Dear friends,
We begin 2022 with great anticipation: the year that we build Clara Brown Commons! Many of you have walked the long-neglected property with me over the course of 18 years, praying for God to liberate the land from its oppressor and restore it as a place of home and community.
During these walks our prayerful imaginations were guided by a beautiful image in scripture of a community where…
- Those who were once poor now prosper and enjoy the fruit of their labor
- Children are not destined to misfortune, but play safely in the streets under the watchful eyes of healthy old men and women
- Former rivals live and work together in peace
- All manner of people enjoy the shared experience of communion with God (Isaiah 65:17-25 and Zechariah 8:4-5)
It is an image of land being healed, homes being built, economy revived, and people rediscovering trust in one another. A good word for that vision of common life is the biblical word shalom: prosperity, health, and wholeness—shared by and between each member of the community. A healthy human ecology.
The perennial work of Mile High Ministries is to translate such a grand and global vision into practical expression on a local, human scale. In the language of Christian faith, it is an incarnational endeavor. It is “word made flesh.” Just as God was embodied in the human person of Jesus of Nazareth, the great gift of divine love is continually embodied, touch-able, and experienced. We participate in this joyfully and tangibly.
Over the years, we have reclaimed and redeemed a handful of blighted places in Denver’s urban core, creating small communities of compassion, hope, and healing. In the 1990s, volunteers from across our city coaxed a ministry center from the ruins of five massive Victorian homes and an abandoned office building on Capitol Hill. Ten years later, the Spa Motor Inn underwent a similar transformation to become Joshua Station—a safe place for families to heal and rebuild after an experience of homelessness.
The gifts of chaplains, social workers, counselors, and youth ministers were central to these endeavors. Likewise real estate and finance professionals, builders from various trades, board members, and financial supporters collaborated from across the spectrum of society. Their combined creativity and generosity, mixed with a lot of prayer, are how the words of Isaiah 65 become flesh in our neighborhoods.
The year 2022, our 34th year, will be a year of building, planning, and caring:
Building a beautiful new apartment building with 61 residences and lots of shared community space: a chapel, exercise room, dining hall, kids’ corner, and a room dedicated to the ongoing legacy of our namesake, Clara Brown. Our friends from Habitat for Humanity will build 17 for-sale townhomes on our site.
Strategic planning is something we undertake on an ongoing basis. At key times we turn up the heat—asking bigger, harder questions about who we are and what unique gift (or charism in spiritual terminology) we can share with our world. We’ll do that kind of deep dive in 2022 with the expertise of a sister organization, Street Psalms (incidentally, the community where I and others were ordained).
As with every year, we’ll keep our focus on caring for the precious families who live at Joshua Station. They are making great strides with our family advocacy, education and career development, mental health programs, and enriching youth activities. Essential to it all is the safe, caring, connected community of mutual support they build during their time with us.
At the center of the wheel of all this building, planning, and caring is the twenty minutes each morning when our staff gathers to check in personally, pray, and sit together in shared silence. We listen for the still, small voice of God to shape our lives and direct our efforts.
We do this work imperfectly, but with deep commitment and gratitude. We are inexpressibly grateful for your friendship and your partnership that makes this work possible.
Peace in Christ,
Jeff Johnsen, Executive Director
