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HOUSE NEWS: Need help at the cafe this week and new newsletter!
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Green House.
NEED HELP AT THE CAFE THIS WEDNESDAY: We’re short a handful of volunteers for the café this Wednesday, so if you can help out, it would be much appreciated. We’re down two volunteers for morning prep work, starting at 9:30am and going through noon; and we’re down one person at noon for serving between 12-3pm. If you can help out, even for an hour we’d be very grateful!
NEW EDITION OF CONSPIRE, OUR NEWSLETTER, IS NOW AVAILABLE: We just completed another edition of our irregular newsletter, Conspire, and many of you should be receiving a copy in the mail this week. If you don’t get a hard copy and would like to be added to the mailing list, let us know! If you want to download and look at a PDF of the newsletter, you can see it here.
STILL LOOKING FOR MORE HELP WITH SEVERAL BIG SUMMER PROJECTS: (Thanks to several folks who responded last week to this info. Johnny or Kelli will be in touch with you this week.) This is the time of “big” projects for us at the Green House and we could use quite a bit of help outside of the regular volunteer opportunities. If you’re interested in helping, email us and we’ll contact you with more information about the particulars for each project. And if you could pass around the list below to family members, friends, co-workers, churches and others who you think might be able to help, we would be forever grateful!
- The creation of an outdoor dining area in our side yard: We’ve been really busy over the past few months, with an average of 45 people coming four days a week for breakfast, and often close to 100 joining us for lunch on Wednesday. We can only seat about 20 people at a time in the house, so it has been a little challenging to offer the leisurely meals we would like to and also make sure everyone has a chance to sit down for a bit. (Still people are grateful for the good food, the soft music and newspaper, and the gracious volunteers.) But what we would really like is to spruce up the side yard and make it an outdoor dining space. During the nice weather, we could serve twice as many people at a time with the space we have outdoors. We earned money with the Art for All sale to purchase supplies to build some more picnic tables and hopefully some bricks or pavers to create a patio or build a deck. We need volunteers to help, and we could really use some project coordination by someone with expertise and experience in construction, landscaping, etc.
- The creation of a parking lot/bus stop oasis: Clayton and Gloria are heading up their final project before they leave for New Orleans this summer – a little oasis for folks waiting for the bus near our parking lot gardens. Clayton had noticed that some disabled and elderly folks from a public housing apartment building nearby were having to stand in the sun and wait for the bus that stops near our gardens. After bringing a house chair outside several times for people, he floated the idea of building a permanent bench under the tree. The idea has since grown to include a butterfly garden and a “little library” – a small, enclosed box on a pole (like a bird house) filled with used books and a sign “take one, leave one.” We have been amazed by how much plant life the outskirts of that empty parking lot next door can sustain. It’s often abuzz with bees, butterflies, and birds as well. We’re excited about creating a little nature oasis among the asphalt and concrete and grateful to Gloria and Clayton for it. If you want to help out, lend supplies or expertise, get in touch with Clayton and Gloria or send us an email and we’ll connect you.
- House painting: A few years ago, we had a guest who offered to paint the house. He got about 90% finished and we’d like to finish the last bits over the summer. This includes painting the small outcrop at the top of the house that offers venting for the attic, as well as painting just above the frames of the upstairs windows. It’s a complicated job because of the height, but if anyone has the experience and expertise and could help, we’d be grateful. We additionally are thinking of several other smaller painting projects if you’re interested (the doors, steps, the picket fence, etc.)
- Various repair jobs: From patching up drywall to fixing the upstairs bathroom to putting in shelves in the kitchen and so on, we have a number of jobs around the house for which we can provide person-power but need expertise. If you’re adept at plumbing or drywall or carpentry and so on, and could coach us through various small repairs, we’d love the help.
For any of these, just email us at gvillecw@yahoo.com.
HOUSE NEWS: Summer project help, Vickie graduates, microfarm workday!
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Green House.
SUMMER A SCHEDULE CHANGES: Beginning this week, there are a few changes in the schedule. Most importantly, we’ll be serving breakfast only 2 days a week instead of four during the rest of May and through June. Breakfast@theGreenHouse will still be from 7-9am, but we’ll just do it on Monday and Friday. We can use 1-2 volunteers for both of those days if you are available and would like to commit for the next six weeks or so. Just send us an email and let us know which day you’d like to help. Additionally, Art for All will work not meet each Saturday during the summer, but instead there will be several “guerilla art” projects for which they’ll announce on Facebook and in the weekly email when they’ll be meeting and any supplies they’ll need. Another change: The Green House Knitters will start meeting on Monday evenings again, 7:30-9pm. Everything else is the same! We can especially use help at the microfarm on Thursday mornings and at the café, anytime on Wednesday between 9:30am and 4pm.
