Where we're at

I wanted to write something here about us, what we are and what we're doing.
It's funny how anything can become normal if you do it for a few months, and it's fun to remember how abnormal what we're doing is. So here goes. Y'all add stuff I forget.

We are an intentional Christian Service House Love Community
We live close to poverty in Bryan, because we wanted to serve the poor by joining the poor.
We live together because we think it helps us to experience and share God's love.
As a community we try to love each other, forgive each other, share with each other, and have fun together. We try to serve together.
We serve each other by cooking, washing dishes, sharing food, sharing time, paying rent, paying utilities, feeding the chickens, collecting eggs, cleaning the house, making each other chocolate milk (mostly Melanie does this).
We try to be open and honest and sincere with each other. Sometimes we fail, but we try to keep loving each other.
We are on each others' sides as advocates in the world. We try to want the best for each other.

We want to serve Jesus by serving those in need and those who are looked down upon. One way we do this is hospitality. We have a guest bedroom with the goal of giving a temporary home to the homeless. We try to assist our guests in whatever they need, whether it's finding a job, having food to eat, finding a more permanent place to live, or whatever else comes up. This is one of the hardest things we do. It can be discouraging, awkward, and annoying, but it can also be beautiful.
We take an active part in potluck meals that provide food and bring people together in community. These meals are an avenue for sharing the wealth and loving each other.
We want to honor the immigrants in our midst, especially since they are discriminated against and oppressed. To do this, we deliver breakfast tacos along with orange juice and coffee every Friday morning to immigrant workers as they wait on street corners in hope of getting work.

We have started gathering on Friday nights to pray and contemplate God. We take communion together during this time. This is one of the most looked forward to times of the week.

We have nine chickens. They give us eggs to eat, along with endless hours of fun and chicken therapy. We do some gardening for food as well.

Our house community as it is now will likely last until August, when the lease on our house is up and many of the community members will go in different directions. Whether any semblance of what we have right now will continue in Bryan is entirely up to God. And that's just fine :-)