Rebuilder of Broken Places

This passage continues to be my life verse!

Isaiah 58 (New Century Version)

Isaiah 58                                                                              

 ¹ The Lord says, "Shout out loud. Don't hold back.
       Shout out loud like a trumpet.
    Tell my people what they have done against their God;
       tell the family of Jacob about their sins.
 ² They still come every day looking for me
       and want to learn my ways.
    They act just like a nation that does what is right,
       that obeys the commands of its God.
    They ask me to judge them fairly.
       They want God to be near them.
 ³ They say, 'To honor you we had special days when we fasted,
       but you didn't see.
    We humbled ourselves to honor you,
       but you didn't notice.' "

    But the Lord says, "You do what pleases yourselves on these special days,
       and you are unfair to your workers.
 ⁴ On these special days when you fast, you argue and fight
       and hit each other with your fists.
    You cannot do these things as you do now
       and believe your prayers are heard in heaven.
 ⁵ This kind of special day is not what I want.
       This is not the way I want people to be sorry for what they have done.
    I don't want people just to bow their heads like a plant
       and wear rough cloth and lie in ashes to show their sadness.
    This is what you do on your special days when you fast,
       but do you think this is what the Lord wants?                                   

 ⁶ "I will tell you the kind of fast I want:
    Free the people you have put in prison unfairly
       and undo their chains.
    Free those to whom you are unfair
       and stop their hard labor.
 ⁷ Share your food with the hungry
       and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes.
    When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours,
       and don't refuse to help your own relatives.
 ⁸ Then your light will shine like the dawn,
       and your wounds will quickly heal.
    Your God will walk before you,
       and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.
 ⁹ Then you will call out, and the Lord will answer.
       You will cry out, and he will say, 'Here I am.'

    "If you stop making trouble for others,
       if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others,
 ¹⁰ if you feed those who are hungry
       and take care of the needs of those who are troubled,
    then your light will shine in the darkness,
       and you will be bright like sunshine at noon.
 ¹¹ The Lord will always lead you.
       He will satisfy your needs in dry lands
       and give strength to your bones.
    You will be like a garden that has much water,
       like a spring that never runs dry.
 ¹² Your people will rebuild the old cities that are now in ruins;
       you will rebuild their foundations.
    You will be known for repairing the broken places
       and for rebuilding the roads and houses.

 ¹³ "You must obey God's law about the Sabbath
       and not do what pleases yourselves on that holy day.
    You should call the Sabbath a joyful day
       and honor it as the Lord's holy day.
    You should honor it by not doing whatever you please
       nor saying whatever you please on that day.
 ¹⁴ Then you will find joy in the Lord,
       and I will carry you to the high places above the earth.
       I will let you eat the crops of the land your ancestor Jacob had."
    The Lord has said these things.

The Good Samaritan

An expert asked Jesus a question to see what he would say. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to have eternal life? 
Jesus answered, "What is written in the Scriptures? How do you understand them?"

The man replied, "The Scriptures say, `Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.' They also say, `Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.' "

Jesus said, "You have given the right answer. If you do this, you will have eternal life."

But the man wanted to show that he knew what he was talking about. So he asked Jesus, "Who are my neighbors?"

Jesus replied:

As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho (very rugged road commonly called "The Blood Highway"), robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down the same road. But when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. Later a temple helper came to the same place. But when he saw the man who had been beaten up, he also went by on the other side.  A man from Samaria then came traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him and went over to him. He treated his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next morning he gave the innkeeper two silver coins and said, "Please take care of the man. If you spend more than this on him, I will pay you when I return." Then Jesus asked, "Which one of these three people was a real neighbor to the man who was beaten up by robbers?"

The teacher answered, "The one who showed pity and mercy."

Jesus said, "Go and do the same!"                                             


OBSERVATIONS:

When Jesus told this story, who do you think the listeners were identifying with the most?
   The crowd (Jewish):  the man who was beaten up by the robbers    The "Expert" with the spiritual leaders .  No one would have identified with the Samaratin, except Jesus forced them to, because he behaved as the Scriptures instructed.