CONGRATULATIONS VICKIE! Vickie Machado, a live-in member of the Green House for the past two years, graduated last week with a MA in Religion and Nature. We’re so proud of her! Vickie is living at the house through the end of the month, so 1) if you’re by the house make sure to congratulate her and 2) let her know of any contacts you have in S. Florida for possible work for her!
Congrats Vickie! (pictured with Robert)
WE NEED HELP WITH SEVERAL BIG SUMMER PROJECTS: This is the time of “big” projects for us at the Green House and we could use quite a bit of help outside of the regular volunteer opportunities. If you’re interested in helping, email us and we’ll contact you with more information about the particulars for each project. And if you could pass around the list below to family members, friends, co-workers, churches and others who you think might be able to help, we would be forever grateful!
- The creation of an outdoor dining area in our side yard: We’ve been really busy over the past few months, with an average of 45 people coming four days a week for breakfast, and often close to 100 joining us for lunch on Wednesday. We can only seat about 20 people at a time in the house, so it has been a little challenging to offer the leisurely meals we would like to and also make sure everyone has a chance to sit down for a bit. (Still people are grateful for the good food, the soft music and newspaper, and the gracious volunteers.) But what we would really like is to spruce up the side yard and make it an outdoor dining space. During the nice weather, we could serve twice as many people at a time with the space we have outdoors. We earned money with the Art for All sale to purchase supplies to build some more picnic tables and hopefully some bricks or pavers to create a patio or build a deck. We need volunteers to help, and we could really use some project coordination by someone with expertise and experience in construction, landscaping, etc.
- The creation of a parking lot/bus stop oasis: Clayton and Gloria are heading up their final project before they leave for New Orleans this summer – a little oasis for folks waiting for the bus near our parking lot gardens. Clayton had noticed that some disabled and elderly folks from a public housing apartment building nearby were having to stand in the sun and wait for the bus that stops near our gardens. After bringing a house chair outside several times for people, he floated the idea of building a permanent bench under the tree. The idea has since grown to include a butterfly garden and a “little library” – a small, enclosed box on a pole (like a bird house) filled with used books and a sign “take one, leave one.” We have been amazed by how much plant life the outskirts of that empty parking lot next door can sustain. It’s often abuzz with bees, butterflies, and birds as well. We’re excited about creating a little nature oasis among the asphalt and concrete and grateful to Gloria and Clayton for it. If you want to help out, lend supplies or expertise, get in touch with Clayton and Gloria or send us an email and we’ll connect you.
- House painting: A few years ago, we had a guest who offered to paint the house. He got about 90% finished and we’d like to finish the last bits over the summer. This includes painting the small outcrop at the top of the house that offers venting for the attic, as well as painting just above the frames of the upstairs windows. It’s a complicated job because of the height, but if anyone has the experience and expertise and could help, we’d be grateful. We additionally are thinking of several other smaller painting projects if you’re interested (the doors, steps, the picket fence, etc.)
- Various repair jobs: From patching up drywall to fixing the upstairs bathroom to putting in shelves in the kitchen and so on, we have a number of jobs around the house for which we can provide person-power but need expertise. If you’re adept at plumbing or drywall or carpentry and so on, and could coach us through various small repairs, we’d love the help.
For any of these, just email us at gvillecw@yahoo.com.
MONTHLY WORKDAY AT BAM ON SATURDAY: On Saturday, May 18, from 9am to noon, we’ll all be gathering at Black Acres Microfarm (BAM) for our monthly workday. In partnership with BAM, we help provide regular volunteers and the produce from the microfarm is shared with our friends and neighbors at the cafe and through distribution. Volunteer all morning or for an hour or whatever suits your schedule. Call Jade at 352-275-4661 or 352-337-0817 to get directions and let him know you’re coming!
COMMUNITY PRAYER AND POTLUCK ON SUNDAY: For about a year now, a group of folks, including some of us associated with the Green House, have been committed to forming an intentional community. Once-a-month, we gather at various people’s homes, in the spirit of the early church, to pray together and share a meal. The gathering is open to anyone who would like to join us. This week, we’re gathering on Sunday at Hurley House (the big pink building at the east end of the parking lot behind St. Augustine Catholic Student Center and Church), from 4-7pm. Feel free to join us!
