JustFaith at Mayflower: Stepping Out of the Bubble
Author: Valerie Kit Love

In daily life, it is mediocrity and comfort that rob us from our relationship to authentic and empathetic living. Through JustFaith I have agreed to study and look consciously and compassionately at lives and environments outside my luxurious bubble of living. As my heart is opening and aching, I wish to share some insights into the 30 week program.

I have committed, with five others, to directed study and dialogue concerning poor and disenfranchised people. After ten weeks of meeting, I am beginning to cultivate sincere relationships with Mayflower members and receive enlightening insights into their views and convictions around social justice, faith, and responsibility of the faithful to impoverished people.

Beginning weekly with simple prayer and ritual, we pray for the world, our brothers and sisters, ourselves, and our emerging vision. We ask for our hearts and minds to be opened to broader ways of seeing, for greater ways to love, for clearer ways to serve. Dialogue and inquiry is facilitated through pre-selected readings covering hunger, poverty, health and sanitation, global economics and its effects on the less fortunate. Video documentaries are regularly presented to foster added thought and understanding. Candid depictions of our disenfranchised brothers and sisters are the subjects of the readings and videos. Always present is the invitation to ask, "How can I contribute to change in the world?" and "What can I do to make a difference?"

For ten weeks, I have been shaken. I have felt shame. I have been educated. I have been inspired. I have had my heart cracked open. I am confused. I am often unsteady inside. I am changed yet know not how to make a significant change.

As an emersion experience, we visited Hand Up Ministry, an organization assisting ex-convicts in re-entry to non-penal society. For 11 years, Hand Up has helped men and women gain employment, provided money management skills, spiritual and psychological counseling, and Bible study. Director, David Nichols, shared with us heartfelt stories of the residents' challenges and the determination required to rebuild life after prison. Self-esteem and personal responsibility evolve as greater skills are developed. The opportunity to dine with residents and listen to stories, dark and light, of these men's lives was the highpoint of the visit.

JustFaith presses me beyond the chambers of my prayer closet. Its goal is to press me into action, sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully. It is changing me. It is changing our small group. It's worth being changed.

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