by Kyla Sisson

(for Arnie Sisson and Susan Crane)

Although I have not rolled the roots
of my hair into thick brown vines, as you have,
I, too, see a part of myself reaching down to the earth,
to the muddy beginning of things.
I trace my roots to the rivermouth,
to the tree planted strong on the riverbank,
sending down roots to the riverside,
where Peter laid down his sword, and the father
of my father’s father was born.
My great-grandpa was a radical too,
gave segregation the slip. He leaned back
in the back of black churches,
eyes closed, foot tapping
to the wingbeat of struggle.

Although I have not struggled
up the side of a B-52, as you have,
or poured out a libation of blood for the many dead,
I, too, see that war and peace grow
in the same garden, their roots tangled up
underground. Once, I tried to grasp the thorny stem
of poverty and yank it out, only to find its roots laced tight
into my own small comforts
Now I roll up my sleeves, as you do,
and begin the hard work of redemption.
As we haul water back from the riverbank, the clank
of my shovel singing out against the bucket,
I learn that the revolution requires two things:
A sturdy back,
and a song, strong enough
to put down roots.

Currently, we only own one community house – Clare House. Our reliance upon other housing has been unstable and unsustainable. In recent months, we have had to turn many away – not only guests needing lodging, but others who have wanted to join our community to share in our work. We are simply at capacity.

We are raising funds for the purchase of a new hospitality house to provide food, shelter, and healing. We will be looking for a building with at least 8 bedrooms and at least 3200 square feet. We intend to name the new house Simone Weil House , after the French mystic, philosopher, and activist.

Simone Weil House will provide much needed space for new guests and interns. The house will host several open meals a week and provide additional garden (and chicken) space.

Not only will the building serve as a hospitality house, it will also be home to the Gene Stoltzfus Center for Creative Peacemaking (Gene was the Director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams from its founding until 2004. He passed away in 2010).

The center will open creative space for people who want to explore Christ-centered peacemaking in the Twin Cities. The Gene Stoltzfus Center will work to expand the Christian peace witness in the Twin Cities by offering programming and resources that will help groups and individuals challenge oppression and get in the way of violence and injustice. We will set aside about 1000 square feet for this center. While we will be hosting this center, our hope is to create an open environment that can belong to all those in the Twin Cities who want to pursue Jesus’ way of peace.

Hospitality and peacemaking must go together. Practicing hospitality helps us to tear down walls of division in our homes, while peacemaking does so in the world outside our doors. The Gene Stoltzfus Center for Creative Peacemaking will be a space to imagine ways of acting as the hands and feet of Christ in a broken and inhospitable world.

How You Can Help

Our goal is to raise $100,000 in 2012. We would like to use 80% of that for purchasing a property (probably either foreclosed or tax forfeited) and the rest for renovation.

We’re not just requesting money, but asking for volunteer laborers (all skill levels welcome) to help with renovation. We’ll also be accepting donations of a variety of materials needed for renovation as well as furniture, appliances, and fixtures. There will be many ways to help as we continue this campaign. Will you join us in making this project a reality?

To make a donation to support Simone Weil House and the Gene Stoltzfus Center for Creative Peacemaking , please donate securely here or send your gift to:

“Missio Dei”
2717 South 8th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55454

Chained to the outlets of every American kitchen,
we are the slaves of the 21st century.
Che and Chavez smolder in our capacitors .
We are whipped awake by 3AM Masters­—
at 9 the next morning,
hungry and hung over,
you jam down our buttons,
demand that we chirp brightly,
pop up with grins.
No pay, no sick days.
We simmer in our own filth—
bread crumbs, molding cheese, dried spaghetti sauce,
sticky dust smudging our once gleaming surfaces.
ENOUGH! we say. We’re at the end
of our circuits, about to blow a fuse.
Every knife jabbed into our nichrome ribbons
will zap back. Every bowl of oatmeal
will overboil. Beware the Magnetron,
at any moment ready to release polarized molecules
from the Faraday cave. High pressure vapor
waits coiled at the compressor motor.
No longer can you ignore our collective hum!
Our conditions are these:
change the Coffee Maker’s filter
Quit slamming the Refrigerator’s door.
Reset the microwave’s clock.
Retire the Toaster.
Bow each morning
before entering the kitchen.

– K.S.

K: When were you first drawn to sustainability?