HOUSE NEWS: Join us on Friday…or Saturday…or Monday….
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Gainesville Catholic Worker.
Lots happening over this last stretch of days before we take a one-week break between semesters! Here’s what you need to know, and we hope you can join us for one or more of these events!
Citizen’s Coop, 435 S. Main Street, Be there on Friday night for the Art Walk and visit our table!
TOMORROW, FRIDAY APRIL 26, WE’RE ON THE ART WALK! We’re so grateful to Citizens’ Coop for including our artists and crafters from Art for All in this Froday’s Art Walk, taking place from 7-10pm at a variety of locations downtown (click here to see and print out a map). We’ll have a table at Citizens’ Coop, displaying and selling items made by our cadre of artsists and crafters who gather each Saturday at the Green House to make beautiful things from recycled materials. So if you have a chance to drop by the table and say hello and maybe purchase something, we would be so grateful!
DROP BY CITIZENS COOP AND HELP SUPPORT THE GREEN HOUSE: And speaking of Citizens Coop… Don’t forget to that all this month (five more days!), Citizens Coop is featuring us, The Green House, as the object of their “Be the Change” campaign. Set up at each register in the store is a glass jar and information about the Green House. Customers can drop their change into the glass jars and at the end of the month, the Coop will direct all the proceeds to us. They’ll be doing this every month, focusing on a different group, and we’re lucky enough to be the very first one! So drop by the Coop, pick up some great food, and drop your change in the jar! Come on Friday night at visit the Art Walk table and drop some change in the jars!
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, MONTHLY WORKDAY AT THE MICROFARM: If you have not visited Jade and Lynn’s microfarm, you don’t know what you’re missing! They have done incredible things at Black Acres Microfarm, and each month, we host a workday at the farm to help give back for all the produce they send our way each week for us to share with people who don’t get much good, healthy food. Come this Saturday and help out with basic farm chores, anytime between 9am and noon. BAM is located at 415 NW 32nd Street, near to the Publix Shopping Center on 34th Street and University Avenue.
From left, Tamra (former GCW live-in community member), with Gloria and Vickie
MONDAY, APRIL 29, END OF THE SEMESTER PRAYER SERVICE AND POTLUCK: Each semester we are so lucky to have a group of people make a commitment to live and work at the Green House, and when it the semester ends, it is always hard to say good-bye. So at the end of each semester, we host a special prayer service and potluck dinner, to thank these young folks and send them off with our blessing to continue the work they’ve begin here wherever their journey may take them. So on Monday, April 29 at 6:30pm, we invite you to join us in saying good-bye and thank you to Vickie, Gloria and Clayton. Vickie has lived with us for two years now, and volunteered for several years prior to that.
Clayton, at the cafe
Gloria and Clayton also volunteered for several years and spent the past year living at the house. We hope you’ll come, share stories and memories about them, and join us in blessing them as they move on from Gainesville into new and exciting endeavors. If you can bring a dish to share, that would be great! The prayer service will begin at 6:30pm with the potluck dinner to follow. And besides our live-in community members, we always like to give thanks to anyone who has spent time volunteering at the Green House during their time in Gainesville. So come by and let us know if you’ll be leaving after this semester or over the summer can we give you a proper thank you!
NEEDED: TUESDAY MORNING VOLUNTEERS! We’re short-handed on volunteers for Tuesday’s breakfast and could use 1-2 regulars, between 7-9am. (We could also use a second volunteer on any of the weekdays beginning with May and running through June!). Let us know if you’re interested and can help out.
ON BREAK FROM MAY 5-12: We’ll also be taking a short break, May 5-12, while UF and Santa Fe are on break between semesters. We’ll start back up with a summer schedule for May and June on Monday, May 13th. Check the website soon for more info on what will be happening during May and June.
Thanks for all your support!
HOUSE NEWS: Roundtable on intentional communities this Thursday
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Gainesville Catholic Worker.
First off, a quick thank you to everyone who helped out this weekend preparing for and then participating in the big Art for All Open House and Sale. We had a great turn-out, much pie was eaten, and many folks helped support the house by buying some of the items created this past semester at Art for All. We’ll continue to display items throughout the next two weeks, so if there is something you might like to purchase, stop by any weekday and you can look at what is left (someone is always on duty between 1-5pm, but you can stop by anytime). We’ll also be displaying at the Art Walk on Friday, April 26, so come by and see us then (more info in next week’s email). You can click here to see some of the items created at Art for All.
