Our long-time friend (and creator of this website) Jon O is kicking off a new program connecting Temple University film students with a venue to share and process their art with the community here at New Jerusalem Now.
The first screening and discussion will take place at our central house (2011 W Norris St) at 7pm tomorrow night, Tuesday 5/18.
Call Justin at the office (215.763.8806) for details or just show up with an appetite for student film!
Jump in on a gathering at the central New Jerusalem house [2011 W Norris St] this Saturday, May 8th, at 6pm!
Philly-area co-Conspirators [the simple way, the Alternative Seminary, Circle of Hope, Camden House(s), etc.] are getting together for a potluck and the first-ever local manifestation of a CONSP!RE magazine roundtable discussion.
The latest issue, Path and Place, deals with the interaction of physical location and spiritual movement. The editors have put together a study guide to help us dive in (which can be downloaded HERE), so take some time to wrestle through your own experience; then plan on bringing your reflections and some food to share.
You can also plan to pick up a copy of the latest issue Saturday night if you haven’t yet had an opportunity.
Contact Jason C. [jason@thesimpleway.org] for details/RSVP or contact Justin [williams.justinlee@gmail.com; 215.763.8806] if you’re volunteering to cook up a pan of his favorite baked macaroni.
A couple of us accepted an invitation to travel with Kensington Welfare Rights Union down to New Orleans to kick off the March to Fulfill the Dream, a three-month caravan to the U.S. Social Forum led by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.
Keep track of their time down south through a few videos on this PPEHRC blog and press release.
It’s been a few months and, with the latest issue of CONSP!RE magazine hot off the presses, a broad network of friends and communities in the Philadelphia area are meeting up for a night of celebration.
The latest issue of CONSP!RE gathers together collective wisdom from faith communities across the globe concerning the topic of prayer. These release parties are always a source of deep encouragement, so RSVP over at the Simple Way’s website and join us this Friday night, 6pm, at Wyoming Avenue Baptist Church (123 E Wyoming Ave).
Join us in a funeral procession lamenting the cruelty of yesterday’s massive SSI cuts inflicted upon 340,000 of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable.
The elderly poor and disabled were dealt a devastating blow on February 1st after the state legislature implemented a $22 million cut to PA Supplemental Security Income. These budget cuts will drastically reduce food and housing security within an already-fragile sector of society living on a fixed income 20% below the poverty line.
The poorest among us deserve better.
Carry hope for a different tomorrow by joining New Jerusalem Now, our friends at Broad Street Ministry, and other affected Philadelphians in a procession and vigil around City Hall this Wednesday at 5pm.
Click on the image above for details of the event and read more about the cuts affecting a number of us at New Jerusalem and in our neighborhood HERE.
New Jerusalem’s longtime friends at KWRU are staging an important event for those of us in the Philadelphia area:
Join the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU), and our allies for an unpermitted rally and demonstration to demand a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions! PPEHRC’s member organizations are having similar actions at federal buildings across the country.
Poverty, homelessness, debt, and unemployment are rising while trillions are spent on wars and bailouts for the rich. Join poor and homeless people who are leading the fight for affordable housing and healthcare. Take action. Join the movement to end poverty!
Hello dear friend,
Thank you for visiting our site. In the past, you may have received some form of appeal in your mailbox during these holiday seasons, asking you to consider giving us financial support. This year we’re going digital.
One reason is because we believe this to be an area of “recovery potential”, as we are aware of the avalanche of paper waste that is harming our planet and cluttering our lives. Another reason is that we simply do not have the resources to send out a written appeal. (hint, hint!)
Some data suggests that attention spans are dwindling. If you’ve made it this far, you have already outlasted many others. Keep it up, you’re doing great! We promise this won’t take much longer.
We need your help. This has been an especially difficult year for us as the economy, circumstances and the cunning have conspired to bring us closer to zero than since the days of our beginnings. But, as our friend Hafiz tells us, “zero is where the real fun starts!”
Many of the beautiful broken people who walk through our doors are also closer to zero than ever. This is where recovery begins. We believe that God is more interested in tender beginnings than efficient ends. Now here is your opportunity to join with us in the tender beginnings of a new year.
Please help us— and our world— recover. Your financial support makes our work possible; without it we cannot keep our doors open to the least of these. If you are inspired to contribute, simply click here for instructions.
Thank you, God bless, and happy holidays!
Much love,
Your friends at New Jerusalem Now
For those of you who don’t know, New Jerusalem was recently the subject and cover story of the Philadelphia City Paper. You can read the story here.
For those of you who have come to visit our site as a result of reading the article: welcome! We are glad to have you. We hope you will feel at home and look around, and if there are any questions we can answer, please feel free to leave a note and we will get back to you.
The summer has been a whirlwind, leaving updates on life around here few and far between. Maybe a few of you, though, stumbled across an article about New Jerusalem in the May/June 2009 issue of PRISM magazine.
Published by a group of justice-minded evangelical Christians, the people behind the magazine were generous enough to donate fifty copies of the issue to our community in hopes that there might be a few of you interested in buying it directly from us. If you didn’t see it back in May, click here to view “The Therapeutic Power of Community: How a Recovery Community Flourishes in a Neighborhood Renowned for Addiction” and let us know if you’d like a hard copy of the full issue.
Our friends at the simple way and The Alternative Seminary have organized yet another excuse to get together. The new issue of Consp!re magazine is fresh off the presses and a whole bunch of us will be gathering to celebrate its release and the theme of “Sacred Subversions” this Wednesday, 6pm, at 18th and Diamond (just three blocks from the central New Jerusalem house).
Hosted by the Church of the Advocate, an embodiment of “sacred subversion” and central component in the struggle for civil rights and justice here in North Philly, the evening will begin with a potluck dinner and pick up steam during a time of communion, song, prayer, and a few readings from the latest issue.
While you might have missed New Jerusalem’s own Bruce Dawson’s and Nate Buchanan’s reflections during the last release party on the signs of hope and rebirth that appeared in their pieces from the spring’s Resurrection issue… you can’t say you weren’t aware that something wonderful was in the air this time around!
See you there…