NYC has been my home and ministry “garden” for over 20 plus years. It’s known as a place where diversity, industry and possibility intersect at mind-bending speeds. Meanwhile some of the lore about us tends to be real. We do move quickly here in both mind and body. And when we walk, we don’t traipse, but burst forth out of the work scene after 5 pm. And if someone happens to be in a monastic mood and stops to appreciate the sky, we might mistake them for a tourist…or an obstruction.
Like many though, I grow weary of the pace here. If not committed to a life of contemplation, I would easily lose touch with my surroundings. I would become fixated on my moods, or my self-ambition, missing all the heavenly signs and data present to me. In those moments when my rhythms are off I can easily find myself in such a state of disconnect where all becomes a blur, where all places, people, colors, sights and sounds simply blend together. I then begin to miss the connective tissue of what makes a neighborhood home, even God’s ecosystem.
I might miss how the neighborhood mural sparks a colorful contrast against the bland blue brick of the public school on E. 110th Street. Overlooked would be the story of hope the artist was trying to communicate.
Unnoticed might be my quick-growing Monstera plant, now unfurling new leaves every week since being repositioned to a South-facing window. I could miss how sunrays working together with good soil make for happy plants.
I might not even notice how our usually cheerful neighbor looks downcast this day, as she lays down her Wholefood bags to unlock the door. If nothing else, I can send a prayer her way, as our families dwell together in cooperative space in an apartment building.
Slowing Down and Seeing the Whole-ness
We can curate God’s work in all of these connections or lack thereof, both great and small. With the American church industrial complex often placing its focus on intrepid, visionary leadership. We cannot lose sight of how a discerning presence is a necessity for church practitioners. If faith leaders are hurried, anxious, or fixated, how will they remain present to curate, notice, nourish and pray for breakdowns in the neighborhood?
In my work as a pastor and consultant to nonprofits, it is imperative to step out of the rapid urgency of crisis culture and practice this contemplative, discerning presence. Ultimately, presence is a peculiar task, but a necessary one for extending God’s nurturance. I was reminded recently of this by one of my East Harlem clients, who charged me forth into vacation…It rang almost like a benediction: “Your task is to stay well, and stay grounded”…so as to help staff navigate workplace stress; to find a way to recover the often-lost purview of God’s larger wholeness at hand for us.
I find it striking how Adam and Eve lost sight of the wholeness and goodness of Eden. Wholeness and perfection in Hebrew thought happens when the relationships “between things” are good. Eden was the physical manifestation of how God loved Eve and Adam. If God could hug them, it would be manifested in an actual place they could eat from, touch, smell and cultivate. The garden demonstrated how God’s Love is ecological in nature.
When Adam and Eve’s gaze was fixated on grasping the forbidden fruit, the priority of the whole was lost. Namely, stewarding the garden, maintaining intimacy with God and God’s whole creation. Beverly Harris once wrote, “God is in the connections.” If this is true, in missing how the parts of our creation work together, elegantly, we can essentially miss out on a lot of God and God’s love.
Paradise is lost when we no longer see God’s work in us and through us moving us toward a greater wholeness. How miracles great and small are happening all around us, and how Christ can be found in many places of disinheritance and disconnection. We just need to spend time anywhere to discern how there is both beauty and breakdown in the places we dwell. Slowing down and noticing also means digging down into the roots of a neighborhood and discerning how our presence can be mutually nourishing.
Noticing to Nourish the World Around Us
We don’t have to leave home for the Redwood Forests to know and notice there are deep root systems in the places we inhabit. One can think of roots manifested in systems like criminal justice, education, commerce, or housing to name a few. The question is: How can our roots, both personal and communal (church), become entangled with the roots of our neighborhood, to become mutually nourished in pursuit of God’s shalom?
Perhaps praying with others, becoming an unofficial workplace chaplain, having meals with neighbors, visiting the sick, counseling the recently released prisoner, coming to church on Sundays is all in a way connected to larger systems.
At church, we communicate Sundays to be a Sabbath space where we get to slow down to see how connections and disruptions are happening in both the worlds in us and around us.
We also support local businesses after church against a backdrop of gentrification. People are able to become mindful of how dollars connect to local economies, which is an act of individual and collective stewardship. Before people realize it, they’ve spent at least 4-5 hours of their Sunday worshipping, eating together, and enjoying some great music by the church band. Yes, it’s a longer day together. But I find it more representative of biblical community then “getting it in” for a 90-minute service and running home.
Faith leaders can slow down to notice and participate with God in nourishing both people and places. Noticing how places and people are part of one web of grace, beautifully connected in some places, and tattered in need of repair in others. Yet the continual hope is finding how Christ’s presence and wholeness is faithfully working all around us.
We just need to take notice.
José’s award winning book Seeing Jesus in East Harlem: What Happens When Churches Show Up and Stay Put can be found at ivpress.com, Indiebound.org or most online portals where books are sold
Paradise is lost when we no longer see God’s work in us and through us moving us toward a greater wholeness Click To Tweet
