Time to Act

I am going to speak generally about Christians in America for a moment. What I am going to say is from my experience and what I have seen. We have a major problem. Our view of ourselves as American Christians is becoming more and more a factor in our disconnect from loving our neighbors as Jesus commanded. I can speculate which historical events have gotten us here: Manifest Destiny, the Red Scare, the rise of Silicon Valley. No matter, we need a solution. Today I realized what we were missing while touring a neighborhood in Portland. These neighbors turned their main intersection into a community center after a few children were hit by a speeding car.
They came together in the moment of crisis and resolved to make their community a tight knit group that communally protected, cultivated and produced their culture.
Ok. Stop.
This is the part where your patriotism causes your chest to puff up and stuff your ears shut. This looks too much like that idealistic socialism or worst communism.
Possibly.
However, I say that not only is this type of set up is the most loyal form of patriotism, but also the kind of action that it takes to really love your neighbors.
Open yards, shared gardens, skill trading, neighborhood puppet shows and work parties.
Idealistic? Yep. Scary? You bet.
To be honest, even saying hi to most of our neighbors would scare the everythings out of me!
But we were not put on Earth to close our doors.
The biggest argument we throw at this kind of cultural change is:
"Unrealistic. People are sinners and therefore our system (no matter how selfish) isn't possible and would be disastrous."
Most likely if our government used this system it would be catastrophic (we have seen that in history before).
But that is not an excuse for us, the church, not to adopt this.
We as Christians should initiate neighborhood communal living BECAUSE of sin.
Who else will combat crime, desperation, poverty and danger in our own neighborhoods?
There are some practical ways to do this:

• Creating community meeting places out of recycled materials
  
• Putting together a monthly work party that helps out at each neighbor's house
• Allowing an unused space on your property to be used for a community crop (potatoes, onions, garlic etc.).
• Establishing a 'skill and item' trade system between neighbors
• Initiating getting together for a movie night or potluck in the community space
• Being open to change and ideas for the community space

We should never so greatly fear the differences of our neighbors that we never make an effort to truly love them.
And loving them doesn't mean we are the 'oh-so-benevolent-ones'. It means we care enough to facilitate bringing together everyone's skills, talents to produce a web of mutual benefaction in which we just have a part.

Welp. Now I just have to practice this. I have found portions of the permaculture philosophy most inspiring. To check out more about the neighborhood in Portland click here or search 'Share It Square Portland'.
I am going to try small things and see how they work.
Will report back!