Who do you identify with in this story?
  Are you like the man who would view the Samaratin as the "lost" or "broken" one?  But would you ever find yourself in the position where you are this desperately in need?  Not if you stay in a safe place.  Sometimes, we have to go on the "blood highway", sometimes we have to go to the place, where we can get hurt, and left half dead on the side of the road.  But most of us chose to stay home safe.  We never really discover who really is out there to rescue and defend the one's who are out there being robbed and beaten and killed!  We might "happen" to find ourselves in the same place, by turning on our evening news, or driving through a neighborhood, or attending public schools, or taking public transportation.

What do we do when we happen to be on the "Blood Highway"?
Which emotion strikes our heart?  Fear? Disgust? Mis-Trust? or Compassion?
What actions do we take?  How are the many ways we go on the other side of the street?  Or the other side of the tracks?  Do we shut off and tune out?  Do we turn our backs? Do we kick/throw stones? Do we shoot our guns to ward off any would be robbers from attacking us?  Or do we DO something?


And if we DO something is it something to appease our own emotions about the matter?  Our pity produces us to quick write a check, or do what I like to call a "One and Done" volunteer activity. Do something that makes me walk away and pat myself on the back and say "whew that made me feel good"?

Consider all the actions done as an example of being a "neighbor"

• -being on the same road
• -seeing the man in need
• -feeling for the man in need
• -going over (closer)....crossing over, not crossing away from
• -treated the wounds....getting some blood on your own hands
• -bandaged them....applying available resources
• -gave silver coin....giving of our own resources (notice not the first action)
• -please take care of him....enlisting community support
• -if you spend more....risk!
• -when I return....follow up, engagement...not abandonment

Jesus ends by asking which of the three are the real neighbor, to spur us on to be real neighbors that behave like this.  But by choosing the Samaritan Jesus is reminding us that we just might find we need the very ones we intend to serve, and they have resources and knowledge and skills that we know not of.  The "expert" was not the one to fix this broken situation.  When we go in to a situation are we coming as the experts or are we coming as fellow travelers on the Bloody Highway, subject to the same brokenness as other travelers on the way....it does require getting out of our protected cocoons but it also requires us, who happen to be on the road to truly engage, invest and persist!

TiMeBaNk!!!!

Rather than write my own description of the TimeBank, I've just posted below their own Overview!  It truly is one of the more exciting things I've come across.  I'm currently reviewing and analyzing how organizations currently are utilizing the time bank here in Dane County (Madison) to help them think through how to facilitate greater participation and collaboration.  I am sure you will be hearing more about this as I post while I learn more and get more involved.

I hope you find this interesting.  Check out on this website http://www.timebanks.org/ to find out if there is a TimeBank near you and learn more about how it works in your community....I certainly welcome any comments of other experiences.

Dane County TimeBank: An Overview

The Dane County TimeBank is a network of individuals and organizations in Dane County working to increase efficiency, opportunity and resource sharing through mutually beneficial exchange -- building community ties and community self-sufficiency. 

TimeBanks exist to promote exchanges that honor five core values:

Assets

We are all assets.

Every human being has something to contribute.

Redefining Work

Some work is beyond price.

Work has to be redefined to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice, and make the planet sustainable. That kind of work needs to be honored, recorded and rewarded.

Reciprocity

Helping works better as a two-way street.

The question: “How can I help you?” needs to change so we ask: “How can we help each other build the world we both will live in?”

Social Networks

We need each other.

Networks are stronger than individuals. People helping each other reweave communities of support, strength & trust. Community is built upon sinking roots, building trust, creating networks. Special relationships are built on commitment.

Respect

Every human being matters.

Respect underlies freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and everything we value. Respect supplies the heart and soul of democracy. When respect is denied to anyone, we all are injured. We must respect where people are in the moment, not where we hope they will be at some future point.

TimeBank members are a caring and interconnected community of people who help each other by sharing our abilities, talents, and experiences. By both giving and receiving, we learn to appreciate the value of each and every member and also come to believe in the value of our own contributions. Instead of separating our community into those who need and those who provide, we recognize that we all have needs and gifts to share. When members provide a service for other members, one TimeBank Hour is earned for each hour spent providing the service. Members can then exchange each TimeBank Hour earned for an hour of service from someone else.

