Yesterday we spent the day at MacArthur Park at specifically at Mama's Hot Tamale Cafe. I really encourage you to click the link and read about this amazing community and economic development project that has essentially turned around the Westlake Village neighborhood (of which MacArthur Park is a part).
To a great extent, the Institute for Urban Research and Development has succeeded in creating a public space that has given rise to a sense of community that has enabled this renewal. A great deal of what we're dealing with this week in class is where the church fits into this sense of public space. (For more on what I mean by public space see Zygmunt Bauman's, In Search of Politics. Or, for a shorter treatment you can go here or here).
Can we, at Hollywood Church, create a "space" - a forum, a conversation, or a deep community - that could give rise to God's shalom being realized in Hollywood. Could our church host that or sponsor that, faciliate that? What do you think?
Comments