ROUNDTABLE THIS WEEK ON INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES: This week, we’re really excited to have back with us Whitney Sanford, UF professor of religion, to talk about “Sustainability, Autonomy, and Resilience: Lessons from Intentional Communities.” The roundtable will be on Thursday at 6:30pm at the Green House. Here’s a short description: “Intentional communities such as Catholic Worker Houses and Farms, ecovillages, and Transition Towns, demonstrate alternatives, including voluntary simplicity, regional economies, and community responsibility. What can we learn from these communities, and how do these lessons translate beyond these communities?” Bring a dish to share if you can!
COMMUNITY PRAYER SERVICE ON SUNDAY: This Sunday, we’ll be hosting a community prayer service and potluck dinner at the Green House, from 4-7pm. A small group of folks have been meeting monthly to worship together, plan activities and share a meal. Everyone is welcome to join us. Bring a dish to share if you can!
DROP BY CITIZENS COOP AND HELP SUPPORT THE GREEN HOUSE: All this month, Citizens Coop is featuring us, The Green House, as the object of their “Be the Change” campaign. Set up at each register in the store is a glass jar and information about the Green House. Customers can drop their change into the glass jars and at the end of the month, the Coop will direct all the proceeds from us. They’ll be doing this every month, focusing on a different group, and we’re lucky enough to be the very first one! So drop by the Coop, pick up some great food, and drop your change in the jar! Thanks! (You can see more about it here, http://www.citizensco-op.com/community/be-the-change, although the site is down right now for some reason.)
Thanks for all yor support!
HOUSE NEWS: Come have a piece of homemade pie and enjoy the Art for All Open House this Sunday
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Gainesville Catholic Worker.
ART FOR ALL OPEN HOUSE (WITH HOMEMADE PIES!) THIS SUNDAY, APRIL 14: Each semester, a group of artists and crafters from among our house community, former guests and community members, volunteers, and friends who live on the street meet every Saturday to encourage each other’s creativity. They make beautiful objects of art and wonderful and useful crafts from a whole host of found and recycled items–old calendars, t-shirts, bottles, magazines, and such. These items get “up-cycled” to make vases, gift bags, rugs, paper flowers, ornaments and more (click here to see some Art for All creations). And at the end of each semester, we host an Art for All Open House to share with the larger community these beautiful works of love. The Art for All Open House will be this coming weekend, on Sunday, April 14, from 1-4pm. Stop by to see the work of these artsists and crafters, enjoy a slice of homemade pie, and maybe pick up a Mother’s Day (or graduation) gift. Please invite friends and others!
DROP BY CITIZENS COOP AND HELP SUPPORT THE GREEN HOUSE: All this month, Citizens Coop is featuring us, The Green House, as the object of their “Be the Change” campaign. Set up at each register in the store is a glass jar and information about the Green House. Customers can drop their change into the glass jars and at the end of the month, the Coop will direct all the proceeds from us. They’ll be doing this every month, focusing on a different group, and we’re lucky enough to be the very first one! So drop by the Coop, pick up some great food, and drop your change in the jar! Thanks! (You can see more about it here, http://www.citizensco-op.com/community/be-the-change, although the site is down right now for some reason.)
A WINDOW INTO THE WORLD OF THE GREEN HOUSE: Kelli wrote a really beautiful piece that I think captures a slice of our life at the Green House. The post is on her blog, What We Need Is Here, and it is entitled “Mercy.” You can find it by clicking here. Check it out when you have the time.
INTERESTED IN LIVING AT THE GAINESVILLE CATHOLIC WORKER FOR A SEMESTER? Each semester, we accept 3-6 students, recent grads, and other aduts who are interested in exploring life and work in a gospel-based community, standing with and working alongside people whom our society marginalizes, and deepening one’s sense of the intersection between spirituality and social justice. The GCW Semester gives individuals the opportunity to experiment with and practice a life of simplicity, solidarity, service, community, spirituality and more. It is a “total immersion” engagement in the life and work of the GCW. If you or someone you know might be interested in living and working with us for the Fall 2013 semester, we’d love to share information and talk. Email us and we’ll send some information to look through and set up a time to meet.
Hope you’ll stop by this weekend, Sunday from 1-4pm, and share a piece of pie with us!
HOUSE NEWS: Need some new volunteers and looking for folks to live here for Fall 2013
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Gainesville Catholic Worker.
LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD VOLUNTEERS: As the semester starts to wind down for students at UF and Santa Fe, we’ll be in need of some new regular volunteers starting this month and running through June. We’re hoping to continue as many of our projects as we can through the months of May and June, but we’ll need your help. If you think you can help out one day a week for Breakfast@theGreenHouse or Wednesday’s cafe in the morning or afternoon or Thursday morning at the microfarm, we’d love to have you! Just send us an email and we’ll plug you in starting this month or next…
INTERESTED IN LIVING AT THE GAINESVILLE CATHOLIC WORKER FOR A SEMESTER? Each semester, we accept 3-6 students, recent grads, and other aduts who are interested in exploring life and work in a gospel-based community, standing with and working alongside people whom our society marginalizes, and deepening one’s sense of the intersection between spirituality and social justice. The GCW Semester gives individuals the opportunity to experiment with and practice a life of simplicity, solidarity, service, community, spirituality and more. It is a “total immersion” engagement in the life and work of the GCW. If you or someone you know might be interested in living and working with us for the Fall 2013 semester, we’d love to share information and talk. Email us and we’ll send some information to look through and set up a time to meet.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! ART FOR ALL OPEN HOUSE (WITH PIE!) ON APRIL 14: Our semesterly Art for All Open House (with pie!) will be on Sunday, April 14, from 1-4pm. We’ve created some beautiful things – from vases to rugs, made from recycled material. Come enjoy the beauty and creativity – and maybe pick up a Mother’s Day (or graduation) gift. We’ll also have slices of homemade pie on hand for anyone who comes by!
RETREAT ON INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES THIS WEEKEND: Pax Christi Florida is hosting a retreat on the spirituality of intentional communities with Christine Vladimiroff, osb in Delray Beach April 6-7. Two members of our community will be attending. If you’re interested, you can find out more about the retreat by clicking here.
Hope you had a happy Easter and looking forward to seeing many of you this week!
HOUSE NEWS: Mark your calendar for Art for All sale (with pie!)
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Gainesville Catholic Worker.
NAPKINS NEEDED: With all of the extra meals we have been serving since starting to serve breakfast 4 times a week, we find that we are often running out of cloth napkins – especially after rainy days when we can’t hang them out to dry. Our friend Beth has a serger that can whip out napkins in no time, but we need fabric scraps to make them. Do you have any large fabric scraps (at last 18″ square) that you aren’t using? If so, drop them by the house and we’ll put them to use!
Rugs for the Art for All sale!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR! ART FOR ALL OPEN HOUSE (WITH PIE!) ON APRIL 14: Our semesterly Art for All Open House (with pie!) will be on Sunday, April 14, from 1-4pm. We’ve created some beautiful things – from vases to rugs, made from recycled material. Come enjoy the beauty and creativity – and maybe pick up a mother’s day (or graduation) gift. We’ll also have slices of homemade pie on hand for anyone who comes by!
DIEDRE HOUCHEN, FRIEND OF THE GCW, TO SPEAK AT LAW SCHOOL EVENT ON TRAYVON MARTIN CASE: “At Close Range: The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin,” is March 20 at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom, HOL 180. The Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations will bring together experts from nine different departments at UF along with keynote speaker, New York Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow. The panel presentations will be from 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. and Blow’s keynote lecture will be from noon – 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and law school parking restrictions will be lifted in the green lots. The panels will look at a wide variety of issues raised by the case, from a multitude of academic perspectives. Some of the featured panels include “Jim Crow Riding High: The 21st Century Assault on African-American Voting Rights in Florida,” “Half-Baked: Weed, Race and the Demonization of Trayvon Martin,” and “Racial Profiling, Security and Human Rights.”
LENTEN SCRIPTURE STUDY CONTINUES: We’ll be continuing for the next three Wednesdays to look at the gospel readings for the rest of Lent, with a wrap-up session the Wednesday after. We meet from 7:30-9pm and all are welcome. Here is the reflection on yesterday’s gospel reading, John’s story of the woman caught in adultery. Also, each Tuesday during Lent, Kelli has been writing short weekly reflections (so far, on awe, joy and presence.) Click here to read all three of this Lent’s posts so far.
EXTRA VOLUNTEER HELP NEEDED ON MONDAY AFTER EASTER, APRIL 1: Several of our house members will be away on the Monday after Easter, April 1, and we’re in need of 2-3 extra volunteers to help with Breakfast@theGreenHouse that day from 7-9am. If you think you can make a one-time commitment to help that day, please let us know.
