Reflections and News

This weekend we had the amazing job of partying with our neighborhood kids and sharing school supplies with them in preparation for the new school year. We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you so much for sewing bags, sending supplies, and donating to our kids. It was truly a joy to see their delight as they rummaged through their supplies and dreamed about their year. But we know school supplies are only the beginning. In Philadelphia, public school students have scored below the national average and the average for large cities on both math and reading. We know our kids need support beyond the first day. That’s why last year, we initiated our Reading Club to encourage our young readers with fun and literacy. They explored new books and read aloud from plays. It was a time to build relationships, but also to invest in their futures. Education is a valuable tool. Students who graduate high school are more likely to find jobs and earn a living wage than those who do not complete school. Reading is an essential foundation, and we want to promote education early in our kids’ lives. And we want celebrate with and support those who have done the work and are ready to go to college. Our Scholars Program partners with Eastern University, which provides annual scholarships for students in our neighborhood. We are so proud each time one of them walks across that stage! None of these education efforts would be possible without your generous support. Thank you so much for giving to The Simple Way and investing in the students who live in our community. God bless you!

When I was a child, I had a friend who sometimes complained about how little pocket money she’d get on a given week. Her grandma always had the same response: Lots of little ones make one big one.

That perspective has stuck with me all this time, and it perfectly sums up my thoughts as I look back on the last year at The Simple Way.

Our year has been made of a thousand small moments and experiences of generosity, grace, and friendship. In numbers, it looks a little like this:

• 600 Book bags
• 50 Thanksgiving baskets
• 12 Open Houses
• 500 Easter eggs
• 3 Simple Way Scholars
• 9 Kids in Reading Club
• 27,000 pounds of food
• 30 Book events
• 8 CORE community members
• 1 Neighborhood vigil
• 34 Monthly supporters
• 37 One time donors
• and so much more

Our pockets are full of valuable moments and generous gifts that have added up to a beautiful year.

But it hasn’t always been an easy one. Our world is full of turmoil, hardship, and devastating acts of violence, of which we often see the biggest demonstrations. But again, in the small moments, real people are enduring their own moments of heart-ache and suffering.

This year at The Simple Way, we’ve tried to be present, consistent, faithful, and kind to those in our community. Our small group of neighbors has listened, given hugs, been honest, spoken out against violence and racism, and offered hospitality and love to those experiencing hardship.

We are grateful for all these small moments. Whether gifting 600 book bags to the kids in our community or sharing a sleeping bag with just one neighbor experiencing homelessness, we are thankful for the resources and networks to be able to serve.

Thanks to your many prayers and financial contributions, we are able to keep doing ‘small things with great love. I hope you will consider a gift for The Simple Way this month. We know it will add up to something amazing!

-Caz Tod-Pearson

For nearly 20 years, we’ve been teaching the kiddos here in Kensington that you do not return violence with violence. You do not fight fire with fire. We’ve insisted that Jesus teaches us a way to interact with evil without mirroring that evil.

Dr. King had a powerful revelation as he realized he could not simply speak out against the violence in the ghettos without also speaking against the violence of our government. That meant denouncing the war in Vietnam, and it also meant calling for an end to the death penalty, which he called society’s final assertion that it will not forgive.

Like King, the early Christians in Rome despised death and the death penalty. One great thinker in the third century, Cyprian, pointed out the glaring hypocrisy: murder is considered a crime when a person does it, but it is considered a virtue when soldiers do it. And it is considered justice when our government does it through execution. No wonder our kids get confused.

We must be people who renounce killing in all forms.

I spent much of my life in favor of the death penalty and had an arsenal of Scripture to back up my convictions. But it is Jesus that changed my heart. And it is my neighborhood – and folks like Dr. King, and St. Cyprian – who opened my eyes to what real justice can look like.

Here in North Philadelphia, we are familiar with violence and all sorts of evil. But we are also convinced that violence is the disease, not the cure. We do not rape those who rape or maim those who maim. And we will continue to teach our kids that we cannot kill those who kill in order to show that killing is wrong.

It is wrong to kill. And it is wrong for our government to kill. We follow Jesus – and Jesus teaches us how to overcome evil with good, how to wear down hatred with love.

And this is the stuff that stirred me to write Executing Grace. There are stories from our work here in Philly and stories from around the world. I hope you will join me – and all of us here at The Simple Way – as we continue to work to end all killing the violence on our streets, and the violence of our government, and the violence in our own hearts.

