Peniel–25th Anniversary Issue

T

TRANSFORMED BY DREAMS

    Edith Stein, a Carmelite nun martyred at Auschwitz,  imagined the ladder of Jacob’s dream, with its ascending and descending angels, as both an invitation and a gift. We ascend to God, while at the same time, God’s grace descends to us. It is a mystical ladder, a path to God, “a gate way to heaven,” as Jacob announced when awoke from his dream.

    We see the past twenty five years from the perspective of Edith Stein in which God’s grace has descended to us, and continually calls us to ascend the ladder to God our Mother and our Father.

“Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. “Simon Weill “

    Each week we ride Bus 22 between the East Bay and Palo Alto two times a week from 7 p.m. to Midnight, and we sit and listen to people slumped in the seats, whose day has been filled with panhandling, finding food to eat, and simple survival. Housing in the Bay area is astronomical, and they know there place is warming themselves on the bus, before going back to the streets to sleep. We know that homelessness has increased over 40 percent in the last two years. People are afraid, tired, and lonely. So we ride, and we listen.

“The street transforms every ordinary day into a series of quick questions and every incorrect answer risks a be down, shooting or pregnancy.” Author Unknown

    We walk Haight Street, slowly, and listen, we give people our complete attention, and we continue until we walk into Golden Gate Park and listen to people in their camp sites, and  on Hippy Hill, sharing their joys, their pain, and their fears. They are young, still finding joy in life, and on the streets, but they live in fear of being hurt. So we listen.

“The street transforms every ordinary day into a series of quick questions and every incorrect answer risks a be down, shooting or pregnancy.” Author Unknown

At two a.m. as we walk Polk, we find people sleeping every where, in the alleys, and doorways of businesses. Many have been on the street as long as we have been walking them. So we listen.

“The street transforms every ordinary day into a series of quick questions and every incorrect answer risks a be down, shooting or pregnancy.” Author Unknown

     In listening we see lives transformed by the dream of the ladder, that descends from God to the streets.  It is the dream that calls them to hope, and reminds them of the  love of God, who walks with them and never leaves them alone.

    We thank each of you who have shared in the dream of the ladder, and have supported us in climbing the ladder through walking the streets and listening.

“Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. Simon Weill “

In Jesus, Street Person and Rebel,

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

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We Cordially invite you to a Homecoming

Banquet

on Saturday, October 5, 2019

at 6:30 p.m.

at

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

1755 Clay Street

San Francisco, CA 94109

Menu

Vegetarian Lasagna

Broccoli Cole Slaw

Dessert by Mrs. Dina Tiedje

Let’s come and Celebrate Together Our Twenty five years.

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WE ARE BEGGARS:

As always we come to you begging. There are more people homeless, more people on the edge in need, and we are on the front lines. We provide food, clean needles, referrals, pastoral care and Sacramental ministry to 500 plus a month.  Our funds are down, so please pray, and reflect, and open your hearts and pocket books and give.

On our website: www.temenos.org or pay pal.com

Through the Mail:

Temenos Catholic Worker

P.O. Box 642656
San Francisco, CA 94164

All Checks must be made out to
Temenos Catholic Worker.

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RESIN

1981-2019

Memorial Remembrance

Saturday, September 7, 2019

7:00 p.m.

Windsor Hotel–Eddy Street

Resin will be remembered for his kindness,

and his goodness to his friends, and to those in need.

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River of Fire By Helen Prejean

A  Reflection on River of Fire By Sr. Helen Prejean

    The Hero’s Journey is a classic story structure that’s shared by stories worldwide. Coined by academic Joseph Campbell in 1949, it refers to a wide-ranging category of tales in which a character ventures out to get what they need, faces conflict, and ultimately triumphs over adversity.

    Here are the three stages of the hero’s journey:

• The Departure Act: the Hero leaves the Ordinary World.
• The Initiation Act: the Hero ventures into unknown territory (the “Special World”) and is birthed into a true champion through various trials and challenges.
• The Return Act: the Hero returns in triumph.

        River of Fire is the story of Sr. Helen Prejean’s life’s journey, one that embraces all stages of the Campbell’s Hero.

    She describes her life from it’s beginning and all the stages of the Hero’s Journey is present: from a life of privilege in the upper middle class white world, and that of  the traditional  Roman Catholic Church, to the beginning of her awakening to the reality of  oppression and poverty when  she discovered   “The integral to that good news (the Gospel) is that the poor are to be the poor no longer”; leading her to work in with the poorest of the poor, and finally her encounter with a death row inmate and her opposition to the  capitol punishment. 