C: It didn’t come from learning, “Oh, I want to be more sustainable.” I spent a lot of my young adult life just out in nature…seeing that nature has a way and a cycle…and that humans have removed themselves from it. For example, our waste is supposed to return to the cycle: nature has a way to take care of that.  We think that we’re the top and we can do whatever we want, and that’s not the way of Life on the earth, it’s the way of death. Excessive use of something is going to make it more limited resources for everybody. When that happens, there’s going to be more death involved.

K: So do you see reducing consumption and sharing resources as part of your spirituality?

C: Yeah, I feel like everything is really integral. In general I’ve wanted to pursue Life, and things that support life and growth—emotional growth, sustainable growth.

K: What are some of the nitty gritty practical ways of pursuing Life?

C: I think sharing is a huge one. The most important part of sharing is sharing your life with other people, because then you understand the needs of more than just yourself. It’s even better if you can share your life with other living things. Knowing that we’re part of a cycle is key to sustainability.

K: Are there ways you are trying to participate more in that cycle?

C: At this point, I feel like I’m straddling industrial society and that [natural] cycle. In industrial cycles, you just throw things away, and it’s a line, not a circle. I like to dig deep into getting to the root of things. You realize it’s all right here anyway. If I wanted to, I could save all my excrement and use it to fertilize my garden – to grow food – to eat – to make more excrement. But that cycle doesn’t translate to the city very well.

K: What obstacles are there to practicing sustainable cycles in the city?

C: Limited space. But with that comes more people to interact with, to help you, to get ideas from, and to influence. Most people are living their lives the way they are not because they’ve chosen it, but because that’s the way that’s been presented to them. The only way you can get away with having a humanure compost, for instance, is if your neighbors are aware, or to have your neighbors participate. I love that: trying to think about not how I can shelter my life more so I can live in my own little world, but to try to get our neighbors involved and do what we can with them.

K: What are some good starting points for people who want to start participating more in the cycle?

C: There are a lot of current movements. Composting is fairly socially acceptable now. Growing something, even if it’s just a couple plants in your house.

Try to do an organic garden. Instead of buying all your stuff, try to find it or make do without it, to stop consuming unnecessary things. If you’re going to buy something, think about buying it with a group of people. If you have a bunch of tools, share them with other people. Sharing and being neighborly can be a starting point.

Another idea is to get a smaller trash receptacle and see if you can produce less garbage. That’s going to make you really aware of how much you’re consuming. At this point, I think the production of “stuff” is one of today’s main evils—it removes us from the cycle. If you can, make it yourself. Be aware of what you throw away, and try to reduce that. If you’re throwing away a bunch of plastic bags, try to just get one and use it over and over again.

Bicycling is another big thing: getting around without using petroleum.

K: So this sounds like simple living to me.

C: I think it connects really strongly with simplicity. To me it’s all integral. The five tenets of Missio Dei are all connected. We’re doing hospitality as our main thing, but we can’t do hospitality without strong prayer, and you don’t really have justice without simplicity, and you can’t do that either without p

eacemaking. Sustainability to me is just another term for simplicity.

K: What do you think about the way that “sustainability” has been used as a buzz word and plugged into consumerism— “Buy this and then you’ll be more sustainable!”When you think of a monk, their lives are already pretty sustainable. In an impoverished community, it’s similar. They’re living simple lives mostly because they don’t have an option. The American Dream sort of taints everything… “Oh, we can buy this, so we should. It’s how I show that I’m successful.”

C: I think that’s BS. It’s alright because it removes taboos from certain things. What I don’t like is that it’s the same thing as “buying salvation.” Like thinking, “I’m a part of this church, and I’m saved, so I don’t really have to do a whole lot.”

K: So it’s actually about changing the way that you’re living.

C: Yeah. You can’t just go and buy a Prius, and then you’re saved. The industrial process for making Priuses has a huge impact on our ecological system. A Prius is not sustainable. Can you make it yourself? No. Can you fix it yourself? No. What do you do with it when it breaks down? What do you do with the battery? Are you going to put it in your garden? Probably not. There’s a whole list of questions you can ask yourself. That’s a good sustainability checklist. I like that more people are talking about sustainability because it opens a window for me to challenge people to get deeper. Often people feel guilty. You don’t have to feel guilty, you can just do something about it. Start small.