant a house church only allows me to work part time, and that cannot cover my living expenses. If you would like to help support my work financially, please visit my personal CRM donor site to support online, or e-mail me and I will post mail you the necessaries. If you would like more information about me, InnerCHANGE, or a free new DVD that highlights InnerCHANGE’s unique life among the poor, please contact me and I’ll get it to you soon.
Peace,
Benjamin
He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Posted by Benjamin Washam 12:34 AM 2 comments
Labels: Minneapolis
ATTACK OF THE AGENCIES!!!! or, I Still Need A Kitchen Table
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
I've been in Minneapolis 4 days now, and I feel like I've already met 3000 people in the semi-underground Christian ministry/aid/relief/outreach/community develpoment network. There are more non-profit, federal beaurea, government funding, community center and religous "service" agencies in this neighborhood than I can remember. I am very grateful to them for the incredible resources they offer this neighborhood, but I am also thankful that an order like InnerCHANGE is also here - to walk street-level among these people as they navigate their way through agencies and programs and life.
Right now I'm still hovering it seems - being hosted by a local Christian couple until I am able to land. I have been blessed by being warmly welcomed into the family of faith here by people who hardly know me, but are opening up their lives to me. This is what I am experiencing, and this is what I want to offer to my neighbors here - not a tract, nor a finger to the nearest agency, but a life poured out and an open invitation to them to enter into it. This is where charity moves from the soup kitchen to the kitchen table at home.
And I am in need of a kitchen table and a home.
Please pray that I would find an apartment or a room in a house to live in - preferably cheap acomodations with a room/house-mate to keep me company, and in a location where God would allow many fruitful interactions with Ojibwe Native American neighbors. (This is the tribe we hope to start a gathering of believers in, aka "churchplant") Secondly, I am in search of a part-time job that will help my validity in the neighborhood, give me more contacts, and allow me to eat.
Lord, I believe; now help my unbelief.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 12:05 AM 2 comments
Labels: Minneapolis
Retracing My Steps/Tire Tracks
Friday, October 06, 2006
As many of you know, I road tripped back to Yakima, WA from Chicago last May after graduation. (You can read about this previous trip by visiting the "May 2006 Archives" link on the right side of this page.) That was an incredible adventure where I met many new friends that I guessed I would probably never see again.
But, as things go, I found myself retracing the same exact road only four months later, with all my worldy possessions still packed in the back of my Jeep. My last trip was one of sorrow as I left my Wheaton experience behind and went home to the familiar hometown. This time, I am filled with excitement and expectation as I head off for a brand new start, in a city and among a people I know little to nothing about - the Phillips of Minneapolis.
I stayed with the exact same people as last time, revisiting the Lockie's in Bozeman, MT and meeting up again with my friend Lili (who showed me the town last time I was there); and seeing Charlie again in Rapid City, SD (Where, again, he took my jeep into his shop and fixed whatever he could find wrong with it, this time re-welding my driver side door back on!).
Late last night I made it into Minneapolis and was directed to the hospitality of Dan and Lucy Olsen's place where I slept well. More to come soon!
Posted by Benjamin Washam 12:42 PM 4 comments
Labels: Minneapolis
I'm Off To Minnesota!?!?
Monday, September 25, 2006
Many of you will remember that I interned with InnerCHANGE, a Christian order among the poor, last summer in San Francisco. That incredible experience was the original reason I started this blog, and if you scroll far down the page you can read about that time in my life. This year I will be an apprentice with their team in the Phillips Neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN!
What Will Benjamin Be Doing?
In a phrase: house-church planting. I will be mentored and trained by long-term church planters as I work alongside them to establish appropriate expressions of the church among the urban poor. That includes finding a place to live and (hopefully!) a part-time job in the community.
Who Is InnerCHANGE?
Good question. They are not a missions board, denomination, church, or corporation. They are an order, a community built on shared commitments and lifestyles, such as the Benedictines and Franciscans of old. In their own words: "We are communities of missionaries living in poor, marginalized neighborhoods around the world; places most people want to avoid or ignore. We seek to live out the good news of Jesus among the poor, both with words and deeds."
It's a beautiful thing - please check out their great new website!
Why Minneapolis?
I have always been curious/interested/passionate about church planting - and Minneapolis is the only US based InnerCHANGE team doing it. Besides that, God seems to have orchestrated things so that I am going to be a very good fit and complement to the team already in that city.
"The Minneapolis team was established in 1995 in collaboration with mission-minded Bethlehem Baptist Church. We are incarnationally anchored in the "Zone," an area in the Phillips Neighborhood, which is the largest, most diverse, and most impoverished neighborhood in Minneapolis. Our friends and neighbors include Native Americans (Phillips has the highest concentration of Native Americans in an urban neighborhood in the US.), Hispanics, African Americans and Africans among many other people groups."
-From the InnerCHANGE Minneapolis Team Website
Why?
