The new newsletter is available for downloading and printing for inserting in church bulletins, here: http://www.thekingsjubilee.org/spring13.pdf
It includes hard copy of these blog entries:
You can print copies to share with your off-line friends.
When I started this ministry, 24 years ago, I had been a Mennonite prison chaplain who was also ordained in the New Jerusalem Pentecostal Holiness Church. The King’s Jubilee actually started in State Correctional Institution at Graterford in the Saturday morning E Block Bible study. E Block was the quarantine unit at the time, where inmates first came into the state system to be sorted out to be shipped to the various institutions where they were to do their time.
Things had gotten funky with the Mennonites. One of the pastors who had founded the prison ministry I supervised threatened to kill me when I would not allow him to bring contraband, inflammatory literature into the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. We went through a conflict mediation process. Everyone there agreed that he was in the wrong, but he would not budge or admit any wrong. In the end, it was a case of if you ain’t Dutch you ain’t much, and I was fired the week before Christmas, even though I had given three months notice so they could have an orderly transition and not damage or lose ministries. They did not care. The ministry in Philadelphia with over 300 volunteers and the only tutoring for women was shut down. Chaplain Sid Barnes at Graterford let me keep the Wednesday Bible Study and the Quarantine Unit ministry, because I had been the most faithful in them. In the case of the latter, I had started it. It was in this Bible study that the vision for this ministry was formulated. It is the vision of Christ’s first message in the synagogue, which was taken from Isaiah 60, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord!”
Yes, we serve meals to homeless people in center city Philadelphia, but that is not all we do; and that is not all we have done or all we hope to do! Serving the homeless in center city was the task the men in the E Block Bible Study particularly assigned me to do. You see, I told them that no one in this organization I was starting was going to just sit on a board and Monday morning quarterback. Everyone was going to be on the front lines. Furthermore, I wanted them to tell me where I should serve. Within five minutes, 150 convicted felons came to consensus, with no input from me, that they wanted me to serve the homeless in center city Philadelphia. If any of you know this demographic, you should recognize what kind of miracle this was. I took this as my “Macedonian Call”. I started to serve one night a week and have not found a good reason to quit. During Mayor Wilson Goode’s years, we dealt with the rowdy crack heads and the prostitutes. Fast Eddie Rendell had the police harass us all the time. We were investigated by his undercover units at least three times. Each time, I managed to tell them that we would go to jail rather than stop serving, because we needed to obey God rather than men. Mayor Street’s cops tried to tell us that the parks were private property. He was about to aggressively enforce the sidewalk ordinance, when “a routine sweep for bugs” turned up FBI bugs in his office and he had bigger fish to fry. Last year, Mayor Nutter decreed that we could not give away food to poor people in the parks. We had to sue him in federal court to retain our right to do so.
While this was going on, we started a clothing ministry in East Greenville, Clothesline, that continued at Peace Mennonite Church. We also held several music festivals for the poor and homeless in Philadelphia and Pottstown. We served for several years in Pottstown and Stowe, PA. We started a similar ministry at two sites in Columbia, SC, that a local Vineyard church took ownership of. The prison ministry at Graterford continued for several years, until Gov. Tom Ridge stopped all ministry in the prison in a knee jerk reaction to an incident in the mosque there, in 1996. We did Project: Lydia in Northampton County Prison for the women until they did not allow us to include notes or New Testaments. We had a Monday Evening Bible Institute for a couple of years. We started Operation: Clean Start. We have moved countless sets of furniture for people moving into apartments. There have been various other projects.
In 1999, we were chrismated into the Orthodox Church. Our family happened to come into an Antiochian Orthodox Church. The King’s Jubilee remains independently incorporated. I am sorry that I was so zealous, as converts often are, that almost all of our former supporters and volunteers dropped out of the ministry, as they saw this as an “Orthodox ministry.” I don’t know why this is such a problem, because my theology has not changed. When I first interviewed with Fr. Boniface, he kept asking me questions. With every answer, he just said, “You are so Orthodox!” Later, I found out that he was right. I had just read the Scriptures and the Fathers and had been Orthodox in my theology for many years and had just been longing for home. That being said, there is no reason my old friends can not join me. We have had Jews and atheists and Muslims and Methodists and Buddhists and Catholics serve with us and they have been happy as clams. We are not there to proselytize anyone. I still say what I have always said, “We do what we do in Jesus’ Name. If you don’t have a problem with that, I don’t have a problem with you joining us.” “In Jesus’ Name” does not mean that we preach at people. It means that we serve according to His will, with respect, love and dignity.
