Brief Report on Living Justice 2006
by Darlene DiDomineck
Let mutual love continue.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing
that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them;
those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.
(Hebrews 13: 1-3 NRSV)
The call of the author of Hebrews to "let mutual love continue" sums up the experience of the 2006 Living Justice event. On June 24th after a long day of weather related travel complications 19 participants and three facilitators met at Alma Matthews House, New York City to "let mutual love continue," as we listened to the stories of our neighbors and shared our own.
We began our event by sharing our stories of life, hope, struggle and immigration. On Sunday we worshiped with the Village Church and shared lunch and stories with our neighbors at the Village Church's Meal ministry with the Homeless community. We heard stories throughout the day of our neighbors' struggles with acquiring legal working papers, affordable housing, healthcare, employment at a living wage, and inequality in the public school system.
2006 Living Justice Participants
Click for larger image.
As the week continued, we participated in a two-day seminar facilitated by the Seminar Program on National and International affairs at the Church Center of the United Nations.
We explored the good work of the United Methodist community and our ecumenical partners in working for justice for our refugee and immigrant neighbors.
As a conclusion to our event, we ended in the same manner we began with sharing what we have learned through these stories of hope, liberation, motivation and mutual love.
We "let mutual love continue" across the boundaries of race, class, gender and theological point of view. We have shared our lives, our stories, our hopes, our calls to ministry and are forever changed by each other. We do not all agree but, we have mutual love for one another. We may not all agree on the avenues to take but agree that without mutual love we cannot "show hospitality to (the) strangers" among us.
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Darlene DiDomineck is a deaconess candidate and was a facilitator for the 2006 Living Justice seminar.