–Shane Claiborne

Sueihn Lee moved to Kensington through The Simple Way’s Residency program over four years ago. Today she is sharing her reflection on community.

As an idealist/perfectionist, I’m vulnerable to the threat of disappointment overshadowing me with cynicism and despair. Since I started working full-time at a nearby health center 3 years ago, it’s been challenging to manage my time well. Sometimes I feel like I don’t do enough. I’m disappointed when I fall short of my ideal image of myself – an idol that I seek after instead of the person of Jesus at times.

Similarly, I had an ideal image of what intentional community should be like. But even amidst the glimpses of joy, disappointment has peppered the 4+ years of flux and change that I have lived through in this neighborhood. People have come and gone. Rhythms, structures and activities have formed and dissipated. Relationships and dynamics have reflected our brokenness. The pressure of others’ and my own expectations have weighed heavily.

In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer warns, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. When this idol falls apart, “he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.”

Not to say that we can’t be intentional about living out our values, or that we shouldn’t engage in self-critique to find ways to do things better. But I’ve learned that acceptance and surrender to God are necessary first steps toward transformation. Acceptance is not passively remaining as you are, with a shrug of the shoulders. It is a compassionate awareness that clearly beholds the sometimes ugly truth, so that you can be open to the presence of God in the midst of it. Surrendering to this presence heals us and invites us to a new way of being and living, to join in what God is already doing.

Ultimately, as David Janzen writes in the The Intentional Community Handbook, “Community pioneers do not build community; they do not even plant the seeds of community; but they are called to nurture a garden that God has planted in the unique persons and context of shared life.” When I look at how God is moving in our neighborhood in this season, I feel hopeful about the sense of stability and rootedness sustained by the committed households who have lived here for several years. We recently met together to plan neighborhood events, explore what gives us life, and to dream. I realized that just being together is such a gift. As we share life and cultivate our relationships, I believe that beautiful things will grow out of it, and already are – at their own pace, but beyond what I can imagine.

With Easter season still resounding in my heart, I’m encouraged by Janzen’s conclusion: “The good news is that communities, like people, need not complete a life cycle and die but that God is active to prune and restore so that we can be born again and again.”

Almost daily, I see or hear stories of hardship, brokenness, oppression and pain. These stories are happening right here in our neighborhood, our city, cities all over the US, and in so many places around the world. Recently, I have found it difficult to know what to do or how to best respond.

Sure, I do what I can to support and help who I can where I can. I am grateful I get to be involved in work that grows awareness and educates folks in ways that could change the world.

Yet I have had this nagging sense that there’s something else. There’s more to do.

Then I came across this quote from Gerald May [emphasis mine]:

“Classic Eastern and Western spiritual traditions identify three ways of approaching life: the way of action, the way of knowing, and the way of feeling. It is assumed that a full life involves all three, but at any given time a person tends to prefer one. It is critical, however, to recognize that neither love nor anything else of consequence can be rightfully reduced to one narrow vision.

Love is feeling “tenderness, caring and longing” but it is also much more. Love is action “kindness, charity and commitment” and again, it is much more. Love is knowing “openness of attitude, realization of connectedness, expansion of attention beyond ourselves” and still it is more.”

Gerald May has reminded me my feelings – and that nagging sense of more to do – is my longing and desire to love. And that feeling of love awakens awareness and activates me to action.

Let’s LOVE! Not in a narrowly focused way, but in the way of knowing, feeling and acting.

– Caz Tod-Pearson

On January 9, 1998, five friends and I moved into a little row-house in North Philadelphia, and The Simple Way was born. Over the past 18 years, we’ve seen that little intentional community turn into a village.

From the beginning it has been an adventure. As we cleared out all the debris and clutter from the old house, we began to joke about what we’d do with the stash of gold or cash when we found it. But we never found the gold (we’re still looking). However, after a few days of cleaning, I was dusting on the top shelf of a closet when I hit something. As we looked closer we discovered – it was a grenade. A real grenade. For some reason, the former owner, an old World War II vet, thought a grenade made for a good souvenir from the war. A calm call to the local police turned into a frenzied rush to pretty much every security agency in Philly, ending with a visit from the bomb squad… and the entire neighborhood being put on lockdown and alert.

That’s how we met everybody on the block 18 years ago. Some of our neighbors still remember that day (it’s hard to forget) when the bomb squad and all sorts of media showed. They joke about how they wondered what the new neighbors were up to.