The occasion of this article is that I had a conversation this week with someone who told me that she wanted her church to support The King’s Jubilee, but wasn’t sure they would, because someone would say, “Well, they are Antiochian. Let the Antiochians do it.” I replied, “That’s stupid!”
We receive no budgeted or regular support from the Antiochian Church. My question to you is: Are you Christian?
This is ridiculous! No wonder the Orthodox Church is going nowhere as far as gospel witness is concerned. People say that it is growing fast in America, but that is only because the other churches are imploding under theological liberalism and gnosticism. There are fewer Mennonites in North America than there are Orthodox, yet they support 1,000 foreign missionaries, while we Orthodox barely support 20. We are going to punish the poor, because I was chrismated in an Antiochian church? Hey folks, I’m not Syrian. I’m not Greek. I’m not Russian. I’m not Serbian. I’m not Armenian. I’m not Ukrainian. I’m not Albanian. I’m not Georgian. I am American. Some of my ancestors have been here since 1628. I am trying to be Christian. I suggest that you try to be, too.
Jesus did not come to preserve ethnicities. He came to “build a new nation.” We have too much that needs to get done to worry about which bishop or which ethnicity or even which denomination or even which religion we belong to. Read Matthew 25. Everyone is surprised at the Judgment!
I’m going forward. I am sick of this Orthodox infighting and the jurisdictional nonsense. If this upsets you, I’m sorry. People are dying homeless on the streets. I think that is more important than whether or not we do things in the Antiochian or Greek or Russian way or not.
Lead. Follow. Or get out of the way.
We serve in Jesus’ Name.
As the day progressed, we colored in with more little colorful heads of Kudzu the spokesmodel dog to represent each donation. Well, donations started Thursday evening and kept coming in all day Friday and into Saturday. I spoke at Kevin Paige’s music students recital, not expecting an offering. They put out a basket during the reception afterward and we received $115 there. So the event took in over $800 worth of donations. I need to say that a couple of the donations were in person in the form of vegetables and meat.
I finished the graphic including my cat Skittles. He may not be as photogenic as Kudzu, but I bet he is every bit as much a dog.
These donations help us keep going. We were down past our last dime. This will keep our cell phones on to keep us coordinated on the street. It will put good, healthy veggies in our meals. It will pay for gas and insurance for the TKJ-mobile so we can keep serving. It will buy cups and spoons and soap and napkins. Thank you. May God bless you all!
When we all do a little, we can do a lot!
Take a minute to wrap your head around this concept.
By now, we have all seen those YouTube videos of people breaking into song or dance in public spaces. They appear, seemingly out of nowhere, and bring some beauty and life into an otherwise monotonous commute in a train station or some such place. It has been done with orchestras, and boys’ choirs, and choirs, and ballet, and madrigals, etc.
Well, our friend, Charli Riggle, got the idea to put together almsgiving cash flash mobs. She and her husband Alex, like many of us these days, don’t have much to give. And many of us don’t necessarily have the talent to join in one of these beautiful flash mobs. And we have made friends in far flung places, so a physical flash mob is not feasible at any rate. So she came up with the idea and put a Facebook group together for almsgiving flash mobs. Together we can make a larger impact and really move some ministries along. Instead of just one drop, it’s many drops that fill a bucket.
So each Friday during the extended Lenten period, covering both western and eastern traditions, a different charity is chosen and each person in the group is encouraged to make a small donation to that charity. A different ministry in each region every week. The King’s Jubilee has been chosen for next Friday’s event. We will have a graphic that will get colored in and grow as more people participate. It is an exciting idea. We are honored to have been chosen. God bless you all.
Here is the link to the event: FRIDAY FLASH CASH II: The King’s Jubilee
Feel free to join in!
This month marks the completion of the twenty fourth year of The King’s Jubilee ministering in Jesus’ Name. People tell me that this is a feat in and of itself, while I am disappointed we have not accomplished so much more of what we set out to do. One thing is certain, we cannot run the race to win, if we are looking backward.
I think, as Orthodox Christians, we have forgotten this. We are always remembering our traditions and our Traditions. We are remembering our Saints and our feast days and our ethnicities, forgetting that Jesus wanted to take us from many and mold us into “one new nation.” The Saints looked forward to the prize and understood that the traditions are not there to bind us to a dead past. They are there to bind us into the living vine and give us a running start into the future; if we let them. But we need to understand that they are not the end in themselves. They are scaffolding, if you will. The services of the church are not just there to perpetuate the services of the church. That would be a grand Ponzi scheme or like Amway without the soap. Yes they have beauty. Yes they are worship. Yes they have value by themselves, but they are apostolically intended to equip us and save us to DO good works, not to sit around and just be saved.
