Wheaton, IL "Rebuilding Eden"

rebuilding eden

1. what do we believe in?
   Greetings, friends!
   
   Sorry that this update has taken so long to be published, but much has been happening here at Wheaton in the Rebuilding Eden community. First of all, we found a faculty sponsor, so we are going to become an official club here at Wheaton, which allows us to put up posters, invite speakers, and reserve rooms. We are in the process of writing the constitution, and once that is done and signed, all that is left is to submit it and go through the one year 'trial' period.
   
   And besides that, we have been having our weekly meetings in Saga, normally going from 12:30 to 2:30. There have been interruptions with Spring Break and Easter, but hopefully, the rest of the semester goes well! Right now, we have finished discussing the fourth part of Everything Must Change and are moving on to fifth part.
   
   And in other news, we went to the Everything Must Change Tour in Oak Park. It was a great time to meet and connect with other people involved in the conversation, especially those we attend Wheaton College. The phrase, "I am glad there are others, so at least I'm not the only crazy one," was repeated a lot that weekend, and it's how I felt by meeting other Wheaton students there.
   
   Below will be some responses that Caleb, Ben and I wanted to share to the art journal, Nude Truths, and if you do as well, please leave a comment! We are planning a cohort outing as well, to the Fox River, and hopefully, we'll have many stories to share from that. But for now, enjoy these thoughts and reflections.
   
   Caleb's Reflections
   
   The Illusion - "yet the illusion of endless time/ to reform, if not themselves, the the world." "The child covers her eyes. Trouble vanishes. Adults cover their eyes. Troubles encroach, enlarge, entrench."
   
   I have been blind for far too long, bound to the old way of thinking, the world's way, the church's way (sadly). I don't know if I want to go to church anymore because of the complacency I have found there. I don't know. Maybe I'm just finding a way to take the blame off of myself. Maybe I need to reform first. I think these are the questions I haven't known how to ask, and the struggles I've had lately have really evidenced my need for self-reform. How do I begin to change? How can I stop ignoring my own failures with God and with people and start changing...everything?
   
   Repent = become re-pensive
   
   Pilgrim's Sandals - "i'll chance the pilgrim sandals." "The pilgrim sets forth, tethered to the past by unseen bonds of memory, yet cloaked in hope, afoot in sandals of determination, trudging toward something new."
   
   I'll chance the pilgrim's sandals. I think this is the reason why I've been so odd lately. I feel restrained by my memories and I need something New. I need to go somewhere far from here to be apart from the bonds of memory. Yes, I need to cloak myself in hope and put on the sandals of a pilgrim, go somewhere far, somewhere far and quiet. And I think I need to walk there. THIS is why I want to walk to the West Coast. I need to be unsafe...if that is the right word. I feel like that is the reason for my oddity lately, and from it stemmed extra worries, insecurities, self-consciousness, and the feeling like I have no contribution or identity. This is all true. This is how I really feel and what I really think.
   
   Maybe this summer I'll go camping by myself. That's what I need. Ok, I'm really excited about this now.
   
   At the same time, I feel like all this is just about what I'm doing to change ME. I know that I've been selfish lately as well, expecting my friends and my family to totally understand what's going on in my head once I muddle through explaining it to them. Jesus, help my take my insecurity seriously (help them take it seriously too) and help me be patient about all of this. Help me not to let the little things get under my skin.
   
   And there I go again. Asking for me me me. Tell me where my concentration needs to be. I feel like I'm thinking in too small of a box.
   
   
   Ben's Reflections
   
   The Illusion - "yet the illusion of endless time/ to reform, if not themselves, the the world." "The child covers her eyes. Trouble vanishes. Adults cover their eyes. Troubles encroach, enlarge, entrench."
   
   Be aware of what happens around you, every moment. Floating around in a balloon, separate from others, in a haze of things to do, accomplish, whatever. Be awake. Be awake to others around you. People are always around. Talk to them. Be less self-centered and think about others. Talk to others. Hear their ideas, hopes, dreams. Be awake.
   
   Freedom and Joy - "the key now, to the next door,/ the next terrors of freedom and joy" "Freedom - breather of life into dry bones, granter of vision, empowering force - descends into the tyranny of choice, the burden of responsibility. And joy crumbles if clutched. Dare we open that door?"
   
