Beauty in limitation & becoming a ‘hood person [Aug ’19]

I didn’t set out at the beginning of last school year to change nearly every aspect of my daily life, but over the course of the year, it happened. Last August, I hit a mental wall when it came to living on one side of the city while trying to foster a community and family at DSS’ East Campus 45 minutes away. In early September, I told my staff how desperately I was craving centralization. I’d been given the beautiful gift of two communities on opposite sides of the city and was grateful, but was being stretched thin and knew that that lifestyle wasn’t sustainable for much longer. If I was gonna live out the vision I felt the Lord giving me for what DSS could become, something was gonna have to give.

Later that week, a friend of mine from Aurora connected me with the pastors of Sacred Grace East Colfax– the church plant that was moving into DSS’ neighborhood. One meeting over coffee led to an opportunity to speak at Sacred Grace’s first event. That opportunity gave way to Sacred Grace cooking DSS a hot lunch once a week and those Thursdays in the school kitchen with Ruben and Jo led to fast forming friendships. Somehow now a year has passed and Sacred Grace and Aurora are the places I call home. Throughout the last season this little church has introduced me to my new neighbors; folks I now call friends and co-workers.

We talk a lot about the beauty of limitation at Sacred Grace and it’s been an ideology that’s reshaping the way I live my life. It’s no surprise to you all, I’m sure, that I want to “do all the things” and try to help all the people, all of the time. “More” as a concept has always seems better than less. Maybe it’s my overachiever, enneagram 2w3 personality, or maybe it’s our culture, but I know my personal tendency is never to abide in limits. However, as a tiny neighborhood church of roughly 30 people, we’re intentionally choosing to limit our lives as much as possible to the two-square miles of our parish. We’ve started playing volleyball and rock climbing here, shopping at the mercados on Colfax rather than the stores where I can easily get in and out in my native language, and walking/ biking the streets where we live as much as possible, rather than driving or commuting “out” for recreation.

It may seem like our reach and vision is small, but the reality is that our little neighborhood church and DSS aren’t trying to save the world. I’ve operated with that mentality in the past and I don’t need to tell you that the brokenness of the world is crushing. The brokenness of East Colfax? It’s similarly heavy, but working to love those in our parish, to address physical needs and come alongside the brokenhearted in our limited little ‘hood feels less overwhelming. And just imagine what could happen if all the Believers in the world chose to love the people right in front of them in their ‘hoods the way Jesus did…

Our campus’ vision for this year at DSS is a nod to our former student, Dom, who took a creative spin on the popular “BE A GOOD PERSON” shirt last year, and created his own “BE A HOOD PERSON” shirt for the first day of school.

Today as our students came “home” for the school year, their teachers and I sported our new team shirts as we rehashed summer adventures and gave a lot of hugs and high fives. I’m sure when Dom had his shirt made last August he wasn’t thinking he would inspire a new school motto in which his teachers would try to redeem what it means to be a ” ‘hood person”, but here we are… It’s an honor to be back with this insanely dedicated crew and our hilarious kids, living and loving together in our ‘hood on East Colfax.

Cheers to being a (neighbor)hood person this school year. May His kingdom come and His will be done in 80010 and to the very ends of the earth.

xo, Kace

Support DSS while you shop!

Because our little school is 100% donor funded, we rely on the generosity of others to keep our doors open for our students. East Campus is in need of a few simple “household” items to ensure the safety and comfort of our students this year. And let’s be honest, food is hard to keep on the shelves around here with 25 teenagers… You can help support our school today by shopping from our Amazon Wish List. Just click here!

Prayer requests

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Scholarship Opportunity

We’re all so excited for Precious as she transitions into the next phase of life in Alaska! The Street School & Tanalian Leadership Center staffs are trying to rally around her and help remove as many obstacles as possible as she prepares to begin Bible classes and VoTech training in October. For those of you who have expressed interest in helping scholarship Precious for the 19-20 TLC year, you can do so by clicking here , selecting Tanalian Leadership Center Scholarship in the dropdown menu, and typing her name in the “additional comments” box.

Click HERE to learn more about TLC”s program

**Full disclosure and transparency: I’ve talked with Precious and her fam a fair amount and really do believe that our sweet girl will take a leap wayyyy out of her comfort zone and move to Alaska for this extraordinary opportunity. But also, as we often say, “DSS happens”. In the slim chance that donations are made to TLC and Precious is unable to attend due to some lingering extenuating circumstances, the scholarship funds provided will be transferred to TLC’s general scholarship fund. Either way, your partnership will help provide a life changing, intensive discipleship opportunity for a teenager in need. I just wanted to be absolutely transparent with this request and honor your possible partnership. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or thoughts… xo

Sacred Grace East Colfax is currently meeting every Sunday night at Jubilee Coffee (1452 Kenton St. Aurora 80010) at 5:00 for community worship services. We would love for you to join us if you’re ever in the A.Co!

Sacred Grace East Colfax hosts a community dinner that we call “The Table” once a week. Just like at Jesus’ table, all are welcome to eat with us and talk through the deeper things in life. Shoot me an e-mail if you would like more information on the vision of The Table or to get connected to one of the groups re-launching in September.

~Slice of Life~

Nerd alert: Our staff had the amazing opportunity to hear Father Gregory Boyle, author of Tattoos on the Heart and Radical Kinship, and founder of Homeboy Industries speak last Friday. If you haven’t read Tattoos on the Heart, stop reading this newsletter and buy it. If nothing else, all the DSS stories I subject you all to will make more sense…

“It is certainly true that you can’t judge a book by its cover, nor can you judge a book by its first chapter—even if that chapter is twenty years long.”