     In the latter part of her life Helen stands as one who has encountered the love of the Cosmic Christ, a love that transcends, all artificial boundaries, and is summed up in the words of St. John of the Cross, “In the evening of life we will be judged by love.”

    Our own experience with Sr. Helen has brought us into contact with this  Hero.

    Several years ago on Haight Street, we observed her as she visited with our homeless youth; she met them where they were, as an equal on the journey. The symbol of that acceptance was when she was offered dro, 420, and she smoked with them without judgement; secondly, that night she received the Eucharist from a woman Episcopal priest, and finally three years later calling us as we faced surgery.

    River of Fire is the story of a Hero, one who represents the Cosmic Christ in all of his fullness. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

——————————————————–

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

Remembering Shadow

Standing in the Truth

The Passion of John the Baptist

Remembering “Shadow”

Mark 6:17-29

Today’s opening Collect describes John the Baptist as a “martyr for truth and justice.”  Truth/Justice/Mercy-John the Baptist held up that conversion can be uncomfortable, to turn from self-centeredness, self-love, division, to love and care for each person is tough and scary, and to be be converted can also empower us to face even death itself. John was killed for that proclamation, and we still kill people for calling us to conversion.

Today I remember nineteen year old “Shadow” who was found stabbed to death, recently.  And as I remember Shadow, a young Mexican I have known since he was fifteen, I do not think of  the “whore” as he called himself or the drug dealer, but of my friend.

Last year night after night as I recovered from surgery “Shadow” sat with me, fed me, cleaned my room, wiped off my forehead, he was my bro, not just in name, but in practice. Shadow was closer to me than my own blood. He is a reminder to me that family is never by blood, but by love, and care.  He is a reminder that “In the storm tossed oceans of life–all we have is our undying loyalty to one another,” and of the reality:, “The streets transform every ordinary day into a series of quick questions and every incorrect answer risks a beat down, a shooting, or a pregnancy.”

Yesterday I carried his ashes up to the Marin Headlands, prayed the “Office of the Dead”, and scattered them into the ocean, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. I then went to Gucchi, and using the money he gave me for a ring that I liked, but never would purchased, bought the ring, to wear in his memory.

“Shadow” has reminded me in these last days, that our artificial boundaries of belief, race, creed, color of skins, sexual orientation, are nothing– what matters is our ‘undying loyalty to one another.” Shadow‘s life is a reaffirmation of my call to show ”undying loyalty to others in the storm tossed waves of life.’

“Shadows” life was one lived in demonstrating the best of us, his “undying loyalty” to his friends, and I give thanks to God for that life, and for the life of John the Baptist who did the same.

We need no “I am sorry to hear of your friend’s death,” but simply an affirmation of life in showing “undying loyalty” to others without thought of race, creed, social status, religion, or nationality.

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Bay Area Youth Led Climate Strike

Start: Friday, September 20, 2019•10:00 AM

Location:San Francisco Federal Building •90 7th Street, San Francisco , CA 94103

Host Contact Info: dulce.ceballos.a@gmail.com

+- (Adult allies are welcome)

At 10am, in San Francisco we call for a youth-led climate strike march, going to different targets that are contributing to climate breakdown, leaving our mark to let these places know what we are fighting for.

We will again start at the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and will connect targets in government, finance, and energy. For those that can’t join in person, we will be asking people to post on social media and tag our targets.

The following are our demands through the action week and why we are striking:

1.We demand a safe, healthy, and just planet.This climate crisis threatens our ability to live. If climate change continues on this course, we won’t be able to eat, breathe, or have safe shelter. In order to successfully fight the climate crisis we are facing, we must also fight the systems of white supremacy, racism, greed, and exploitation that have led us to it. Fighting for climate justice means fighting for a world that is safe, healthy, and just for all of its inhabitants. We must enact climate emergency plans at the local, national, and international level.

2. We demand justice and asylum for people displaced by climate change.Individuals and families displaced by climate change seek asylum in a safe place because they have nowhere else to go. Climate justice means abolishing ICE, closing concentration camps at the border, ending family separation, and creating inclusive new laws and regulations that treat everyone as human.

3. We demand policy based on science. We have eleven years before the effects of the climate emergency are irreversible. We can’t afford to compromise with climate change deniers. We must enact immediate legislation based on scientific analysis of carbon emissions and the ways that climate disasters impact certain communities. Science clearly shows that global temperatures are rising dangerously, and that we are on track to face unprecedented climate disasters. We demand a Green New Deal, a resolution that lays out a science-based plan to reach negative carbon emissions by 2030.