St. Paul laid out the purpose of the church in his Epistle to the Ephesians, especially in chapter 4:1-15
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord,one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. [NIV]
The church is given the gift of “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers”, sometimes called the five-fold ministry, “to equip his people”, the church, ” for works of service”; that’s the part we have been neglecting. Works of service are good works out in the world. The early church rescued abandoned infants who were left to die. They buried the pagan dead, whose families could not afford or risk the time for proper burials. These works are not recorded in our writings, because there were not arguments over them like there were over doctrines and church government, etc. They were recorded in the accounts of pagan witnesses who marveled at the risks Christians would take to do such acts of generosity, compassion and courage for people who were not even part of their faith community. It was the substance of what it was to be a Christian. These tasks are what knit the church together while they were hammering out the other issues. It was the soap.
I have been trying to communicate this for years. Recently, Richard Stearns coined the term in the title of his book which speaks of this very problem: The Hole in Our Gospel. It is not just the Orthodox who are plagued by this blind spot. We tend to get focused on organizational maintenance, instead of mission achievement.
Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The gates of hell are not going to mess with the church if the church is not doing anything to mess with them. In that case, they are already winning. The gates of hell need to be stormed!
We have a vision to end homelessness in Center City Philadelphia in the next five years. It is very doable. However, it is impossible if we keep acting the way we have been acting and thinking that we can just be happy serving people meals on the street for the duration.
Last year, we had to sue in federal court to keep serving food to homeless people in the parks legal. I received exactly zero support from the archdiocese and the local church to do that. Two parish friends did come on their own to witness the proceedings for one day, but I received no pastoral counsel or encouragement. At the time, I was so involved in the case, my health and focus on the business suffered and we nearly lost our house. If we want to make a difference, we can’t just leave each other hang out to dry like that. I searched for the church for 30 years to have a covering for situations like this, not to be left totally alone like I was. So this ministry making it to its 25th year has been a feat by the grace of God.
The case brought into focus our reason for existence. It is not to serve ourselves and just satisfy our own religious needs to serve the poor. That would be to objectify these homeless people. No. We need to meet them as brothers and sisters like St. John Chrysostom said, “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find Him in the chalice.” As we serve, occasionally we are surprised by grace and we may even find Christ. In the hearing, I also learned that there are only 170 homeless men and women who live in the parkway area. This is consistent with the number we serve. I say only, because this is a very manageable number to target to help them transition off the street. But we need to do it in a caring, Christian manner, that respects their freedom and their dignity, and equips them with the social network to cope in their new surroundings. I feel there are many in the Orthodox Church, with their immigrant experience, who are uniquely suited to this ministry. There are transferable skills of adjustment.
We need to think on a larger scale than what we have been thinking. We can do so much more. And in so doing, Christ will be glorified! We have always had a motto here: “If we can’t do it in Jesus’ Name, we don’t have time to do it.” That’s why we have never received government or United Way funds and never will. We want to be doing God’s work without strings. God’s work should be paid for by God’s people. Let us set the pace and be the example. If the government likes what they see, they can try to copy it.
If you just want to make yourself feel good about helping people, or want to make the kids in Sunday School feel good about helping people, yes, we’ll take your money and your sandwiches and your power packs. People, this may help communicate a tiny aspect of the gospel to five and six year olds, but it is not the core task of the Church, and it is not the best we can do for the homeless! We need to mature in our faith. We are to be making such a difference in the world that the world takes notice and either wants to be like us or wants to kill us! I can assure you that no one was ever martyred for having chanted the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete perfectly or even near perfectly. But “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12) To “live godly” is to care for the poor and the fatherless, the widows and the orphans.
There were not always homeless on the streets. There is no reason there should be homeless on the streets now, except for the greed of others. We have more than enough vacant homes to house all of the homeless. That is prima facie evidence for a failure of our economic system. But, just in Philadelphia, if we can muster the pressure and creativity, we can restructure the existing resources to end homelessness at a lower cost than what the social service/prison/shelter industry is spending today. We need to work together. We need to be prophetic. We can be the salt and the light that God created us to be in Christ. We need to understand that it is more important to be Christian than it is to be Greek or to be Russian or to be Lebanese or to be Serbian or to be Dutch, etc. We find when we get out into the world and do works of service together, that we are then “built up” and we begin to “reach unity in the faith.”