This will no doubt come as a shock to many of you who expected me to be returning indefinitely to Yakima, WA after my month of travel. Believe me, I was expecting the same and it threw me for a loop too! My intent from the very beginning of my travels was that if I came upon any opportunity, I would pursue it and pray for God to guide me in it. 5 days before I was scheduled to be back in Yakima, I ran across the InnerCHANGE website and saw that their apprenticeship orientation was starting in just over a week - I had a chance! I realized that the application deadline was technically May 1st, but I called anyway. To make a long story short, because the InnerCHANGE people knew me so well from last summer, they gave it a shot and found a great fit for me on the Minneapolis team. After speaking with the team leader on location in Minneapolis, I decided it was a good choice and went for it.
What Can I Do?
Pray and ask God what He is requiring of you. (Consult Micah chapter 6) Look around: who around you is invisible to everyone else? What "least of these" has fallen through the cracks? Ask God what you can learn from that person, and how you can begin a relationship with him or her.
Please pray for me! I will be continually updating this blog with stories, prayer requests, and pictures. You can also subscribe to this blog and receive an e-mail notification every time I update this. Enter you e-mail in the Blogarithm box under my picture at the top right of this page.
Live by faith; listen and obey.
What Next?
All the details are still being worked out, but I will be flying to San Francisco on Wednesday for orientation with new apprentices from all over the country. October 2 I will land back in Seattle to drive my Jeep loaded with precious few possessions 1578 miles to Minneapolis.
Woohoo!!!! God is good.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 4:49 PM 1 comments
Labels: Minneapolis
What Am I Supposed to Do?
Monday, September 18, 2006
Have you ever felt absolutley lost in the world, as if you could disappear and no one would notice? That's close to what I am feeling.
Right now I am living with my brother Nathanael in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I am sleeping on a couch, living off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Ramen noodles. Every day I go somewhere new where I don't know anyone and all my surroundings are unfamiliar. I just spent almost a month traveling across America and the Atlantic, returning after two weeks in Ireland. When I arrived back in the states, it was like I had never left.
I fly back to Washington this Friday where I will begin the search for employment and meaning in life (Only half tongue-in-cheek). I've got many more questions about life now than when I left, but I guess that's what life is about. Please pray that an opportunity would rise to meet me as I step onto various paths and try assorted doors.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 4:40 PM 1 comments
Labels: General Reflections
For 9/11 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 6:30 PM 0 comments
Labels: General Reflections, Scripture Reflections
Are Monks Christians?
When I say "monk," I think most people would imagine one of the two images above. If you call yourself a Christian, then you might even add on the third guy in the long robe.
Many Christians (especially evangelicals) I talk to today consider monasticism a waste; even an unbiblical practice. I find this unfortunate, considering the incredible weight of evidence for its practice in the New and Old Testament and the history of the Christian church. The pattern is set by Moses, the people of Israel, Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus of Nazareth, Paul of Tarsus, and many others in Scripture, not to mention the Desert Fathers and the thousands of men and women who followed in their footsteps even to this day.
The question of the "wastefulness" or "practicality" of the monastic or ascetic life is an important one that I would love to discuss in another post soon, but for now, the issue of Scripture - is it biblical? Sound arguments can be made (and have been made by myself on occasion) for finding fault in current or ancient forms and practices, but I maintain that the practice in principle is good, sound, and alligned with Scripture.
To start, an interesting theme throughout the Scriptures is the period of 40 days or years. This period of time occurs frequently throughout the text and refers to a long period of time in a wilderness or isolated area, usual with special significance in the plan of God. It is also often accompanied by some form of denial, whether that be fasting, a strict diet, or other physical constraints. Below is a preliminary (incomplete) outline I've done of these events in scripture. Notice the common themes of wilderness, solitude, fasting, interaction with angels, and closeness to the presence of God. After this list I have included some comments/questions on its relation to monasticism through the ages and new monasticism.
GEN 7:12 Rain falls for 40 days and 40 nights as Noah and his family escape into the ark.
EX 3:2; ACTS 7:30 Moses flees Egypt into the wilderness of Midian. He lives there for 40 years before the Lord appears to him on the back side of the wilderness at Mount Horeb in a burning bush.
EX 16:35 The Israelites eat manna in the wilderness for 40 years as they wander in the desert according to the command of God led by the cloud and pillar of fire.
EX 24:18 The glory of the Lord rests on Mount Sinai and God calls Moses to come up the mountain alone. The glory of the Lord appears as a consuming fire, and Moses enters the cloud for 40 days and 40 nights.
EX 34:28 After renewing His commitment to Israel after their disobedience of worshipping the golden calf, the Lord calls Moses again up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights where He reveals his glory to Moses and gives him the ten commandments on the stone tablets. During this time Moses neither eats nor drinks. When Moses comes down the mountain, the skin on his face shines because of his conversation with God (34:29) and he must put a veil over it to speak with the people.