4. We demand that people, not corporations, influence politics.Representation and transparency are vital for successful democracies; corporate money must be taken out of politics. We demand all politicians sign the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.” We demand Citizens United must be overturned and super PAC’s be abolished. Corporate funding and donations from millionaires and billionaires must be replaced with public funding of elections in addition to small-dollar donations. To ensure that every vote counts, we must restore the Voting Rights Act, secure automatic registration for every citizen above 18, and re-enfranchise those convicted of felonies.

5. We demand equal rights for all.The government must be for the people, by the people; all policies and decisions made must be for the benefit of all. Black and trans lives matter; the Equality Act must be passed. The rights of Brown, Black, and Middle Eastern migrants must be respected. Women deserve full reproductive justice, and equity in the workplace. We demand universal background checks and Medicare for All in order to ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone. We demand diversity and representation, and intersectionality must fuel the climate justice movement. Frontline communities must have a voice and leadership role, and we look to indigenous communities to lead the transition to a just and sustainable world.

6. We demand that humans protect the rights of nature.Just as humans have rights, nature has rights. Humans have a moral obligation to respect and protect plants, animals, and ecosystems. We demand that the rights of nature be legally represented. This includes legislation to provide sanctuary for endangered species, regulate hunting, and end deforestation, pollution, destructive fuel extraction, fracking, factory farming, and unsustainable agriculture. All life is interconnected, and we must live in harmony with the Earth.

7. We demand a just transition Countries and individuals that have contributed the most to climate change must be held accountable. We demand urgent climate action, including the GND, that protects vulnerable communities and create economic justice. Policies must respect workers’ rights ’to living wages and health care, young people’s rights to free, relevant education, and everyone’s right to affordable housing.

To quote Movement Generation:  Transition is inevitable. Justice is not. A just transition is the process of getting from where we are to where we need to be by transforming the systems of economy and governance. A just transition requires moving from a globalized capitalist industrial economy to linked local living participatory economies that provide well-being for all.

For more information about the actions you can do through the week please visit our website: youthvsapocalypse.org

————–————————————

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

—————————————————-

We are in need of money for socks and food, our need for socks has increased three fold in the last year, and the Food bank is low on food, so we are having to purchase food at super markets. So please consider to give. Your donations are tax deductible. Give through mailing to P.O. Box 642656 or through Pay pal, which you can find on temenos.org. All checks to be tax deductible must be made to Temenos Catholic Worker. Thank you!

—————————————————-

 

Remember the Poor, It Costs Nothing

“Remember the Poor, It Cost’s Nothing” Josh Billings

Matthew 23:23-26 The Message (MSG)

^23-24 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?

^25-26 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.”

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    Carl Nolte, recently wrote: “I wondered about it (homeless people on the streets) even when camping by a river in the redwoods. What has become of us? Have we grown such calluses on our souls that we can look at this kind of agony in the streets and not see?  Is that what it means to be a citizen of a beautiful and famous city such as San Francisco? We did nothing (thinking of passing by homeless person in City) I can’t get it out of my mind.”

    As I look back the past twenty five years I remember a time when homeless people were noticed, acts of compassion were shown to them by the majority of people. I remember people like Fr. Louie Vitalie, former pastor of St. Boniface Church who advocated and showed love to people on the street, he is the founder of the current homeless program at the Church; Sr. Bernie Gavin, advocated for the homeless, Reverend Glenda Hope who founded housing and had worship services on the streets, and the list goes on. The question I ask: “Is where are the clergy in working with the homeless?” And than I remember–“advocacy on the streets for street people does not pay enough, and is too dirty.”  There was a sense of caring, a sense of support.  

    Now we ignore the person on the street, we see them as dirty, and we  scream at our politicians to do something. Sr. Joan Chittlister, tells us: “Politicians will always ask the question, “Is it expedient? But the prophets must ask the question, “Is it right?” That is the reason I do not trust politicians, they always seek out the expedient answer, and the majority come from privilege and wealth and have no idea of the pain of people on the street.  We need to ask the question “Is it right?”

    Our Gospel confronts all of us with our hypocrisy. We are all called to walk with each other as brothers and sisters, we are all called to suffer together so that others might not suffer.      We are all called to feed people we see hungry, to fight for our government to shift their funds to mental health care, housing, and food; to provide housing to someone if we can or to push our churches, and our businesses to open their doors and provide housing.