We are trying to solicit monthly pledges of support, so that we can actually have a reliable base so we can make a difference and start working our plan. We have received a few pledges. Mostly, we have received one time gifts and some people wanting to make sandwiches. Thank you. But we won’t be able to move off square one at this rate.
People have been talking about Orthodox Christian jurisdictional unity in North America for years. What would be the point? Let’s start working together. Let’s make a difference in our world for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s make a difference in Philadelphia, where no one works together! Let us show them how. We will find unity. We will naturally grow together into the head, who is Christ. The jurisdictions will eventually catch up. It may take them a while. They are not used to dramatic forward movement.
Please pray for Karen Kaufmann, Vincent’s mom. She was in a car accident this morning. She was rear-ended while stopped at a light on 663. She was hit by a man in an SUV, who was fussing with his dog, going almost 50 mph. Her car is totaled. She is pretty banged up and sore. The ER did scans, released her, and told her to get a neck brace.
The man who hit her is very sorry and wants to do everything to make this right. Thank God, he has good insurance.
Both Karen and Vincent are volunteers and supporters of this ministry.
Nearly $500 raised for The King’s Jubilee. Thanks guys!
The third annual Hummus Open to benefit The King’s Jubilee was held at the Mainland Golf Club in Mainland, PA on November 23. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy there was doubt as to whether or not the event would take place. Though circumstances related to the “super storm” affected turnout for the tournament, it did not diminish the enthusiasm of the six participating golfers. Weather conditions and a few fallen trees on the course were worrisome, but it turned out to be a beautiful day and the Mainland staff did yeoman-like work getting the course in excellent condition for the players.
The famous Beige Jacket for the Hummus Open Champion.
The tub of hummus.
Peter Psomiadis, the winner of the inaugural event in 2010, recaptured the title as he won the event going away by five strokes on the strength of his short game and iron play. Jerome Burke, who drove the ball well all day, but fell apart on the short game and putting, was runner up. Ernesto Bentencort took honors for the “closest to the pin” award hitting a fantastic 9 iron shot ten feet from the pin on the difficult 9th hole. For his effort, he was awarded a bottle of Ouzu. The “longest drive award” was hotly contested between Jerome and Jim Eggers. Replay officials decided to call it a draw and let the two competitors share the tub of Hannah’s Hummus from Costco. One official at Mainland later commented, “if it was Karen Burke’s homemade hummus at stake, there would have had to have been a playoff.”
The coveted Garbanzo! The most unusual trophy in all of sport!
After playing, the golfers gathered at the Burkes’ for fellowship, food, and a couple of shots of Ouzo. They were joined by Cranford Coulter, founder and CEO of The King’s Jubilee, who presented the awards. Cranford unveiled the newly designed and highly coveted Hummus Open trophy. He had commissioned his friend and highly skilled artisan John Haggerty for the task, and John did not disappoint. Perhaps the most unique trophy in all of sports, the Hummus Open Trophy, has a giant garbanzo bean as its center piece, along with the names of previous winners inscribed on the bean. “I will cherish the opportunity to hold this over the next year ,” said Psomiaids on receiving the trophy. A new custom was also started by Cranford this year with the awarding of the “Beige Jacket“ to match the color hummus . This is sure to help the Hummus Open become a tradition like none other. Purchased at the local Care and Share, it is a ‘one size fits all’ jacket which will be stored for safe keeping in a cedar closet until next fall.
Nearly five hundred dollars was raised for The King’s Jubilee this year and plans are being made to expand and better publicize the tournament next year. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I scheduled the Hummus Open for November – how dopey was that ?“ commented Burke at the awards ceremony. The date of the event will most likely be changed to late September or early October next year.
A gift to all our supporters and prayer partners on this Giving Tuesday. Remember, you can use the Paypal button on the right to make your donation to support this ministry to the poor and homeless in Jesus’ Name.
The Garbanzo is made of native PA poplar. The base is made of native PA cherry. The 9 iron head was donated by tournament organizer Jerry Burke, who pleaded the 5th as to how it came to be in that state.
The coveted Garbanzo, the most unique trophy in golf, perhaps the most unique trophy in all of sport, was awarded for the first time, last Saturday, to Dr. Peter I. Psomiadis of Perkasie, PA, as champion of the 3rd Annual Hummus Open Golf Tournament benefiting The King’s Jubilee. Peter signed and dated the bean twice, since he won in 2010, as well. Last year’s winner was unable to attend this year, because of difficulty of travel because of the unreliable gas supply due to superstorm Sandy. We will catch up with him later. We carved them into the surface of the Garbanzo, in what will become an annual tradition.
