I’m sitting in the kitchen of our intentional community house, wavering between the thought that I’m either very cozy in this moment or a little uncomfortable. I suppose I’m only as uncomfortable as anyone is when they’re sitting in the middle of a big open room, lit by fluorescent lighting, by themselves, square in front of the only space heater that’s straining to do it’s purpose on a semi-cold night. Hm. I’ll come back to that.
It’s been 4 months since we moved into the Yellow House of Highland. And I am falling in love with this place that can’t help but ooze story. And how could it not? Our old wooden stairs, once trodden upon by 27 half-way house men as the residents before us, work sufficiently as our security system. They also make us feel like dinosaurs every time we trample down their noisy wooden structure. The house, Monday through Saturday keeps a fading scent of cookies and soup, reminding us that 30-40 young adults are crossing paths in these halls on Sunday nights for family dinner. Our toilet seats are made of ice. At least they feel that way as Louisiana gets a bit cooler and our Central Air and Heat gets a bit more nonexistent. And there’s a metal fork sticking out of the window unit in the kitchen. It’s been there for a while, but I’ve never thought to ask why. I assume it has a purpose. But that is probably an unfair assumption.
I feel like we have gotten to, as a community, learn some of the most uncomfortable lessons over the past couple of months. What a baby must feel like when it’s ready to not crawl anymore. “Were my legs made for something else? And if so…how do I start this process?” There is something in a parent that trusts that there is something innately planted inside of a tiny human that will bring them to walk when it is time.
We have had to be humbled and questioned and reminded in our growing that there is a Spirit at work within us. And He will bring our legs to straighten when we are ready.
Within those questions, the Yellow House has had to do a lot of soul searching. Personal soul searching. Ministerial soul searching. Who are we? And what would God have us do? As result, we have hammered out hours of conversations, many of which we’ve left absolutely exhausted.
Are our lives too busy with work or school or work and school to be opening a home for a community house? And what is its purpose? And are we living out that purpose? Is there time? If there is, does it even line up to what we felt led to in the first place? When we sat around lonely and separated all across town wondering why we weren’t doing life together and being inspired by something found somewhere in scripture? What was that again? Should I go see a counselor? Should I quit half my job? Simplicity’s encouraged, right? Should you quit school or move out? Should you go see a counselor? What are the needs and how are we meeting them? And who is going to initiate these 32 ideas of how to bring together the young adults of our city, love on them, grow with them, and walk with them into fuller, freer, restorative life? Should we all go see counselors?
That last question, of course, is typically “yes.”
But God has begun to answer. And our paths began to cross with the giants whose shoulders we’ve been dying to stand upon. And before we knew it, Mack McCarter (founder of Community Renewal International) was sitting in our living room one Tuesday night sharing with us his decades-long vision of restoration for human life through uniting people committed to caring for one another. Committed to intentionality. He showed us his “village structure,” the model that Community Renewal imbeds its roots within, which he says has no copyright but the Book of Acts, and he taught us. Teachings that I will never be able to repeat so eloquently, but that I know have changed my life.
Soon after that, the Yellow House Model began to be hammered out. Not to institutionalize the organic, but to give us something to step up to. That model was entirely inspired by “the village structure,” in its expression of our understanding that this holistic community will rise to its efforts of “uniting and equipping young adults, that together we may take part in the intentional, relational, and creative restoration of the Kingdom” by spending ourselves on behalf of these nine things: learning together, healing together, leading together, worshiping together, partnering together, creating together, working together, sharing together, and dwelling together. Because we have waged battle against turf war and realized that celebration lies at the end of a fight that is no more “yours” than “mine.” Division is our common enemy’s missile, and we know better.
