Tucson Christmas Conspiracy

Stores are already stocking the shelves with Christmas kitsch. So, it's time to get subversive. Introducing the next Join the Living project: The Tucson Christmas Conspiracy. We're offering opportunities and tangible ways to embrace the spirit and revolutionary love of Christmas without all the stress and credit card debt. And we aren't the only ones. A whole slew of creative churches and communities around Tucson are participating in a national movement called the Advent Conspiracy.

The Tucson Christmas Conspiracy is our way of bringing the idea to life locally. Join the Living's offerings kick off the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and continue every Sunday at 4 pm until December 21.

The scoop on The Tucson Christmas Conspiracy:

• November 23: First off is a showing of the documentary, "What Would Jesus Buy?"
• November 30 & December 7: For the next two Sunday's at 4 pm we'll buck consumerism and the mall. Instead we'll gather for a group craft/art/creative extravaganza. Like a giant Stitch & Bitch, with the purpose of making gifts for our friends and loved ones instead of buying them.
• December 14: Barter Bazaar and Baking. Bring things you've made or have laying around the house for trading with others. One person's trash is another person's Christmas gift! At the same time make and decorate cookies and baked goodies.
• December 21: Longest Night Christmas Service. Join however makes sense for you. From 4 to 5:15 is meditation. 5:30 is a shared meal. And at 6:30 we'll offer prayers and sing while recognizing both the pain of the world and the light of Christ being birthed in us. This is the actual longest night of the whole year.

All events will begin at 4 pm in the parish hall of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 545 S. 5th Ave., just south of downtown Tucson. Each gathering will include a vegetarian meal at 5:30. We'll use local seasonal food. A $5 donation is suggested if you can swing it to cover the cost. Any extra funds will be donated to the Community Food Bank.

Everyone is invited. So come, spread the word and bring some friends!

Retreating again

This coming weekend, we are attempting again to go away and do some community planning. Vision and location are the themes. For the last few weeks we've been gathering on Friday nights to transition into a day of rest through food and singing.

In other news, Bread & Oranges is still accepting submissions. Join the Living's magazine will now launch after the first of the year. Theme is Borderlands. Check out the mag page on www.jointheliving.com for more. If you'd like to receive a printed copy on 100 percent recycled paper, the cost will be $9 per issue or $27 for a one-year subscription. If you are in it you get a free copy. So submit. Or write me with your questions, breadandorangesATgmailDOTcom

Peace out.

—Carol

Kate's back in the pulpit

For tomorrow at least.

Kate is preaching at Southside Presbyterian Church at 9:30 a.m.

The scripture is the call of Moses.

The perfect imperfect way

Well, we didn't go up the mountain. Not everyone ended up being able to get away. So we had supper, checked in, walked around the neighborhood, talked about our vision for community, and sang and prayed.

We remembered that any community, church, and attempt at living the Christian way, always comes up short. We toasted to imperfection and to loving each other anyway.

In the midst of our singing and sharing about lousy summers, something beyond us seemed to settle in. It was a gentle presence. A palpable spirit of quiet hope. And I was transformed by being there with this presence. It only comes when I am with others.

It doesn’t seem to matter if we are all in despair, threadbare, and wandering around the landscape of our lives dumbfounded. It seems to calm us.

I experience this presence as it returns me to the truest grounding. Expands me beyond myself. This is God to me. And this is Christian community. The “Where ever two or more of you are gathered in my name, there I will be with you,” sort of community.

I can’t really explain it. But it’s why I believe in something more than we can see. And it’s why I keep on this path.

Retreating for Depth

We are giddy with expectant hope.

This weekend we will drive up our favorite mountain with some new friends. Our purpose is to get away to listen. We want to talk and pray and sing our way into the nitty gritty of forming an intentional community.

We know a few things. We like singing together. It's like prayer. Or chocolate, maybe. Among us are two singer-songwriters, one of us who can make up a song about her dogs at the drop of a hat, and a real-live dancing and clapping baby. The others of us like to join right in with great gusto. So, we want to keep singing together. We know that.

We all love food. Growing it. Cooking it. Navigating local farmers markets. Supporting local farmers and native seeds. Water harvesting. Sharing meals. Offering hospitality and parties centered around food. So, food. We like it. We want to have some. And share it. We know that too.

We all seek the flow that brings abundance. We want our shared life—gathering for prayer, silence, meals, conversation, weed pulling, and playing—to not be an end to itself, but a way of integrated life, that generates life. We want to live in a way that frees us. Frees our time and resources to be given away more generously. Frees our schedules to be more attentive to our individual calls in the world. So, we want to life life with joy, freedom, and a sense of abundance that allows us to live with generosity for others. Abundant life. Yeah, we'd like some of that too.

We've been pondering over the 12 marks of new monasticism. Kate and I have been talking a lot lately about Third Way thinking and Walter Wink's theology.

We look forward to what the spirit continues to stir up within and among us this weekend. It is beyond us and yet we get to participate in bringing it to life. I like working with the pieces of the dream of God that we get to be part of. I hope you'll keep us in your prayers.

Bread & Oranges magazine

You can view the pilot issue online now. It's a morsel to let you see just some of the sorts of things you'll find inside Bread & Oranges.

A one year subscription includes two print issues and an art surprise mailed right to your door.

Print! Snail mail! Art and Creativity you can hold! It's retro! And can be yours. $27 per year. Sign up online via pay pall. Or send checks made out to Join the Living to:

Bread & Oranges magazine
c/0 Join the Living
P.O. Box 42766
Tucson, AZ 85733

3 life-giving morsels for you

Well, just to keep things interesting, here are three things that I ran across recently that are bringing more life to the world. May they inspire you.

As for Join the Living updates, the first issue of Bread and Oranges is coming together. There is still time to submit and now is always a good time to get a subscription. Also, locally, we are meeting regularly with some folks to discuss and discern forming an intentional community together.

Now, on to those life-giving morsels as promised...

First, a documentary that we saw recently: Young at Heart. It is about a chorus of seniors in their 70s—90s who sing rock songs. Makes you think about life and death, what it means to our souls to keep on singing, and how humans can bless one another just by doing something that makes us come alive. It's wonderful. Here's a "Staying Alive/ I will Survive Montage."



Second, Girl Effect, is a group that is hooking girl power up to the social change machine and pressing, "Go!"



And third, here's another creative, social change machine. The pedal-powered Bloom device from the lovely minds at Society Creative llc.


"The Bloom device is meant to be a subversive and inspirational tool for our concrete jungles. Similar to the tuft of a dandelion as the wind carries the seedling, we propose a way of dispersing seedlings with bubbles and bicycling. Seeds are co-mingled with a bubble mixture and upon pedaling to your destination , you release the floating seeds which land in cracks and crevices throughout the city streets. Over time, the seeds grow into flowers and plants to create a green "fringe" to our sidewalks and streets."