Hope to see many of you this week!
SCRIPTURE STUDY: John 8:1-11 – Lessons for men, and seeing the sins of others through our own sinfulness
John 8:1-11, reading for the fifth Sunday of Lent, March 17
Most, maybe all, biblical scholars agree that John 8:1-11 is not original to John’s gospel, and that it actually reflects Lucan artistry and themes much more. For this reason, some commentaries neglect to reflect on the passage at all. It is a problematic passage for our study because we’ve stressed the importance of studying passages in their narrative context, especially paying attention to what comes just before and immediately after the passage as we unpack everything going on within it. So if John 8:1-11 isn’t original to the gospel, its importance within the overall narrative is compromised, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t take it for what it is in itself.
The passage opens within a highly public setting—the place being the “temple area” and “all the people” coming to Jesus (v. 2). The scribes and Pharisees, traditional opponents of Jesus, enter in v. 3, dragging along a woman that they presumably have caught committing adultery. Immediately we should be aware that it takes at least 2 to commit adultery, and while the Pharisees and scribes have no problem apprehending the woman, her presumed partner, a man, seems to have given them the slip. The whole scene strains credulity. On their way to the temple area, the scribes and Pharisees just happen to come across (where, in the middle of the road?) at that very moment a woman in the act of adultery? How convenient! More likely is that this is a set-up, from beginning to end. Perhaps the scribes and Pharisees “entrap” this woman, for the purpose of challenging and embarrassing Jesus. Perhaps the woman’s adultery was a widely known “secret”, the subject of Jerusalem gossip, but only now do the scribes and Pharisees act, using her as a prop in their confrontation with Jesus. Regardless of the exact circumstances, it smells of a set-up, and the woman is nothing more than a tool, a prop, used in the scheme.
The “question” posed to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees is whether Jesus agrees with the law of Moses that the woman should be stoned for her transgression. Interestingly enough, the law they refer to (whether in Deuteronomy 22 or Leviticus 20) emphasizes that both parties—man and woman—should suffer the punishment; here, of course, this group of men concern themselves only with the woman and with what should happen to her.
So the narrator tells us in v. 6 that the scribes and Pharisees pose this question to test Jesus—but what sort of a test is it? As one of the folks in our study pointed out, it’s a no-win situation for Jesus because in the minds of his questioners, either answer he gives will damn him. Think of it like the conundrum that Jesus faced when asked whether to pay taxes to Caesar. A simple yes or a simple no will indict him either way, giving his opponents a victory and weakening his own standing with those who are listening in. A couple possibilities exist here for being “between a rock and a hard place.” One possibility is that if Jesus were to agree to the stoning of the woman, he would in fact be going against Roman law in the region, which forbid Jews from carrying out the death penalty, a sentence handed down only by the Roman authorities (think of the high priests petitioning Pilate to have Jesus executed rather than doing it themselves). If he answers no, he is tacitly recognizing the priority of Roman authority over Moses’ authority. Either way, he loses face and can be cast by his opponents as either a dangerous anti-Roman zealot inciting insurrection or as someone who has no respect for Moses and the torah. Additionally, to choose in favor of her stoning is to bolster the position of the scribes and Pharisees themselves, since such a stance would seem to be in agreement with their own.
I’d suggest another possibility too (which fits especially well if we acknowledge this passage to be part of Luke’s tradition where women are featured quite prominently, rather than John’s tradition). The Jesus movement seemed to do quite well with women of the time, including a strong suspicion that Jesus and his male disciples were “bankrolled” by women of means (receiving provisions and hospitality, etc.). Allowing for how Jesus’ message stoked within women a sense of empowerment and equality, this scene—with a woman brutalized (the scribes and Pharisees certainly did not bringing her to Jesus gently and it must have been terrifying for her) and objectified and used by men to further their own schemes—could have also functioned, intentionally or not, to drive a wedge between Jesus and his women disciples/supporters. Going along with the “law of Moses” would surely alienate those women who had found so much hope in what Jesus had said and done. But to go against the law could also weaken Jesus’ standing as a man of the times, especially in the eyes of other men, traditional men, concerned that their religious “authorities” not be seen as permissive on matters of societal importance, including the roles of women and men, the tradition of family, and so on.
