Posted 680 days ago

Peace Tree Community

by Tom Sine, Mustard Seed Associates,

I had the opportunity to spend three days with the Peace Tree Community in Perth, Australia, during the last week of April. Bonnie, Amy, Geoff, Josh, Harry, Teresa, Tyson, Matt and Jarrod extended gracious hospitality to me. I stayed with Amy and Josh in their house, but I spent most of my time in the main community house next to the neighbourhood garden that Bonnie, Harry and Josh run. There was a constant stream of neighbours dropping in from this largely aboriginal community in Perth for tea and conversation. Kids who came by always found someone in the house to play with; they could garden with Bonnie, play board games with Geoff, or skateboard with Jarrod.

The people at the Peace Tree Community not only have a flourishing garden in their yard, but they coordinate a cooperative permaculture garden called “Lockridge Community Garden” on vacant land with their neighbours. In it, they work to provide “real food, not fleshpots” for themselves and those with limited recourses. They also share their surprising bounty from dumpster diving with all their friends. I enjoyed everything from fried eggs and bread for breakfast to elegant chocolates that came from the weekly gleaning from the “excesses of Empire.”

The day began with morning prayers at 6:30 am, and after breakfast people scattered in different directions. Community members are employed in various ministries, from speech pathology for children with disabilities to working with street kids, and one member is a university student. But their vocation is to embody something of God’s kingdom in Perth. For example, Jarrod creatively combined his work in training activists, his work as an “eco-evangelist” and his work with young people under the banner of EPYC—Empowering Peacemakers in Your Community, a nonviolence training organisation that works with young people to “equip the next generation of eco-prophets in the transformative nonviolence of Jesus.”

Last year, there was tragic gang killing in their neighbourhood. Johnston, a 19-year-old Maori from New Zealand, was brutally beaten to death by young men of a different ethnic minority. White reports turned it into an international story of “race riots” between aboriginals and Maoris, but this was far from the truth and only fueled the fire of misunderstanding. Immediately, members of the Peace Tree gathered in prayer and as a result, creativity flowed in response to this tragedy. They hit the local streets with chalk, writing sayings like “something must change” on footpaths all over the Lockridge community. In prayer, Josh suggested they organize a community-wide gathering called “Pizza for Peace.” They baked pizza for the entire community in an outdoor community oven that they built in the permaculture garden. They brought together the neighbourhood including both the aboriginal community and the Maori community, and musicians donated their talents. During the gathering, people of diverse backgrounds were able to talk about their pain and fears of reprisals, and embrace one another. The Peace Tree led a time of prayer for an end to violence in their streets and our world. They planted an almond tree to remember Johnston’s life with those closest to him, and asked those gathered to join them in putting soil on the base of the tree as a prayer for remembrance and healing. Their aboriginal neighbours were the first to pick up shovels and pay respects. Half a year on, there still have been no reprisals.

Members of the Peace Tree Community also give expression to their faith through what Jarrod calls “dangerous doxology” through nonviolent demonstrations at arms manufactures, military bases and prisons for asylum seekers. For example, they demonstrated at the Baxter Detention Centre for Asylum Seekers on Easter. They participate in “liturgical actions” by creating “sacred spaces for worship in the midst of unredeemed Systems,” such as Baxter Detention Centre, with riot cops towering over them.

Jarrod, often a spokesperson for the Peace Tree Community, describes the “mob” he is a part of as “a support group of ‘sinners anonymous’ and ‘recovering consumers’ who pray to embody God’s grace by transforming vacant blocks into permaculture gardens, dumpster bins into delicious feasts for the hungry, and by providing hospitality for the homeless and refugees.” Why? Well, they are all very quick to answer when they are asked about their life, “The Kingdom of God. Living God’s future now!” I would like to see more mobs young activists like these forming communities with a difference in every country. Any takers?

For more about The Peace Tree or EPYC, visit http://paceebene.org/user/jarrod-mckenna

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