SPRING
2008
REPORT
Cornstarch Spoons
Our first box of cornstarch spoons arrived this week and we
used them last night. You can’t tell any difference between them and petroleum
based plastic spoons, until you try to compost them. The cornstarch spoons
compost in 180 days. Plastic spoons are here forever.
Consider Today’s
Lily
Daylilies are amazing. They put forth a beautiful bloom and it is gone
in a day, only to be replaced the next day with another glorious bloom. Jesus
told us to consider the lilies of the field in order to encourage us to have
faith in God’s provision for us. This in turn is to encourage us to share what
God blessed us with today with others, knowing that God will have new blessings
for us tomorrow.
If you have a sunny spot in your yard, you should plant a
daylily or two or three or a hundred and forty-six. This will remind you to
thank God for his care for you. It can also remind you to pray for the poor and
for The King’s Jubilee. This is why we are planning a daylily sale in May.
I
have found a source of locally grown daylilies in Dublin, PA. They will make
available to us three or four varieties of naturalizing daylilies. We will take
orders, then deliver them to churches for planting in mid May.
I am looking
for a volunteer to coordinate this for various parishes in the Delaware Valley.
If you can help us in this way, give us a call or send an email.
Thanks.
Philly Spring Cleanup
In the Winter 2008 newsletter, I proposed a
"Broom Brigade" as a possible service opportunity in Philadelphia. Last week,
Mayor Nutter announced the Philly Spring Cleanup to take place on Saturday,
April 5. This is a great opportunity to get involved and make a difference!
I
made the bold, presumptuous step of committing The King’s Jubilee for at least
ten volunteers to help clean that day. Please contact me to sign up so we can
coordinate transportation, etc. It should be fun working together. Wear gloves.
Bring brooms and rakes.
Update on Clare
Almost two years ago in the Summer
2006 newsletter, I asked you to pray for a woman I called Clare. She had
suffered a heart attack and was ordered by the doctors to quit working. She
applied for her SSI disability benefits. More than a year and a half later, she
is finally getting her first check. She has had to live on the street and in
shelters and use a lawyer to get her benefits. They call it Social Security; yet
it seems to me that it is neither sociable nor secure.
Today, she was to
receive a lump sum check for the last eighteen months that they should have been
paying all along. Bureaucrats, politicians and lawyers play free and loose with
these regulations and case files, while they collect regular paychecks and live
in comfortable houses. Meanwhile the "cases" they are deciding are God’s
children dying by inches on the street.
Pray for Clare that she may find
affordable housing to move off the street.
TKJ Real Break
In the last
Report, I told you that the University of Delaware OCF is taking their Spring
Break to come to Souderton and Philadelphia to help us finish the barn and serve
on the streets. This is the week of March 30.
The Antiochian Women of Holy
Ascension Orthodox Church in Chester County read this. Then they called and
asked if they could bring dinner for the gang on Monday evening. What a
blessing! Following dinner, we will have Great Compline and Fr. Noah Bushelli
will give a talk.
Sunday evening, I will be telling stories from the street.
Tuesday evening, Fred Benjamin, who recently moved into his own apartment after
about eighteen years on the street will be here to share some of his experiences
and answer questions.
Wednesday evening, we will attend Pre-sanctified
Liturgy at St. Philip’s. Thursday evening, we will serve on the street in center
city Philadelphia. Friday evening, we will take part in the Akathist Hymn at St.
Philip’s. Saturday is the Philly Spring Cleanup.
During the day we will be
working on the barn and doing other small service projects locally, depending on
how many people participate. We are in need of some host homes for the students
to sleep and shower. All meals will be taken together at our place.
Anyone
else who wants to come and help that week is welcome to join us. Please give a
call or send an email so we know how to plan. If anyone else wants to bring food
for the group, that is welcome, too. Just remember, it is a lenten menu.
If
we are going to maximize the effectiveness of the time of these volunteers, we
need more funds to buy construction materials.
Donations gladly
received.
Thanks!
