Today I spent most of my day at the KIA dealership with the DOOR van. I have to admit, of the things I get to do in my job, maintaining vehicles and property is not at the top of my excitement list. Thinking about the new books we’ll read in the Dwell houses next year is exciting; getting to talk with and meet the new Dwellers is exciting; interviewing potential summer staff is exciting; getting a new tail light for the DOOR van and an oil change…not quite as exciting. It was not long after I got to the dealership that Dexter pulled me back to the car repair area to show me the transmission fluid. The fluid was supposed to be a light pink/red color. Our transmission fluid looked like sludge. Dexter said it looked like it had not been changed since the car was new (five years ago). He then stressed to me the importance of preventive car maintenance. Preventive car maintenance is the necessary work that keeps your vehicle in good running condition. Preventive maintenance reduces the chance that your car will break down and prolongs the life of the engine, cooling system, brakes and, yes, the transmission. As I sat in the dealership waiting for the van to be finished, I realized that there were a lot of similarities between car preventive maintenance and the life of faith. Our life of faith is filled with the necessary work that keeps our relationship with God and our neighbor in good running condition. Things like prayer, service, shared meals together, forgiveness, and worship. When viewed as single episodes, maybe they don’t seem so exciting or spectacular, but these Christian practices are the essential routine that helps us live the lives God is calling us to live. I believe it is much more our preventive maintenance or spiritual practices, rather than our mountain top experiences that sustain us as Christ’s hands and feet in the world. And so in celebration of my new appreciation of the role of preventive maintenance, I’d like to share some of the small but exciting work our Dwellers have been doing this week. These may not seem like huge events, but it is spiritual routines, like these, that are the foundation of our Dwell Intentional Christian communities.
· Katie, one of the Capitol View Dwellers, was a face painter at the first annual Perkerson Park Spring Forward Festival in the neighborhood.
· Alison helps tutor in the GED program in the Capitol View Neighborhood and the house prayed for one of the men she works with who is taking his test today.
· The Grant Park Dwellers spent Saturday morning eating hot dogs and watching movies with the residents of a senior high rise in their neighborhood.
· The potential Dwellers who were in Atlanta for an informational weekend spent Saturday morning cutting down bamboo for the Oakleaf Mennonite Garden, a ministry of Berea Mennonite Church.
· Both houses spent time praying for one another, eating together and supporting one another in both their celebrations and disappointments.
Just a few of the many spiritual routines lived out in our Dwell program each week. Thanks be to God.
~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director
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