The Dane County TimeBank (DCTB), with a focus on equality and community building, strives to encourage all members' strengths and involvement. TimeBank Member Coordinators take great care in matching individuals for the success and benefit of all involved in each exchange. We believe through these exchanges members build positive relationships and we broaden support networks within the community. Things that may not be as accessible due to financial situations, insurance, qualifying factors, etc. become accessible to everyone through timebanking.

Since its launch in October 2005 the Dane County TimeBank – the first of its kind in Wisconsin – has grown rapidly and is recognized as a leader in the international TimeBanking movement. The Dane County TimeBank has hosted the 2007 and 2009 International TimeBanking Conferences.  In an era of declining government funding, TimeBanking provides a practical tool to mobilize the resources of citizens in a community in a way that enables people from diverse backgrounds to know and help each other, reweaving community and building trust and skills.

The DCTB began as a pilot project in partnership with the Northside Planning Council with financial support from a City of Madison's Neighborhood Leadership and Capacity Building grant. Since 2005, the Dane County TimeBank has rapidly expanded throughout the county and has added special projects such as the TimeBank's Youth Court program, the TimeBank Store, the Community Justice and Homecoming Project, and support and empowerment of the developmental disabilities community. A primary objective of the service exchange model is to empower residents from all walks of life to create positive changes in their own communities. The TimeBank is a leadership development tool for youth, a provider of resources for individual community members, a pool of resources and springboard to address community concerns, and an organizing tool. 

An explicit goal of the Dane County TimeBank is to provide a mechanism to facilitate the sharing and exchange of resources among organizations that are often put in a position of competing for limited resources. This approach reduces strain on municipal budgets and human service providers, provides opportunities for restorative justice, and offers a chance for everyone to work together to address community needs.  The Dane County TimeBank partners with local organizations to develop programs to meet local needs. The TimeBank has attracted funding from Dane County Human Services, Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance and Community Shares of Wisconsin to support a paid staff of three.

Projects

A goal of Dane Co. TimeBank is to use the TimeBank structure to create and support projects that accomplish what people want for their own communities. At any given time we may have more informal projects that you can learn about at http://danecountytimebank.org. The following projects are ongoing programs within the Dane Co. TimeBank.

TimeBank Youth Court:

The mission of the TimeBank Youth Court is to provide an alternative to the juvenile justice system so youth can willingly take responsibility for their actions, make amends and build healthy and productive relationships to create a safer, more caring community.

The TimeBank Youth Court gives teens in trouble an opportunity to go to a jury of their peers rather than get a ticket or other formal consequence. The peer jury generally sentences youth to serve on the jury and to take part in activities that can help them succeed in the long run. These activities can include: writing letters of apology to victims or other restorative justice activities, participating in life skills or mentoring programs, tutoring younger kids, serving on the jury, and more. When young persons' sentences are complete they have the option to continue their service, earning TimeBank Hours. Our goal is to keep kids in programs that they enjoy and are benefiting from, helping them to maintain a strong social network and build their skills, capacity, and work experience. We are modeling this program on Washington DC's Time Dollar Youth Court. The TimeBank Youth Court is now underway in Madison's North and East sides, LaFollette High School, and South Madison. If you would like to get involved please call Lorrie at (608) 663-0400 or send an email.

Prison Reentry

Several organizations have teamed up to use the TimeBank structure to assist people coming out of prison in re-integrating with their communities. In addition to teaching Non-Violent Communication and meditation classes in prisons, TimeBank members are also providing Circles of Support for formerly incarcerated people, helping to connect them with other TimeBank members to build references, skills, trust and access to resources. If you would like to get involved please call (608) 663-0400 or email Cheri Maples at cheri@mindfulnessandjustice.org.

Maxine's TimeBank Store

Dane Co. TimeBank operates a store where members can get donated goods using TimeBank Hours they've earned helping in the community. The store is located at 2225 Allied Drive.To learn more or to help staff the store please contact Gary at gary@danecountyTimeBank.org or (608) 663-0400.

For more information see http://danecountytimebank.org