This coming Wednesday, June 25 at 6:30 PM we have an opportunity to hear from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author, Chris Hedges, at San Diego First Church of the Brethren. He speaks about the responsibility Christians have to take a stand on the war, and more importantly to become a part of the movement to stop the war. More information can be found here and here.

Chris Hedges, currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute and a Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Hedges is the author of books such as Collateral Damage, American Fascists, I Don’t Believe in Atheists and Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America.

Even though money and economic decisions drive our lives, reading the bible economically remains rare among people of faith.  The Ecclesia Collective and Jubilee Economics Ministries invite you to 10 sessions where we’ll take down the wall between economics and the bible.  Stories will release new power for living.  The bible’s alternatives to empire economics will help reframe how we live amid a culture where we “follow the money.”

Sessions start on June 16 at Christ United Methodist Church in City Heights. Download the flyer here. Registration ends tomorrow!

United for a Hate Free San Diego is a coalition of 52 faith and community leaders and organizations who have been meeting regularly since November of 2007 in response to a growing trend of hate motivated behavior in San Diego communities. The goal of the coalition is to reduce the number of hate crimes that negatively impact so many people in our communities.

United for a Hate Free San Diego invites you (and a guest) to attend, our first “Hate Crimes Summit”. The event will take place on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at the University of San Diego, Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice with a reception and registration at 5:00pm followed by the event at 6:00pm
Click here for more info. Download a flyer (pdf) here.

A Vigil for the U.S.-Mexico Border
Sunday, June 1
3 to 5 p.m. PST
Border Field State Park
San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California

Religious and Spiritual Leaders Stand in Support
As faith leaders in the San Diego/Tijuana region, we face a prophetic moment. The United States government is spending tens of millions of dollars to erect additional layers of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. These new border walls are destructive both to the environment and to human relations in our region.

Through the ages our saints and scribes have penned words that encourage us to care for the created world and welcome the stranger. As issues concerning migration and the border continue to be the subjects of public controversy, we are called to move beyond partisan politics and sound bites. We are called to seek a new way of being human that nurtures the natural world and manifests equity and justice for all peoples.

So we stand in support of community organizations calling for an immediate halt to supplemental border fencing near the coast in San Diego. We pray that officials of the United States government will consider the negative environmental and human impact that additional construction will have. We call on these same officials to sit down with local leaders to explore better, more hopeful ways of addressing the complex issues of migration, environmental sustainability and border security that we face in the San Diego/Tijuana region.

Details about this Sunday’s Event
All people of good will are invited to a Vigil this Sunday, June 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Border Field State Park, where the U.S.-Mexico border meets the Pacific Ocean.

We will gather at “Friendship Park,” a celebrated meeting place where people have gathered for generations to visit through the border fence. If you’ve never been to this spectacular park, now is the time to check it out — the Department of Homeland Security is planning to build a triple fence straight through it!

Dress warmly, wear comfortable walking shoes and prepare yourselves for an ocean front view like no other in the world. Directions to Border Field State Park can be found at: http://www.bordermeetup.org/pages/directions.html

Helpful Articles in Regards to this Issue:
Jesus: The Illegal Alien
Jesus Was An Immigrant

Note: This invitation was co written by Jason Evans, Mike Angell, Dr. Jamie Gates, Rosemary Johnston and John Fanestil.

This summer, the Evans clan is hitting the road for 4 weeks! We will head east until we hit the Atlantic, head north and then head back across the country towards the Pacific. This road trip involves a few different agendas. Click on the logo below to find out more.

Thanks to those of you who are signed up for the cooking class on Wed. night.  I still have a few spots open if anyone else is interested, and you are more than welcome to bring a friend.  We will be meeting from 6:30-8pm at our home in South Park.

We will be learning how to cook beans from scratch, the benefits of eating grains and the proper way to cook them, and how to prepare a balanced meal.  We will discuss how to cook for the health of our families and the health of the world.  Come hungry, we will finish off the evening with dinner.

Please email me back to RSVP or 610.808.9986.

- Brooke

Today starts a new season for Brooke and I. We are now the student mentors for Urban Term students through the Center for Justice and Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University. Around 20 students from PLNU will be moving into City Heights (an incredibly diverse, mostly low-income neighborhood here in the city) for the next 8 weeks. They will be taking classes each weekday morning together and serving internship positions with local non-profits each weekday afternoon. Brooke and I will be meeting with each of them individually a few times and as a group each week for a weekly meal. We’ve met a handful of the students so far and we are really excited to get to know all of them and walk through this eye-opening summer experience they will undergo.

As well, this weekend, we are hosting 25 students from Bluffton University in Ohio. On Saturday, I will be taking the students to Tijuana and visiting Dorcas House and Casa del Migrante. On Sunday, they will visit a variety of churches and discuss their experiences at lunch. The weekend is mostly devoted to looking at issues of globalization in our two urban areas in this region (TJ and SD) and in the Church. Our experience has been that this weekend experience is a challenge for students that have never been out of rural/suburban Ohio before. So, pray for these students as we immerse them in our culture for two days.

But why this starts a new season for us is that these programs commence a new project that we are taking on with the Ecclesia Collective. We are now in the process of developing an internship program. This program would take 3 to 4 young people that would live in the loft, above our home, spending 10 to 12 months as a part of the Hawthorn House community. Interns would spend time with our community, share meals and rhythms with us, work in our garden with us and we would (preferably) connect with a neighborhood non-profit agency or locally owned business for part time work. Brooke and I will meet with the interns every week for guided time to discuss spiritual formation, social engagement and community life among other things. The internships will not start until this coming fall at the earliest. If you are interested, get in touch.

From the San Diego Friends of Fair Trade:
Celebrate World Fair Trade Day with us on May 10th and take part in The World’s Largest Coffee Break at our FREE Fair Trade seminar!

REACH ACROSS THE WORLD: Transforming Lives Through Fair Trade.

Attend this free seminar to learn more about Fair Trade and what you can do in your daily life to improve living conditions in producing communities around the world. Keynote address by Jacqueline DeCarlo, author of Fair Trade: a Beginner’s Guide.

Doors open at 8am for check-in and continental breakfast. Soup and Bread lunch provided by the Tomorrow Project. Plus, Fair Trade chocolate and coffee tasting!

This year, on World Fair Trade Day - May 10th - at noon Pacific Standard Time, thousands of people across North America and Canada will join together to enjoy a Fair Trade Coffee Break at the same time.

Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 9am to 12:30pm
Location: Cafe Moto (2619 National Ave., SD, CA 92113)

RSVP required
Click here to RSVP online
Or call 858.274.0587 to RSVP by phone

Dr. James E. Hansen, the NASA scientist and leading authority on global climate research, will be honored 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, at The Forum Theater of the La Jolla Playhouse on the UC San Diego Campus, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive. The public is invited to attend the brief award ceremony followed by a presentation by Hansen entitled, The Threat of the Planet: The Dark and Bright Sides of Global Warming. Admission is free. Reservations are not necessary, but seating and parking is limited. Public inquiries can be directed to Dyanne Hoffman, 858-534-8490 or dhoffman@ucsd.edu. More details can be found here.