    We walk past churches with beautiful spaces that stand empty, empty buildings, kept empty in order for the owners to correct more money, and people are sleeping outside in the cold.

    Ritual, lovely speeches are empty, until they are put into action. We can “remember the poor”–and until we put our words into action–it cost’s nothing, and it leaves our lives empty, vacant, and is pure hypocrisy.     

    Materialism, our desire for money, for property is destroying us, it is destroying our humanity.

    So let us remember the poor, the homeless, and in doing so look at our selves and see our own poverty, our own pain, and love them, as we want to be loved.

    Let us take Carl Nolte’s words and put life into them, enter into the suffering, the pain, of others, and find life and joy and not walk away feeling guilty. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

——————————————-

Bay Area Youth Led Climate Strike

Start: Friday, September 20, 2019•10:00 AM

Location:San Francisco Federal Building •90 7th Street, San Francisco , CA 94103

Host Contact Info: dulce.ceballos.a@gmail.com

+- (Adult allies are welcome)

At 10am, in San Francisco we call for a youth-led climate strike march, going to different targets that are contributing to climate breakdown, leaving our mark to let these places know what we are fighting for.

We will again start at the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and will connect targets in government, finance, and energy. For those that can’t join in person, we will be asking people to post on social media and tag our targets.

The following are our demands through the action week and why we are striking:

1.We demand a safe, healthy, and just planet.This climate crisis threatens our ability to live. If climate change continues on this course, we won’t be able to eat, breathe, or have safe shelter. In order to successfully fight the climate crisis we are facing, we must also fight the systems of white supremacy, racism, greed, and exploitation that have led us to it. Fighting for climate justice means fighting for a world that is safe, healthy, and just for all of its inhabitants. We must enact climate emergency plans at the local, national, and international level.

2. We demand justice and asylum for people displaced by climate change.Individuals and families displaced by climate change seek asylum in a safe place because they have nowhere else to go. Climate justice means abolishing ICE, closing concentration camps at the border, ending family separation, and creating inclusive new laws and regulations that treat everyone as human.

3. We demand policy based on science. We have eleven years before the effects of the climate emergency are irreversible. We can’t afford to compromise with climate change deniers. We must enact immediate legislation based on scientific analysis of carbon emissions and the ways that climate disasters impact certain communities. Science clearly shows that global temperatures are rising dangerously, and that we are on track to face unprecedented climate disasters. We demand a Green New Deal, a resolution that lays out a science-based plan to reach negative carbon emissions by 2030.

4. We demand that people, not corporations, influence politics.Representation and transparency are vital for successful democracies; corporate money must be taken out of politics. We demand all politicians sign the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.” We demand Citizens United must be overturned and super PAC’s be abolished. Corporate funding and donations from millionaires and billionaires must be replaced with public funding of elections in addition to small-dollar donations. To ensure that every vote counts, we must restore the Voting Rights Act, secure automatic registration for every citizen above 18, and re-enfranchise those convicted of felonies.

5. We demand equal rights for all.The government must be for the people, by the people; all policies and decisions made must be for the benefit of all. Black and trans lives matter; the Equality Act must be passed. The rights of Brown, Black, and Middle Eastern migrants must be respected. Women deserve full reproductive justice, and equity in the workplace. We demand universal background checks and Medicare for All in order to ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone. We demand diversity and representation, and intersectionality must fuel the climate justice movement. Frontline communities must have a voice and leadership role, and we look to indigenous communities to lead the transition to a just and sustainable world.

6. We demand that humans protect the rights of nature.Just as humans have rights, nature has rights. Humans have a moral obligation to respect and protect plants, animals, and ecosystems. We demand that the rights of nature be legally represented. This includes legislation to provide sanctuary for endangered species, regulate hunting, and end deforestation, pollution, destructive fuel extraction, fracking, factory farming, and unsustainable agriculture. All life is interconnected, and we must live in harmony with the Earth.

7. We demand a just transition Countries and individuals that have contributed the most to climate change must be held accountable. We demand urgent climate action, including the GND, that protects vulnerable communities and create economic justice. Policies must respect workers’ rights ’to living wages and health care, young people’s rights to free, relevant education, and everyone’s right to affordable housing.

To quote Movement Generation:  Transition is inevitable. Justice is not. A just transition is the process of getting from where we are to where we need to be by transforming the systems of economy and governance. A just transition requires moving from a globalized capitalist industrial economy to linked local living participatory economies that provide well-being for all.