   Joy crumbles if clutched.
   How to simply have freedom, and joy? It is something I desire, so that when I find it, all I can do is hold on to it, or what I think is it, and it crumbles in my grasp. Selfishness. Freedom and Joy for my self. In the cocoon. I feel growth, only to limit myself to growing within a cocoon of silence, isolation. Not solitude, but isolation. Solitude brings energy, and community power, but isolation brings loneliness, and loneliness laziness and despair.
   
   Rays Forth - "No one confirms/ an other unless/ he himself rays forth/ from a center" "Imagine for a moment emotion - fierce, loving, true - finding its way from your inscape to mine along smooth paths. Try. For what we cannot imagine we cannot achieve."
   
   Excluding the other is infidelity to Jesus. Jesus is the center. My center. Not my center, the Center of all. All things flow from him and through him? There is no Jesus/me dichotomy. I cannot do, and put Jesus to the side. He is the reason and my ability. The source of my actions, not a label for them. I pursue Jesus, and in Him, justice, peace, love. How can I pursue any of these without Him as the source?
   
   Plucking Truth - "plucking/ truth from the vast surrounding nowhere" "When what we have believed lies shattered at our feet, we reach out for the idea, the image, the inspiration that comes from somewhere and changes everything. But we cannot pluck with clenched hand."
   
   We cannot pluck with clenched hand. Let go first, drop it. Whatever I think I know, I must let go of, the “truth.” Lies? How will I know if I don’t let God speak? That is, How can I know if I don’t listen? I must be awake, always. Do not doze off into the surrounding haze of things, tasks, prerequisites, requirements, whatever. If I do that I am plucking “truth” from nowhere.
   
   
   Jeremy's Reflections
   
   My Balloon - "I in my balloon/ light where the wind/ permits a landing" "Is it innocence or ignorance, acceptance or apathy? Floating above humble earth - is that eternity or indifference? Only by landing will we know."
   
   Landing
   with my feet I land on hard earth
   earth - my home, my planet,
   this planet, blue-green, brown
   orange, red, yellow, gray
   Gray - the color of my indifference.
   Indifference - the disease of my soul.
   Soul - the consciousness of me in the world.
   My world that my feet need to walk on.
   
   The Illusion - "yet the illusion of endless time/ to reform, if not themselves, the the world." "The child covers her eyes. Trouble vanishes. Adults cover their eyes. Troubles encroach, enlarge, entrench."
   
   Time, like distance, must be an illusion.
   An illusion since the great paradox makes it so.
   A paradox between me and the world;
   The world needed to reform.
   Me needed to reform.
   Be reformed, not in illusion,
   Not in endless time, but now,
   loud, fast, hard - for the
   illusion is the endlessness.
   
   Catastrophes - "while they wail, give peace a chance,/ vaster catastrophes/ are planned" "Is it war we love or the rush we crave? The heroic action? The defining moment? The struggle that gives meaning? Something peace rarely provides."
   
   Sons of God, they are called.
   Called, named, invited to be, as
   they struggle for peace.
   Peace, not through hard-hearted
   violence or through domination.
   But dominating only themselves,
   constrained by love.
   Love - that perfect bond of unity
   that gives and grants us:
   Peace, meaning, fulfillment and hope.
   
   Hope that overcomes catastrophes.
   
   
   
   
2. First Meetings!
   Dear Friends,
   
   Our first meeting has just taken place! Gathering in The Stupe Grill, the on-campus restaurant, we inaugurated rebuilding eden. The conversation tonight was just over the introduction of Everything Must Change.
   
   Some of the questions raised were: "What does it mean to be moved by the Spirit?", "How can we be hopeful in the world around us?", "What gives meaning?", and my personal favorite, "So what?" This last question sparked some great conversation about how we can begin to practically implement what we learn both through EMC and Scripture.
   
   Thanks all for coming out, and remember we are meeting next week to continue our reading, chapters 2-5 (Part One). We will meet at 12:30 at SAGA, probably in the back section. After lunch we will be watching Blood Diamond, probably back at Fischer.
   
   I am really looking forward to dialoguing with you all! May the Lord bless you and keep you.
   
   Following Christ,
   
   Jeremy
3. Cohort Gathering