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In These Times, A Prayer for Peace
I’d like to share a prayer that attendees—from across our city and from all walks of life—lifted up at our recent Fourth Annual Peacemaker Breakfast. What a vitally important time in our city… our country… our world… [...]
Four Blessed Peacemakers
It was a great joy to gather at Clara Brown Commons last Friday in celebration of peacemaking—and four beloved Denver peacemakers in particular. We were so inspired, challenged, and encouraged! Afterward, among many appreciations, I received one [...]
Our People Share Healing
Click images for just a few of our inspiring voices…
Christine
I Have Fun Giving
“I love playing with Joshua Station,” says Christine Plentyhoops. It’s an odd way to talk about donating and volunteering, and she peppers her story with delighted laughter.
As Regional Vice President of Primerica and an investment advisor, Christine was meeting with a client some years ago. Inspired and intrigued by her client’s financial priorities of generosity and service, Christine turned the tables and asked for advice about where to get involved. Her client served on the MHM board, and soon Christine was touring Joshua Station. She “fell in love.”
The love story begins much earlier, however. Christine grew up struggling with poverty, and as a young woman found herself in a devastating situation married to a relapsed addict—culminating in divorce. Injured in an accident, she was only able to work part time. After an eviction she was homeless, and her car was repossessed. “The families at Joshua Station… they are me,” she says.
Christine’s “play” at Joshua Station took the form of teaching financial classes for residents, which were so effective that they are now a mandatory part of the program. “Anything ‘mandatory’ is not an easy sell up front,” Christine observes. “I level the playing field by telling them I know it’s hard to spend time away from families for the class—for me and them both! I show up in ordinary clothes and share my story of devastated self-worth and a credit score of 437. ‘Where you are now is just a circumstance, not a life sentence,’ I say. I love to laugh with that group.”
Christine’s husband Brian can relate too; he grew up in poverty, living on an Indian reservation and later in San Francisco. “Brian and I have fun giving,” Christine says, “with our dollars and time.” In their monthly checks or in the financial class at Joshua Station, it definitely shows.
Christine
Volunteer
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Our Ingredients
Presence
Presence
We are followers of Jesus from different streams of the Christian tradition. 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 lived reality joyfully.
Prayer
Prayer
In our often-intense urban context, we are learning the value of quieting our hearts and minds in order to listen for the voice of God. Prayer is itself a kind of presence: being present to God; trusting that God is fully present to us.
Peacemaking
Peacemaking
Seeking the peace of the city means unplugging from the violence of rivalry and exclusion that come so naturally, pursuing instead relationships and collaboration, including with people whose worldviews may differ from ours, for the shared joy of building healthy and welcoming communities.
Place
Place
The movement of God is an inner reality, a matter of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”* Yet, this inner reality is made manifest in the external, tangible experiences of life—all of which happen… someplace!
Playground
Playground
Let’s be honest, sometimes as religious folks or activists we are too quick to see the city as a battleground between good and evil—where everything becomes a win/lose proposition, filled with zero-sum competitions and endless rivalries.
Power
Power
We hope to imitate the way Jesus used his power, not clinging to self-validation or importance, but “emptying the self” to enter fully into a humble place of powerlessness and vulnerability.
Plenty
Plenty
Peacemaking is rooted in an asset-based vision of life, trusting that there is enough—enough of all the ingredients for human flourishing. Our task is to pay attention to how the Spirit is already at work in our world.
Prophetic Imagination
Prophetic Imagination
Prophets of old told stories, wrote poetry, and lived in peculiar ways that called out the idolatry and injustice of their day. We sense a call to name and engage the idolatry and injustice of our own time and place.