Our Name
Time for a review on the meaning of our
name: The King's Jubilee. The jubilee in the Law of Moses was to happen every
50th year. There were to be Sabbath years every 7th year, where the fields were
to lie fallow and Hebrew slaves were freed for the year to give them opportunity
to earn enough to buy their freedom permanently. The 50th year was a Sabbath of
Sabbaths. It followed the 7th Sabbath year and included the cancellation of all
debts, the freeing of slaves, and the redistribution of the land. The details of
this can be found in Leviticus 25-27.
Bound into this plan was the
proclamation of the truth that "the earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof." Land, the most fundamental "capital" in an agrarian society, cannot be
owned by men. It belongs to the Lord. So it can only be used for a time. Also,
our God is a God of 'second chances' and the jubilee reflects this. One may make
bad decisions which land one in poverty, debt and bondage. The Sabbath year
comes along and gives a break and an opportunity to possibly work into a better
situation. Every 50 years comes a radical redistribution, and another shot to
live in freedom. The start of this year was marked by the blowing of horns and
the lifting of a great shout!
The Jews never truly observed the Sabbath
years or the Jubilee. That is why they went into captivity. They were in
captivity for a year for every Sabbath year they had neglected.
In Isaiah
61, the ministry of Christ and his Church is described as a continual Jubilee:
"to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." The Church was quick to get about
the business of the Jubilee. The Epistle of St. James promotes economic equality
and balance saying "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
But the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he
shall pass away." (1:9-10) The Apostle Paul spent one of his journeys collecting
to provide for those suffering from a famine "that there may be equality." (2
Corinthians 8)
So the "Jubilee" in our name stems from the desire to fulfill
the Lord's ministry of facilitating His abundance to flow to those in our
society in desparate need of a second chance. It is "The King's" because it
belongs to Jesus Christ the King of Kings, along with all that is given, all who
serve, all who receive, and the very streets, parks, houses and prisons it is
shared in.
"Serve the Lord with gladness; come before his presence with
singing."
What We Do
The King’s Jubilee serves soup, sandwiches, pasta
with meat sauce, something hot or cold to drink (depending on the season), fruit
and goodies to between 50 and 175 men and a few women in Center City
Philadelphia every Thursday night. This is in a park, year-round. We also share
toiletries, blankets and season appropriate clothing with them.
We serve in
the open air, because some of those we serve are paranoid and will not readily
enter a place with which they are unfamiliar. Also, some of them are not
homeless, but are on very low, fixed incomes. They won’t go to a soup kitchen to
take from a program just for the homeless, but they feel free to eat with us to
stretch their food budget, so they can stay off the street.
We gather
household goods and furniture on occasion for any who are moving off the street
into permanent housing.
We also try to gather resources for other ministries
that serve the poor in Jesus’ Name. If we can’t do it in Jesus’ Name, we
don’t have the time or the desire to do it.
comeandseeicons.com
is
Going Greener Yet
We use Microstrand Wheatboard for our selection of over
1,000 icons by more than twenty iconographers. It is made from wheat straw and
no-VOC soy adhesives with a low energy input process. Pittsburgh Paints has a no
VOC deep base paint, so we are using that to paint the edges in bordeaux red,
then varnishing the edges and back with a low VOC varnish, which is no VOC
within two hours of application.
We have started to print the labels for the
backs of the icons on sticker paper. This is much better than constantly
spraying Super 77 glue.
The Last Judgment Meatfare Sunday
Wherefore, by
the abundance of thine ineffable compassion, O Christ God, make us worthy of
thine illustrious voice and number us among those who stand at thy right
hand.
Matthew 25:34-40
Then shall the King say unto them on his right
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked,
and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we
thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
May you have a
blessed lenten
journey and
a glorious Pascha!
Cash, Checks & Visa Accepted
If you want to participate in this
ministry to the homeless and poor on the streets of Philadelphia, please feel
free to mail checks to:
The King's Jubilee
27 N. Front St.
Souderton, PA
18964-1148
phone: 267-497-0267
email: TKJ@shoutforjoy.net
Thank you.
May the Lord bless you as you bless the poor in Jesus’
Name.
Peace,
Cranford Joseph Coulter
We are now also accepting
donations via MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express on our website:
www.shoutforjoy.net
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