Some may think it incongruous to see a Celtic font used for hummus. The choice was very intentional. The brains behind this event is Dr. Jerome Burke. The founder and director of The King’s Jubilee is Cranford Coulter. The man who designed and donated the trophy and designed the font is John Haggerty. So with Burke, Coulter and Haggerty working on it, just be glad there isn’t a leprechaun somewhere.
This trophy will only get more beautiful with age. The richness of the colors and the grains of these native, Pennsylvania woods will deepen. This piece is finished with Watco Danish Oil. We rubbed black, paste shoe polish into the engravings to make them stand out.
This year’s event was held a Mainland Golf Course with a home cooked dinner afterwards at the home of Jerry and Karen Burke. The small field had a great time. They told me that they got their money’s worth on the golf. Peter said that they paid only pennies a stroke.
We are already laying the plans for next year’s tournament. With such a classy trophy, guys will be lining up to play! It is always an opportunity for good fun, good friends and helping a good cause!
Thanks guys!
On Sunday I attended service at Christ Community Church of Philadelphia in order to be there for Kia’s Cakes’ fundraiser for The King’s Jubilee. I didn’t know what to expect. Sean and Zakkiyah McKelven had not invited me to the church. I just thought it would be a nice thing to do. I needed to be somewhere since I am not welcome at my home parish. I also was hoping to run into some old friends that may have heard about the sale. The sale was supposed to start at 11:00am according to Facebook. I did not know what time church started. As usual, there was an event on the Parkway, so I had to detour around it. I arrived at the church, which is near U Penn’s campus, at 9:30. Service starts at 10. There were already about 20 people there. Somebody was at the curb to tell me where I could park. The sound people were setting up. Several people greeted me and introduced themselves. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The building was immaculate. It looks like it was built in the early 20th century. It has high, vaulted ceilings. The plaster and the paint and the woodwork are all beautifully maintained or restored. There is stained glass and the original, oak pews, arranged wider, amphitheater style, with five aisles. There’s a balcony all along the back. There is a large, plain wooden cross on the platform with a colorful, purple cloth draped on it. This is behind a small communion table. In front of this, is a four pedestal pulpit. The people here obviously take pride in this place and give it their best to the glory of God.
The place slowly filled up. The service started with a short praise song. Then the pastor led us in an exercise of self examination and confession. I have to say, it was quite interesting and moving. It reminded me of the group confession that Bethann and I had participated in at St. John Chrysostom Albanian Orthodox Church a few years ago, except this had louder music. There were more praise songs and prayer. The pastor prophesied over one man; that is, he basically counseled him very publicly, then some more, privately. He then invited people to come forward for healing. The healing line took almost an hour. I believe there were two or three assistants who helped him with the anointing and prayer, and others who helped move people along. The worship team and congregation kept singing. The band kept playing. It has been many years since I have been in a Pentecostal service. I kept praying the prayer to the Holy Spirit and the Trisagion. The pastor said he had come prepared to preach, but the Holy Spirit had given different direction starting in the pastoral staff meeting before the service. He just took a couple of minutes to assure all of us that God loves us. He exhorted everyone who had turned away from sins or made commitments to a better direction to follow through and don’t give in to the devil or laziness. He again encouraged us all in God’s amazing love!
It was a healthy experience. It was nice to be in a place where I did not have to worry about the pastor being distracted and disturbed by whether I had my hands in my pockets or not. It was the most genuinely friendly church I have ever been to. I was greeted by over 50 people by the time I left, even though no one had pointed me out as anyone special. It was nice to see such a large, predominantly African-American church with so many men in it and what appeared to be a good number of intact families. If we want to stop the advance of Islam into our cities, we need more churches with this kind of spirit and community.
The church sponsors a ministry that provides personal care kits to the men on the street. When they have enough for everyone, they join us on a Thursday night and distribute them. Sean and Zakkiyah McKelven started this ministry over 11 years ago, by faith. They decided to hold bake sales to raise funds for The King’s Jubilee, because they knew that I have been going through a rough patch. They raised $510 and some loose change. When they gave me the bag of cash, they told me they determined to do this, because I had done this for them when they were in a tight spot when they were starting out. I don’t remember that. Of course, none of it is my money. I can only pass on what you all give. So God bless whoever gave The King’s Jubilee some money 10 or 11 years ago to help this wonderful couple grow this fruitful ministry!
Thank you Zakkiyah & Sean. May God continue to abundantly bless you as you serve Him in the least of these his brethren.