Celebrating Joyful Urgency: Convening Recap
Written by Dylan Novacek, Content Specialist
“There is joy in this urgent work,” exclaimed Rev. Tom Olson of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Bloomington. “Joy in seeing broken structures change. Joy in seeing lives healed and renewed in tangible, real ways. Like having a place to call home.”
Members of our collaborative gathered, both in person and online, for our Joyful Urgency: Congregation Convening, hosted at St. Stephen’s. After nearly two years since our last convening, there was a familiar, empowering feeling in the room as we chatted, sat together, and listened to the stories of this work.
“Tonight, we come together to celebrate our achievements and to visualize what the future might look like if we have anything to say about it. Which we do,” remarked Beacon Board Chair Charlie Flynn in his opening address, pictured left. “One of the things I love most about my association with Beacon is how I consistently encounter others living their faith values and leaning into what makes them uncomfortable, just so they can make a difference.”
Reflecting on the differences we made together this year, there was a feeling of pride shared by everyone in person and online. Together we built power for Bring It Home, MN, broke ground on Cranberry Ridge and an expansion at Lydia, provided meals and lodging for families needing shelter, plus so much more. However, we all know the work doesn’t stop there.
“There are many on the edge of homelessness. Two out of every five renters in Minnesota pay more than they can afford towards housing,” reflected Maddalin Zimmerman Stevens, chair of the Beacon Leadership Team at Waconia Moravian, pictured left. “One small event could push them over the edge into homelessness. I know this because it happened to my husband and I twice in a four-year span.”
As individuals like Maddalin opened up about what they’ve been through, you could feel the sense of urgency in the room. Sharing stories of lived experience and coming together to have conservations about housing instability helps us build power to create the change needed to build homes, shelter families, and transform the policies that create homelessness.
“While my experiences and these statistics are hard to hear, what makes them tragic is that it is all avoidable,” Maddalin continued. “This is where we all come in. We need to create homes for those at the lowest incomes and ensure that everyone can afford their home through rental subsidy.”
Click here to read Maddalin’s full story.
Highlighting the urgency needed to pass Bring It Home, MN, speakers like Theresa Dolata, pictured left, continued to emphasize the need for bold solutions.
“I am on the waitlist for a Housing Choice voucher right now. I got on the waitlist after 15 years of bouts of homelessness and housing insecurity,” Theresa said. “I called the Minneapolis Housing Authority in September and I learned that they were just issuing vouchers to people who go on the waitlist in 2008!”
The crowd gasped.
“Can you imagine having to wait 13 years just to get assistance in paying your rent,” Theresa asked imploringly. “You might ask why I am doing this. How can I go on? Why am I not hopeless? Look around. I see hope all around me in your faces, in your actions. I see joy when we win a small fight. As urgent as this work is, I feel joy in knowing that I am not alone. That I have a faith community that is in the struggle with me.”
Theresa touched on an important aspect of this work: the joyfulness of it. At Beacon, we know this is hard work. If it were easy, it’d already be done. Gathering in community together at our congregation convening served as a bold reminder of the power we have when we work together for home.
One highlight of the night came from our special guests at the zAmya Theater Project, pictured left. zAmya Theater Project brings together homeless and housed individuals to create and perform theater. Taking our audience into a surreal journey into The zAmya Zone, they presented an authentic look into what people experiencing housing instability face every day.
“I feel invisible, and it sucks,” said one performer in a power monolog.
Following their performance, we shared with each other how their sketch made us feel. The night continued with more stories and calls to take action together in 2022.
“Joyful urgency, two words you don’t often see sandwiched together,” Rev. Olson said (pictured left), reflecting on the theme of our convening. “The theme comes from the sixth chapter of the New Testament book of Mark…[the disciples] are empowered to do which at first they believed only their rabbi Jesus was capable of doing. Changing hearts and minds, exorcising social demons of injustice, inequity and racism…Regardless of our varied faiths, I believe that we are called to do the same in this moment.”
As the night drew to a close, that familiar feeling persisted. Prior to the pandemic, it was commonplace for us to gather at events such as these. Individuals exiting the building, or clicking out of the Zoom room, left with the feeling of joy urgency, unity, and a share sense of power to see that all people have a home.
Thank you to everyone who spoke at our congregation convening, and the over 300 people who attended online and in person. Moving into the new year, we look forward to building our power together and relishing in the joyful urgency. Click here to learn how you can get involved in 2022!
(Pictured, virtual attendees over Zoom).