NUM 32:13 The Lord sends the Israelites back into the wilderness for 40 years of wandering and relying on God for manna that He might humble them and test them and find out what was in their heart (DT 8:2). Their feet did not swell, and their sandals and clothing did not wear out all those 40 years (DT 8:4, 29:5).
1 KING 19:8 Elijah flees from Jezebel into the wilderness and prays in desperation for the Lord to take his life. The angel of the Lord appears to him and gives him a bread cake and jar of water that sustains him for 40 days and 40 nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
MATT 4:2; MK 1:13; LK 4:2 After Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist, He goes into the wilderness for 40 days and fasts. During this time of temptation the angels minister to Him.
GAL 1:17 It appears that even Saul/Paul, after his conversion and baptism fled to Arabia for a time in the wilderness.
There is something here, ^ and I am going to attempt to found out what it is, and what it requires of me.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 2:07 PM 0 comments
Labels: General Reflections, Scripture Reflections
Cliffs of Moher
The Cliffs of Moher were once another desolate location on Irelands rocky west coast, but sadly, it has been taken over by tourism. To reach the point from where I took this photo, I had to pass through a sprawling parking lot full of tour coaches, a bustling tourist shop and cafe, a huge construction site where a new visitor's center was being built, and past a constant stream of thousands of tourists per day walking along a paved and walled path along the edge. It was grand to see, but the irony of the tourism boom took quite an edge off of the wonder these massive cliffs plunging into the ocean.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 1:20 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ireland
Skellig Michael
The Skellig Islands are a group of huge craggy rocks located 12km off the southwestern tip of Ireland; the edge of the known world in the 7th Century. The largest of the three islands is called Skellig Michael, which is the Irish name for The Rock of St. Michael, who the island was dedicated to. To the inhabitants of Ireland at the time, the horizon of the Atlantic Ocean was the edge of Christendom and the world, so this rocky peak would be the meeting place between heaven and earth. Michael is the Christian saint who carries the souls of the worthy to heaven, making this rock was the perfect location to be dedicated to him.
Around 600 BC, a group of early Christians, inspired by the Desert Fathers, were seeking a place of solitude to start a monastic lifestyle and came to Skellig Michael as literally the most desolate and isolated site in Europe. In a primitive boat they made their way to the cliffs, risking certain death from the pounding surf against the rocks, and climbed the 715ft. rock peak to start their life of prayer on a small level area at the top of the island. The 12-15 inhabitants would have combatted fierce Atlantic storms, severe isolation, and numerous Viking attacks over the 600 years the site was in use, surviving on rainwater cisterns, whatever fish or birds they could catch, and a small vegetable garden they kept on top of the cliffs.
I had the rare and spectacular opportunity to hitch a ride on a lobster boat out to the island and climb to the top where I spent two hours at the monastic settlement. I was amazed at how intact the area was, so much so that it seemed the monks had been living their primitive lifestyle there up until the day I arrived. The place was so untouched I half expected meal leftovers to be in the stone huts when I entered.
The furthest I have ever been from civilization was a three day silent retreat on a mountain in Big Sur, California; but nothing could prepare me for even two hours imagining the resolve, faith, desperation, pain, and God knows whatever else it took to drive these men to the edge of the world away from all comfort and security. There have been a few times in my life when in desperation I have been ready to leave the "world" behind and flee to the wilderness in solitide. Whereas my response was usually out of a lack of courage or vision, these men possessed these qualities in a spectacular measure that is seldom seen in these days.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 6:22 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ireland
More Pictures from Skellig Michael
This point stretches 300 feet up from the narrow passage the stone stairway follows.
Over 600 stairs lead precariously up from the origional boat landing site 715 feet up to the monastary. Each step was hand constructed by carrying slate stone found from around the rock faces and stacking them without mortar. The steps were so well constructed and so tightly fitted that every stair is still intact today.
A small cemetary fills some of the scarce flat area where the brothers were burried.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 6:06 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ireland
The Western Shore
The southern edge of the Kerry Peninsula.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 6:05 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ireland
Western Ireland Day 1 and 2
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Wednesday night we started the trip down to Kilkenny from Dublin where we stayed in a hostel and then toured Muckross House, a fantastic mansion sprawled on a picturesque lake in the mountains. Asal's favorite part was the 4 ton billiards table carved from a walnut tree.
We also visited an ancient fort built entirely out of free-stacked stones (no mortar at all). Pretty impressive to see it now, considering the place was "in ruins" long before anyone had every heard of North America.
That night we checked into a smart new hostel in Portmagee on the far southwestern shore, a small fishing villiage. Mike and I hung out for the evening in the "Moorings," one of three local pubs where evening socializing takes place. We shared a fun evening with Allison and Steve, a British couple from London who were on holiday. Good food, good drink, and good company.
Posted by Benjamin Washam 6:56 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ireland