Jesus doesn’t immediately respond to his questioners, instead writing in the dirt, as they continue to press him on the subject. His response of course is that the one without sin should throw the first stone. Rev. Joe Nangle writes that with his response, Jesus invites all those gathered (as well as us today) to “view the sin of those accused through our own sinfulness,” a stunning challenge when we think about it because typically we view the sins of other’s through our own comparative righteousness instead! Yes, we may be sinners too, but that person’s sin is so much worse than ours! Such thinking would have been typical of Jesus’ audience as well, including the Pharisees and scribes. It is doubtful that anyone present for this scene would have answered the question “Are you sinless?” in the positive. But what is operating here, and what Jesus undermines with his answer, is his opponents’ belief in a hierarchy of sin, where certain sins are more horrific and therefore more deserving of punishment or greater punishment than others. It isn’t that the woman is a sinner—it is that these MEN find her sin to be more repugnant, more repulsive, more everything than their own. Adultery—particularly a woman’s adultery—trumps hypocrisy or pride or sloth. Her adultery trumps every transgression, every sin that any of them has committed. But Jesus says NO to their—and our—desire to create a hierarchy of sin where some sins are worse than others (and maybe Jesus specifically says no to the hierarchy of sins created by men to obscure their own misconduct while shining a light on the misconduct of women). Jesus says sin is sin is sin—and we are all guilty.
The passage ends, of course, with all those who were present (remember that a great crowd was there, not just the scribes and Pharisees) leaving the scene, until Jesus is alone with the woman. And here Jesus again shows the difference between himself and religious authority gone astray: Jesus speaks to the woman, the first time the woman is treated as a subject, with inherent worth and dignity—not an object, not something to be used, a tool, a prop, a means to some other end—but as a person, created in the image and likeness of God. And despite whatever sinfulness she had participated in, he withholds his condemnation.
As we finished the passage, we talked about the various ways it speaks to us today. One person referenced the passage in scripture where Jesus says (paraphrased) “You have it heard it said ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say to you anyone who looks at a woman with lust in his heart has already committed adultery…” She said that we always hear this passage as Jesus condemning us for impure thoughts, but in light of today’s passage, couldn’t we look at it as Jesus resisting our own attempts again to draw lines, placing some of us in the circle—“the adulterers”—and others of us outside the circle—the “good” people, who while sinful, are at least not as bad as those in the circle, those adulterers! Such circles exist to make us feel better about ourselves while we point our fingers at those bad people who are so much worse than we are. Just as Jesus undermines any pretensions we have to create hierarchies of sin, so too does Jesus erase those lines we create to separate ourselves into less sinful (or righteous) and more sinful (or just plain sinful). She pointed out Jesus surely knew all of us have had impure thoughts, and by equating that with adultery, he blows up the circle and gets us all inside it. Sin is sin is sin. And when we hear about certain sins as worse than others, or see those held up as “the worst of sinners,” we should recognize not how much better we are in comparison, but remember our own sin too. Jesus invites us to see “the accused through our own sinfulness,” not our comparative righteousness. And to take up our place in the circle with them.
HOUSE NEWS: Microfarm workday on Saturday, Lenten reflections, and more…
Click here to see an entire list of what is happening this week at the Gainesville Catholic Worker.
WORKDAY AT THE MICROFARM: This Saturday, March 16th will be our monthly workday at Black Acres Microfarm (or BAM). We’ll be on site and can use some extra volunteers between 9am and noon. BAM is located in the 400 block of NW 32nd Street (you can’t miss it). If you’ve never been out to BAM, you need to come and see the incredible things Jade and Lynn have done with their property. The food they grow is a main source of the produce that we serve each week at the cafe, distribute to our friends and neighbors, and use in a variety of other ways to get good fruits and vegetables to people who need it. So come on out between 9am and noon on Saturday, whether you can give 30 minutes or the full three hours. (NOTE: We’re doing our monthly workday on the 3rd Saturday this month because next Saturday is Jade’s birthday! Happy Birthday Jade!)
SPEAKING OF BIRTHDAYS! Happy Birthday to Gloria Grady-Schmidt, one of our house members! Gloria will be celebrating her birthday on Thursday, March 14; so if you’re around the house this week, make sure to wish her a happy one!
REFLECTIONS FOR LENT: Each Tuesday during Lent, Kelli has been writing short weekly reflections. Her reflections so far have been on awe, joy and today, presence. Today’s post includes this paragraph: “Real presence is connection – to ourselves and our own lives, and to our Creator. The quiet practice of it, sitting still in a dark room, is a discipline. But the growing expansiveness of presence in our daily lives is perhaps the most profoundly real thing we can experience. Our eyes begin to open to sparrows and mustard seeds, the lilies in the field, the lost sheep, the person across the room praying with us and the one on his way for a cup of coffee. ‘It went by so fast,’ said a friend’s dying father before he took his last breath. Be here now.” Click here to read all three of this Lent’s posts so far.