But now they know what we are up to because today The Simple Way is not just an intentional community in the house on the corner it is a village and a movement. What started as six of us with a house of hospitality where homeless folks knew they could find a warm meal and a friend, is now a village.

We’ve fixed up abandoned houses. We’ve painted murals. Planted gardens. We’ve mourned deaths and celebrated new babies. We’ve challenged unjust laws. Neighbors helping neighbors.

This year, we saw our first young people from the neighborhood graduate from Eastern University as Simple Way scholars. And nearly every month, we have some kind of wonderful celebration here in the village. What started as a dozen kids coming to the yellow door for back-to-school supplies has now turned into an epic back-to-school festival with over 700 kids and all sorts of fun.

But at the end of the day it is all about love, relationships, and Jesus. Mother Teresa is still right, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” What’s important is not how much we do, but how much love we put into doing it.

I’ll never forget one of my favorite days over these past 18 years. We had a long-time neighbor who had to move to  Florida. As she told me about the move and all the memories we’d made here at The Simple Way, she began to cry. As tears rolled, I thought to myself, when neighbors begin to cry because they have to move from Kensington to Florida — it is a great day.

So we are thankful for every one of these 6570 days, even the hard ones. And we could not do it without you. We give thanks to God for the past 18 years and we trust God for another 18 years.

Love from the village here at The Simple Way!

– Shane Claiborne

In April this year, my son Asa was born. His arrival was quick and dramatic, but very welcome! The first year of motherhood has been filled with fun and joy, but it’s also been hard, painful, and tiring. At times I’ve felt confused and unsure of myself. Then I wake up to a happy, content baby boy, and I think maybe I am doing something right.

My work at The Simple Way has felt much the same. 2015 was my first full year as director and our first year after the transition back to our focus on local work in our neighborhood. There have been really fun, exciting developments, as well as disappointments and difficult setbacks. There are days I wonder if we can keep doing what we’re doing. But there are so many more days I am reminded our work matters and it’s important it be here.

We have celebrated Easter, Mother’s Day, Back To School, Thanksgiving, and soon Christmas with neighborhood events. With help from friends, we were able to rebuild our garden boxes and start a small computer lab. Now neighbors can access the Internet for job searches, resume writing, and more.

Through Philabundance and the Grocers Against Hunger program, we received food donations twice a week from our local grocery store, Pathmark. This arrangement enabled us to give out almost 2,000 lbs of food weekly. Sadly, Pathmark closed its doors at the end of November, so we are working to find other sources of food and will give out a smaller amounts until then.

Nurturing the work at The Simple Way is much like raising my son. I dream about what our days will be like when Asa runs, talks, makes his own bed, and heads out into the world on his own. But until then, I work hard to love him, feed him, and keep him safe.

I continue to dream about our work in Kensington and the ways we want to cultivate and foster neighborhood leaders, to develop more partnerships in our community, and to build a neighborhood together we can be proud of. So we keep working to create a place our neighbors come for resources and support, for educational and employment opportunities, for friendship, for love, and for a place of belonging.

Thank you for walking along with us at The Simple Way. We hope you have a meaning-filled Christmas and a happy New Year!

This spring, we celebrated the graduation of our first two scholars of The Simple Way. Each year, we offer a 4-year scholarship to Eastern University for a local student recommended by a community leader. We are grateful for support from donors like you who make this dream possible. Malsiella, a 2015 Eastern graduate (and pictured above), had this to say about her experience:

I grew up in a low-income community, where prostitution, drug violence, and poverty affected the lives around me. Eastern University was a symbolic marker in my life because I am the first in my family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. I studied social work, and Eastern University opened a lot of opportunities for internships, jobs, friendships, mentors, and more. I thank Jesus Christ for taking me into his pleasing and perfect will when he allowed me to attend EU and meet great people in a great community.

One memorable experience at Eastern was becoming a student chaplain during my sophomore year. I facilitated Bible studies, and helped other girls learn about the love of Christ. I still receive emails from girls that attended those studies who are grateful I was their spiritual counselor.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work, and I am looking for a job in a faith-based agency that serves low-income families with compassion, justice, and love. To other students pursuing higher education, I encourage you to try and maintain well-balanced social and academic lives. Become involved on campus, set boundaries with others, stand up for what you believe in, don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and surround yourself with positive people who are agents of change. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to embrace yourself and love who God created you to be!