For more information about the actions you can do through the week please visit our website: youthvsapocalypse.org

————–————————————

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

—————————————————-

We are in need of money for socks and food, our need for socks has increased three fold in the last year, and the Food bank is low on food, so we are having to purchase food at super markets. So please consider to give. Your donations are tax deductible. Give through mailing to P.O. Box 642656 or through Pay pal, which you can find on temenos.org. All checks to be tax deductible must be made to Temenos Catholic Worker. Thank you!

Enter Through the Narrow Gate

Enter Through the Narrow Gate

“He passed through towns and villages teaching as he went and making his making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord will only a few be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”

———————————————————-

C.S. Lewis pointed out in his book Mere Christianity, false Christians continue to tempt the disciples of Jesus today. Some worship the church, money, power, and materialism instead of God.

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” Discipleship requires conscious effort. It is not enough to notice Jesus as he passes by, or when we fear death, have illness, or in a crisis, one must be willing to sacrifice his or her life. One must be willing to give everything,  for providing for everyone in health care, housing, and food, working, simplifying our lives, and to see our environment, and all of life as a part of God’s creation to be preserved and taken care of. “Creation for All.”

Personally this begins with treating each person, as we want to be treated, to see them as a child of God.  We hold the hands of people who have done horrible things–from murder, robbery, to child molesters, and so on. We meet them as children of God, one’s who have the spark of God within them, but which is simply lying as embers, awaiting renewal. As they are met with justice, we meet them with compassion/mercy as well in the hope that lives may change, and move to live a productive live–be it in prison or outside.

Rather than label, condemn, wish them dead, we see them as broken human beings, in need of God’s love. And personally we know from experience when we meet people with mercy and love,  lives change, our life changes, and our attitude towards life dramatically is filled with peace and love. This is “entering by the narrow gate.”

We believe the last judgment will be like a great group therapy session, where God will work with us in developing into the loving our neighbor as our selves, and hell will be those who choose not to participate and walk away.

Our faith is one of struggle, struggling with our desires of being self centered, and moving into one of love and sharing for all. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

On September 20 we invite you to participate in:

Bay Area Youth Led Climate Strike

Start: Friday, September 20, 2019•10:00 AM

Location:San Francisco Federal Building •90 7th Street, San Francisco , CA 94103

Host Contact Info: dulce.ceballos.a@gmail.com

+- (Adult allies are welcome)

At 10am, in San Francisco we call for a youth-led climate strike march, going to different targets that are contributing to climate breakdown, leaving our mark to let these places know what we are fighting for.

We will again start at the office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and will connect targets in government, finance, and energy. For those that can’t join in person, we will be asking people to post on social media and tag our targets.

The following are our demands through the action week and why we are striking:

1.We demand a safe, healthy, and just planet.This climate crisis threatens our ability to live. If climate change continues on this course, we won’t be able to eat, breathe, or have safe shelter. In order to successfully fight the climate crisis we are facing, we must also fight the systems of white supremacy, racism, greed, and exploitation that have led us to it. Fighting for climate justice means fighting for a world that is safe, healthy, and just for all of its inhabitants. We must enact climate emergency plans at the local, national, and international level.

2. We demand justice and asylum for people displaced by climate change.Individuals and families displaced by climate change seek asylum in a safe place because they have nowhere else to go. Climate justice means abolishing ICE, closing concentration camps at the border, ending family separation, and creating inclusive new laws and regulations that treat everyone as human.

3. We demand policy based on science. We have eleven years before the effects of the climate emergency are irreversible. We can’t afford to compromise with climate change deniers. We must enact immediate legislation based on scientific analysis of carbon emissions and the ways that climate disasters impact certain communities. Science clearly shows that global temperatures are rising dangerously, and that we are on track to face unprecedented climate disasters. We demand a Green New Deal, a resolution that lays out a science-based plan to reach negative carbon emissions by 2030.

4. We demand that people, not corporations, influence politics.Representation and transparency are vital for successful democracies; corporate money must be taken out of politics. We demand all politicians sign the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.” We demand Citizens United must be overturned and super PAC’s be abolished. Corporate funding and donations from millionaires and billionaires must be replaced with public funding of elections in addition to small-dollar donations. To ensure that every vote counts, we must restore the Voting Rights Act, secure automatic registration for every citizen above 18, and re-enfranchise those convicted of felonies.

5. We demand equal rights for all.The government must be for the people, by the people; all policies and decisions made must be for the benefit of all. Black and trans lives matter; the Equality Act must be passed. The rights of Brown, Black, and Middle Eastern migrants must be respected. Women deserve full reproductive justice, and equity in the workplace. We demand universal background checks and Medicare for All in order to ensure a safe and secure environment for everyone. We demand diversity and representation, and intersectionality must fuel the climate justice movement. Frontline communities must have a voice and leadership role, and we look to indigenous communities to lead the transition to a just and sustainable world.