EXTRA VOLUNTEER HELP NEEDED ON MONDAY AFTER EASTER, APRIL 1: Several of our house members will be away on the Monday after Easter, April 1, and we’re in need of 2-3 extra volunteers to help with Breakfast@theGreenHouse that day from 7-9am. If you think you can make a one-time commitment to help that day, please let us know.
AND MORE HELP NEEDED: We’re still in need os some extra help for the breakfasts (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, between 7-9am) as well as for Dorothy’s Farmers’ Market Cafe on Wednesday (anytime between 10am and 4pm). If you think you can help out, be it just once or on a regular basis, please let us know.
COMMUNITY PRAYER SERVICE AND POTLUCK MEAL: Each month, on the third Sunday of the month, a group of us get together for worship and a meal, much in the tradition of the early church. It’s a small service, intimate, held in someone’s home. This Sunday we’re hosting it here at the GCW from 4-7pm. Everyone is invited to attend. The prayer service usually lasts about 45 minutes followed by dinner. Bring a dish to share if you can!
Hope to see many of you this week!
LENT: Presence
As a household, we decided to spend fifteen minutes in silence together once a week, early in the morning when we are all theoretically available. We are rarely all there; in fact I think our average is two. But on the times we have dragged ourselves out of bed early enough to help get the breakfast ready before meeting in the dark living room at 6am, we are not sorry. We try to do as we’ve been taught and empty our heads of plans and memories and even of the strangeness of sitting quietly in the dark when there is so much to do and we would rather be sleeping. We try not to think of this, or anything. The goal is simply to be there. Almost always, there are moments of success – if only for a few seconds. Most of us agree that our very modest, weekly practice of remaining still and present in the moment stays with us for a bit and sometimes allows us to experience more deeply the people and events we’re heading for later in the day.
Sometimes it is almost magical. Somehow, instead of thinking about the level of coffee remaining in the pot and counting in our heads the number left to serve, we can listen to the guest telling us about his family’s farm in Tennessee. We remember the name of the farm late in the day. We notice and marvel that a woman’s poems sound like those of another poet we’ve read and how these two, separated by over a century, see things so similarly. We remember who prefers their coffee black and to ask about the bike ride to St. Augustine. The two hours of serving breakfast to neighbors seems exactly like two hours of serving breakfast to neighbors – not a chore on a checklist before the next thing. Sometimes we are really present.
Catholics have an interesting doctrine about “the real presence” – that the body and blood of Jesus are actually present in food, specifically the bread and wine that has been blessed at mass. Actually there, transformed at the moment the prayer is prayed into flesh and blood – not just symbolically. This hurts our modern ears. We understand that the chemical composition of bread and wine are the same with or without prayers and incense. But still we have experienced a mystical presence. Some of us have indeed felt it at the moment the prayer of “consecration” is prayed, when we feel transformed in the community of kneeling pray-ers, desiring the same thing together – that we be one, and become as one with our creator. Many more of us have experienced it outside of church.
It is a human experience, universal. A dear friend is far away, but he lies heavy on our hearts, and weighs on our mind, as if concretely here. We experience a beloved parent who has dementia – and whom we saw twice a year during the best of times – constantly present to us in the landscape or at moments of decision, the places we have been together, the person we are. A friend who died over a year ago walks beside you as you see things through her eyes and hear her voice clearly. The presence grows without bounds as if these loved ones are physically with us at their most vital. When Latino people hail one who has died as ¡presente! – I think this is what is meant. We have been transformed as a person or community by someone no longer here physically, but who lives on in us. We feel those we can no longer touch. We hear those who can no longer speak. It is mystical to the point of feeling magical. And it is real.
Real presence is connection – to ourselves and our own lives, and to our Creator. The quiet practice of it, sitting still in a dark room, is a discipline. But the growing expansiveness of presence in our daily lives is perhaps the most profoundly real thing we can experience. Our eyes begin to open to sparrows and mustard seeds, the lilies in the field, the lost sheep, the person across the room praying with us and the one on his way for a cup of coffee. “It went by so fast,” said a friend’s dying father before he took his last breath. Be here now.
-Kelli
