Heidi's unrest and discontent escalates greatly in Part 2 of Breathing Space.  Whether its the Bronx Department of Buildings, lack of progress of their new Church, or the Mission funds, this could not have been an easy time for Heidi.  However, the relentless efforts of Heid is something so admirable and she has never ceased to amaze me throughout the readings.  The comments of  the people at the fund raising conference also didn't sit too easily with me.  No "shakers or movers"???  Here these people are putting down the very "nobodies" that are overflowing with love and compassion.  Heidi and the children's feeling of being rich was also very inspiring and many times people forget the little things that can make one feel so.  

The story of Danielle at McDonalds was particularly touching.  Left by her father to gambling and her mother to crack, it amazes me that a girl this young can still have so much love in her heart and thoughtfulness to bring back her brothers and sisters some french fries.  And it is acts like this as Heidi points out, that make one feel rich and deserving.

Reactions from Breathing Space

I was very intrigued when I began reading Breathing Space and I definitely enjoyed the first part we had to read.  Heidi's passion and relentless faith in her city, church, and community are very admirable and I couldn't help but to make comparisons to Shane Claiborne.  Also, similar to Claiborne, I felt her grass-roots movement and ideals behind Transfiguration were very commendable.  I liked when she said how church isn't just a place to find God, but "it was also a place to meet sing, laugh, and eat with one another.  Church was no place for private religious experience. Church was a community."  I liked this because I could relate it to the church that I have began going to where it really does seem like a solid community.  People don't just go there to worship God and as soon as the service is over they leave.  Instead, they get there early, they eat and talk among each other, they sing throughout the service, and there is just an honest feeling of love and desire to be there, while worshipping God.  

I never realized the turmoil that the Bronx was in during the 70's and 80s and I found that to be pretty eye opening.  It is hard to believe that at the time, more children were dying of asthma that anywhere in the world.  Even with the technology and advance medicinal capabilities of the US, it seemed, according to Heidi, that this area of the Bronx did literally turn into the waste disposal of New York.  

Lastly, I could relate to Heidi in the sense that retreats to nature were the best way to find yourself and find God (if one so desires).  There is something about nature that brings a certain element out of you that does not appear, say, in a big city like new York.  Im not sure what that element is but there is something soothing, something that touches the soul when you come face to face with nature in its purest form.  I liked when she said, "Cities seemed too chaotic.  I wanted nature. I wanted intimacy with creation." I liked that, "intimacy with creation."

My ideas for my final project have not changed a whole lot but I have furthered the idea and the preparation for the project.  My focus will remain on the injustices that the homeless face and I still plan on putting together roughly 30 full complete meals to distribute downtown.  I am really trying to stray from doing this with an already established organization because this is something I want to do firsthand.  My plan is to make around 30 meals, including a sandwich, fruit, chips, water, and a cup of soup.   I talked to the man who runs the cafeteria and he said he would be willing to help supply either the soup, fruit, or utensils needed.  Once the meals are prepared, I plan on going downtown with a group of friends, for safety purposes, and distributing them to homeless people.  Each meal I hand out will also be followed by a simple question to the man or woman concerning their personal experiences of injustice.  I think the question is going to be, "What is the one injustice you have faced that you feel led to you being homeless."  I plan on recording their responses on either my Ipod recording device or in video format on a Mac.  

The basis of this project is simply to learn firsthand what are some injustices in the world that lead to becoming homeless and at the same time provide a nice meal to those that can not do so for themselves.  My reflective piece would cover the process of making the meals, the distribution process, the reaction from the homeless recipient, and their views on injustice. 

Both MLK and Isaiah show the quality of being "nonaggressive physically but strongly aggressive spiritually" throughout the readings.  They both seek the people of their times in a world where none of them seem to relate with such an extremist such as MLK and Isaiah.  I think each go hand in hand with each other and I believe Kink and Isaiah would have kicked it pretty hard together if they were alive at the same time.  

Isaiah chapters 50-53 are, once again, pages of beautiful text.  My favorite line was "The sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.  He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. "  Isaiah continues throughout these chapters declaring the light of the Lord in between citing the actual words of the Lord.  The time of 2nd Isaiah was in the most crucial point of exile and it meant everything to Isaiah to try and get his people to "Rise up from the dust" and break the chains that keep them ruled.  This is similar to MLK because his political and social movement came at the most crucial moment of the civil rights era.  In his speech The Power of Non-Violence, MLK explains that nonviolence is not a method of cowardice.  He goes to explain how "the end of violence or the aftermath of violence is bitterness.  The aftermath of nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of a beloved community."  You can't put it better than that. 

My favorite part of the speech is when he acknowledges the fact that there are many advocates of nonviolence who do not believe in a personal God.  Instead, among pretty much all people, we have some sort of cosmic companionship that will continue to unfold justice just as long as we stay true to ourselves and our peers and go about life living in a nonviolent manner.