So with that “model,” we now have reason through which we filter the ways we choose to love others. We share together by committing that what is in this house is not my own any more than my life is. We, along with our stuff, belong to someone else therefore we attempt to put our agendas, our possessions, and our grumbling aside. Or at least second to the souls of those who walk through our doors. We heal together by setting up a relational tithe fund that people have started giving extra cash to so that when one of our brothers or sisters without health insurance needs to go to Quick Care or fill a prescription, we can cover that. We also heal together by committing to confession that is sure to be welcomed by grace and truth. We are loved, we are not alone, and we are not stuck. We partner together by recognizing that there are people out there who are doing what we want to be a part of…yes…better than we know how to do. So we go to them! We learn from them! We read the books that have been written by people living in communal houses. We join with The Hub in our inner-city to serve the homeless that they are already in relationship with. We cross town to worship at 318LIVE because the Spirit in us has already been there growing a young adult worship crowd for the past few years now. We go through Community Renewals training and ask them about the widow that lives at the end of Gilbert or the single mom who lives two blocks behind us.
I have, at very most, 100 years to add to the beauty of this world. I do not want to spend half of it reinventing what someone has already done better.
We learn together by having Thursday night teachings, where we’re currently going through these 9 different commitments. We learn together by eventually bringing in professionals, educators, ministry heads, and the foolish who are so very wise to teach us things about debt management or song-writing or what the Bible says about addiction. We create together by making good art. And good music. And good photography. And good design. And people bring their guitars to our porches along with their constant spirit of sporadic jam sessions. We lead together by recognizing that there is a generation of foolish dreamers pushing their flags into the grounds around our city. Do you not feel it, Shreveport? There is a people staking claim for the years they’ve been given to do good in all the ways that they can. We lead by committing to creating and living through a system of mentoring and being mentored. We work together by living in an organic subculture of community that continues to respect a lifestyle where we are productive members of society. We were called here to work hard and play hard, and believe that both are able to be done stress free if we are passionate about our work and our play. We work together by committing to keeping a binder of jobs and ministries at the house for our friends and neighbors who are in transition and in need of income. And we dwell together by literally doing just that. By moving into a house together. Or houses together on the same street. By learning our neighbors’ names and the name of their sister that wears those quirky clothes and about the time that he quit his job because his soul was dying and how she’s afraid of being single forever and how they really do need each other but they’re not sure how to have healthy conflict. We dwell together by using each other’s washing machines and internet. We dwell together by closing our computers in the middle of a blog entry when someone walks in the door because maybe we needed to see each other’s souls more than we needed a transactional “hi and bye.”
And we are finding that tasks and events and projects are for the birds. Ideas for how to make the whole world better crumble upon immediate voicing unless passion drives the words. If I sit and list all that needs to be done in my job, my relationships, my family, my personal life, in the community and in the world—the village that God has outlined for Kingdom renewal…I will be but a disheartened space heater, exhausted with the strain of irrationally thinking that this large, empty, cold room is mine to warm. But if I find what I love and do that with the time that I can in the ways that I can, then I will be on fire. And when enough glowing coils choose to do life together, that is when we affect a culture, find our freedom, build the kingdom.
Some days there are not enough hours. Some days there are too many “that’s what she said” jokes. Some days there is no more butter in the morning for toast and it’s infuriating because you’ve only had one tablespoon of butter and who the heck is eating so much butter. Some days someone says, “I think my soul is waking up.” And more days than not, we’re seeing the good in unearthing the good in a world that we believe has more good than not.
So if you’re in the area on a Sunday night around 7pm, we’d love for you to join us for family meal and then maybe coffee while we do dishes or life discussions on the second floor porch, where the air is probably the same temperature as it is in the living room. Or on a Wednesday between 5:30 and 10:30 when the doors are always unlocked for your use of the house’s internet or washers or stove or couches. This is usually the time when our best pumpkin carving, blog writing, homework doing, or pinterest craft making takes place. Or on a Thursday around 8:30pm when we’re digging through scripture about community and the fuller, freer things, and how to practically apply them tomorrow. Or on a Tuesday or Thursday morning around 8am when we’re having coffee and talking about what needs to be done that day or hovering over the Banana Bread that Hilary made for us with bananas and sugar and magic. Or on a Friday night every now and then when our very talented friends are passing through and are willing to put on a house show and drink hot chocolate with us.
We need you here, because you’re a fire that warms the room. And together we can do the much that we cannot do apart.
There’s a Yellow House in Highland waiting on your company.
We’ll see you soon,
Britney
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