6. We demand that humans protect the rights of nature.Just as humans have rights, nature has rights. Humans have a moral obligation to respect and protect plants, animals, and ecosystems. We demand that the rights of nature be legally represented. This includes legislation to provide sanctuary for endangered species, regulate hunting, and end deforestation, pollution, destructive fuel extraction, fracking, factory farming, and unsustainable agriculture. All life is interconnected, and we must live in harmony with the Earth.

7. We demand a just transition Countries and individuals that have contributed the most to climate change must be held accountable. We demand urgent climate action, including the GND, that protects vulnerable communities and create economic justice. Policies must respect workers’ rights ’to living wages and health care, young people’s rights to free, relevant education, and everyone’s right to affordable housing.

To quote Movement Generation:  Transition is inevitable. Justice is not. A just transition is the process of getting from where we are to where we need to be by transforming the systems of economy and governance. A just transition requires moving from a globalized capitalist industrial economy to linked local living participatory economies that provide well-being for all.

For more information about the actions you can do through the week please visit our website: youthvsapocalypse.org

————–————————————

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

—————————————————-

We are in need of money for socks and food, our need for socks has increased three fold in the last year, and the Food bank is low on food, so we are having to purchase food at super markets. So please consider to give. Your donations are tax deductible. Give through mailing to P.O. Box 642656 or through Pay pal, which you can find on temenos.org. All checks to be tax deductible must be made to Temenos Catholic Worker. Thank you!

—————————————————-

A Riff of Love:Notes On Community and Belonging

A Riff of Love: Notes on Community and Belonging

by Greg Jarrell–A Reflection.

Matthew 20:1-16 English Standard Version (ESV)

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’^{[b] 16} So the last will be first, and the first last.”

———————————————————

Jarrell’s book is a story about living in community in a changing neighborhood in Charlotte, South Carolina. It is a book that for me was difficult and I cried as page by page,  it describes his neighborhood of Enderly Park, a neighborhood of black people seeking to make ends meet. Jarrell, presents stories of death and life, and of a neighborhood that is being gentrified, in other words the poor blacks are being pushed out by the rich whites. He also describes how the Civil Rights Movement brought certain freedoms, and yet at the same time, the white power holders, codified the law where Blacks remain segregated. 

Same old story as from the first day slaves were brought into this country, just a different name. Same old story as we read through out the Bible.

The book calls us to convert, to turn around and face the reality of the pain that is being caused, and in which many of us participate unwittingly, and walk with our neighbors as peers, as equals, and like the workers are treated in our Gospel.

For me I see Polk Street and the Haight. When I first came Polk was an edgy queer street, gay bars, hustling and drugs. There was a mixture of people. Rent was inexpensive. Through the years Polk has slowly, changed, to a street of wealth, privilege. It is called “Middle Polk Blvd.” rather than Polk Gulch. Several years ago a group wanted to paint a mural honoring the queer community and those who were sex workers, for which  Polk was known, and that in many ways was an expression of the Gay Liberation Movement, and they were told “no”. A portion of queer history is lost. Polk played a key role in the queer liberation movement. It was the queer street before the Castro. All of that is lost. This past must be forgotten, it might threatened the economic rise of the area. One organization’s  aim is to see that Polk is profitable, and the poor, the disenfranchised are pushed out. Only those who have money are welcome.

Haight Street is similar. It is now a “tourist mecca” celebrating the 60’s in artistic ways, especially in ways to make money,  rents are sky high. The old shops are gone. Street youth are harassed. Little assistance is offered.

Through the years in my ministry I have tried to live as close to the people I serve, and I do. I am living more simply than ever before, most of my finances goes to providing for their needs, and I have been where they are in sex work and poverty. But there is still a difference, I am privileged: the best health care, support from friends, a nice place to live, and freedom to go where I want. Today I received two pairs of glasses–one for everyday use, specially equipped for driving at night, and another pair for computer use and reading. Privileged I am, and their are times I feel guilty, but am learning to use that privilege to help others have the same privileges as I do. Most importantly I am “white”, and educated. I can move where I want and the police and people want label me or be nervous when I am around. Racism is alive and well in San Francisco, we just choose to ignore it. I have friends in Marin who are Mexican, and the racism with which they are treated is really difficult to watch, because it is under the surface. Never directly, but it is there.

Jarrell has stopped having youth groups, and individuals volunteer, because in coming, they bring their privileged, and see the poor as separate, and than leave ‘feeling good”. There is no connection–but a separation into the privileged and under privileged.

  We watched a group of young people on Polk recently trying to “preach Jesus and save souls,” and one person they spent time with was an elderly, alcoholic, who is homeless, and after the group left he said to me: “They think they are fu..king better than us, and I accepted Jesus and took their twenty dollars.” The youth went home feeling good, they saved a soul.

One of Jarrell’s suggestions is that we truly walk with people, that we seek conversion, “to turn around”, and change the systems that destroy neighborhoods.  The Fillmore is a good example, it was once a scene of music, fine foods, but when the City moved into to change, the blacks were moved out. It is now truly a place for people with money.

We can blame President Trump all we choose, but the truth is that this is within us. He may have made it easier for people to express their ism’s, but it is within us. We need to convert, to turn around, and walk out as our parable tells us today treating everyone as equals. In the eyes of God all of us are the same, we are loved, and cared for equally, and his/her call is for us turn around, and do the same. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

http://www.temenos.org

Grace Revealed:”Finding God’s Strength in Any Circle

Grace Revealed: Finding God’s Strength in Any Crisis

Fred Sievert–a Book Review

Judges 2:11-19; Matthew 19:16-22

Judges is a book we do not hear of very often, only six times a year in the lectionary; It is a book about the results of not following God. The Israelite’s sin, follow false God’s and live in ways of mistreating people, largely being self centered, and wanting quick fixes in much the same way that we live today. 

Materialism and all of the ism’s are our gods. We get hooked on a feel good theology, which feels good, more like mutual masturbation, than in centering on those outside of our selves, and we stay in our little tribes. We want addictions, grief, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse to be fixed. We want homeless people off the street, and especially to give them medications and get them into treatment for their addictions.

Silvert in his book Grace Revealed: Finding God’s Strength In Any Crisis, debunks those false gods. He calls us back to the God of the Bible who  finds  God’s strength within us and calls us to be compassionate.

“Real love demands attention and dedication. You dare see someone as they really are, and connect with them in that genuineness. You set yourself up for a roller coaster of feelings, but you keep yourself strapped in until that ride reaches its destination.

Mary Magdalene loved Jesus this way. When all the other disciples had abandoned him, she stayed at the foot of the cross. When they were asleep, she ventured to the grave. There was no sugarcoating his death, and she did not avoid her grief.  

Her honesty and courage led to a new Reality, one that called her by name. “Mary!”

Easter is something you experience when you don’t avoid Good Friday. When you endure and confront your chaotic feelings when a relationship dies…a dream dies…a career dies…a body dies.

The cross is reality. And the power of Christianity is that it doesn’t avoid this death. Rather, it empowers you to embrace it so you can discover a different life, on God’s terms and not your own.

Mary Magdalene loved reality. She followed her feelings bravely, from cross to grave to a new relationship.” Rev. Greg Weeks

The thesis of Siever’s book is that real love calls us  to face the reality of the issues we face. For example sometime ago I had been hurt, and started crying sitting in church, people got up and walked away, they could not stand to see me cry, or even ask me what was wrong.  I never cried in church again. Real love calls us to away from the false gods that tell us all will be well, every thing can be fixed in a moment. to walking with people in their pain, for all of us are in pain at one time or another, all of us suffer or will suffer and we will die.  Jesus tell us in our gospel today: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. .”If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Matthew 19:16-22.”

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw. D.Min., D.S.T.

http://www.temenos.org

Stuck

Stuck

Jeremiah 38: 1-6; 8-10

6: There was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud………….

   ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. ¹² Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. ¹³ Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

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The image of Jeremiah sinking into the mud has got to be one of the most pathetic in all Scripture. The great prophet, the great counselor is utterly dejected, thrown into a hole and left for dead, slowly sinking into the mud.

I know that feeling for  much of time I feel stuck, and become sad and depressed. Criticized, more homeless on the streets, people never positive, prayer seems empty, and the hateful remarks on social media. And I am told I do not do enough. One day follows another bringing nothing new. And I can not seem to pull myself out of the slump. And then comes along Ebed-melech to save me from the cistern.

    Eled-melech stops by the palace linen  closet and gathers some old rags. He sends them down to Jeremiah instructing him to to put the rags between his arm pits and the ropes, in order to save some pain as he is hauled up. It is a small gesture, an act of kindness and care.

Small gestures–a friend telling me they love me, seeing someone smile as I feed them, all are gestures  acts of love that remind me it is in simply doing the work of of presence, that is important, not the results, just being faithful.

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And the words of Father Henri Nouwen speak truth in these moments:

Our Gifts Are Not The Same As Our Talents

More important than our talents are our gifts. We may have only a few talents, but we have many gifts. Our gifts are the many ways in which we express our humanity. They are part of who we are: friendship, kindness, patience, joy, peace, forgiveness, gentleness, love, hope, trust, and many others. These are the true gifts we have to offer to each other. Somehow I have known this for a long time, especially through my personal experience of the enormous healing power of these gifts. But since my coming to live in a community with mentally handicapped people, I have rediscovered this simple truth. Few, if any, of those people have talents they can boast of. Few are able to make contributions to our society that allow them to earn money, compete on the open market, or win awards. But how splendid are their gifts! ======================================= We  may not have many talents if any, I know I do not, but what I have is the gift of love, the gift of listening, the gift of being present. Recognizing these gestures in our own lives may be just enough to lift us out of the mud. We are as St. Paul tells us surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and  looking  up we see those who have come to help, bringing rags with the rope.  A simple gesture of love! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T. P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 http://www.temenos.org 415-305-2124

 

A Call to Intimacy

A Call to Intimacy

“Fear the Lord and Serve Him in Sincerity and  Faithfullness.” Joshua 24:14

Sr. Helen Prejean comments in her book River of Fire that as a young girl all around her she was presented with the ideal life of marriage and children, and says: “It’s the settling in for life, promising to find happiness with just one person, that gave me pause. I wanted more.”

Similarly for us  marriage or a relationship with one person was not in the cards,  we too wanted more.

Since that day at 12 years old, and we felt that call to ministry, the burning of the fire in our   heart, all that we ever   wanted was to serve Christ. And it is that call that has been pursued upon the river of life from that day forward.

There was a period in the months before we came to San Francisco, that we dated someone, and seriously thought about marriage and settling down. One day as we set in  supervision our supervisor commented, “River you have a gift, one in which you let a young person enter into your life in such away, where they feel at home, and you walk with them as their friend. It is a powerful gift, but one in which you will not be able to fully use unless you walk alone, you can choose the one or the thousands.” That day we knew we would choose the thousands. We knew our call was a call to intimacy, intimacy that was not sexual, but one of openness, one of sharing, and giving, without expecting anything in return.

In “Life to Love” we read:

“People think that intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone the truth, when you can show yourself to  them, when you can stand in front of them and their response is “you’re safe with me” that’s intimacy.”

We have never really been lonely, maybe occasionally feel alone, but in giving our self away we become more human, we become ragged, and more real.  We tell the truth, we invite others to tell the truth, and in doing so we find much joy. We seek to:

“Fear the Lord and Serve Him in Sincerity and  Faithfulness.” Joshua 24:14

Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw, D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94162

http://www.temenos.org

415-305-2124

(We asked you to give in order that others may have food and socks.)

Taking the Waters

Taking the Waters

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Revelation 11:19a: 12:1-10; Psalm 45:10, 11,12, 16; I Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1:39-56

In an Irish folk tradition we read of Mary ascending to heaven, weeping, and her tears falling into the ocean. This is symbolized in the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, where on this feast her tears are reactivated in the sea, and their  touch brings health to mind, body, and soul. Irish Americans go to the beach and dip their feet in the ocean returning with jugs of seawater for those who are too ill to travel on this day.

This story exemplifies the lived genius of the Catholic-Anglican traditions of knitting together the human and divine.

This blessing is available to us in the asking of God to speak to us in the myriad ways in which healing is available to us–relationships, communal, physical and emotional–Christ becomes incarnate in each and every one of us and reminds us in the the words of St. Francis that all of the false boundaries we put up, our failures to provide the basic human rights of health care, and housing, our hoarding of money–all matter not in the end, but only the tears of the Blessed Virgin brings us to wholeness:

“Remember that when you leave this earth, you take with you nothing that you have received–only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. St. Francis of Assisi.” Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!

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Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw., D.Min., D.S.T.

P.O. Box 642656

San Francisco, CA 94164

415-305-2124

www. temenos.org

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Today we give you the opportunity to bring some of the sea water, the tears of Mary back in your giving for socks for our people who live on the streets. We have just made a $5000.00 order, and any help would be appreciated, all are gifts are tax deductible, and you need to send an email to us so we can send you a donation receipt.  Thank you.