Greenhouse for People

“A Greenhouse for People may sound obscure, but the intentionality reaches the most desolate places, and allows Love to do what love does best, transform. I am grateful for the greenhouse, but most grateful for the people who choose each day to live out a metaphor that promises better for each of us.” 

• Well Moments: Ashley Thomas

Our framework at Hope Street invites all people in. It leaves space to intentionally meet people where they are at. It is our best effort at reflecting Jesus in erasing the notion that we have to come to him put together, as if we somehow could. This practice communicates “come with your mess” and here, you’re not too much. In fact you are enough, before you even take a step forward. That enoughness can rest in the solid status of beloved. 

I have yet to meet anyone who has a problem with us reminding people they are beloved. It is a different b word that people get tripped up on…broken. When we adopted the greenhouse for people framework, it ushered in the opportunity to become a safe place for broken men, women and children. We saw this as an invitation for anyone to enter the greenhouse, acknowledging we all have brokenness - areas in our lives where we are not yet whole. Part of pursuing life inside the greenhouse is the awareness that we were created for Shalom, in other words wholeness, and entering into how things ought to be. While that is not our reality on this side of heaven, I believe we are given glimpses of what our souls long for. And even in between those glimpses, given a spirit that can still experience peace and love. 

So why is the term broken one that so many get tripped up on? I think the simplest answer for what trips people up, is our propensity towards putting people into categories - the most infamous “us and them” - a category that essentially bifurcates people into haves and have nots, or together or unwell. We look at people’s glaring “issues” and determine we know what it is that would fix them. The only problem is, we all need fixing - some in less obvious ways. To think that we don’t just laughs in the face of what Christ accomplished on the cross on behalf of all of us. When people hear broken they think we have reserved that term for those who have done the worst of the worst…or those who are in the throes of addiction, homelessness, trauma…you know those who need services. This couldn’t be further from the truth. 

So just what do we mean by broken?

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." 

Psalm 34:18 

When was the last time something broke your heart? Or maybe it was someone. Recently we have become aware of activities that are less than ideal happening in a building directly across from Shechem, our community center. The living conditions are straight up toxic - there is bug infestation, feces in hallways, ongoing altercations and drug use. It is a stark difference from what we are trying to do not even 100 feet away. My first emotion was anger, but as we have continued to find out more information, my heart has broken. First for the members within our own building who are doing everything in their power to live life differently, and then for every individual in that building that I don’t have a name or a story for. As I have wrestled some more, my heart has even broken for the owner of the building - it must feel helpless, or maybe he or she is numb. The more I reflect, the broader the impact of that brokenness breaks my own heart - our block, the north side of Milwaukee, Milwaukee…this is just one glaring example of life not being how it ought to be, and yet I am not naive enough to think it is just there. I know Jesus meets us here. In the mess, in the parts of life that are in direct contrast to what He has for us. 

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

Psalm 147:3

I am at the stage of life with littles where things get broken. Often my first inclination is to throw the broken pieces away. I don’t have the time or energy to restore that which has been broken. In our fast paced, materialistic culture I think that is the tendency. We grow tired of something or it’s not “new” and therefore loses its value. The good news is our Father doesn’t view brokenness the way we do. He sees our brokenness as a current state, and not the whole story. He doesn’t see brokenness and think we should be thrown out. Instead He extends an invitation to be healed, to be restored. The greenhouse is the perfect environment for healing and restoration to take place. Whole plants, and broken plants alike can thrive here. What was once broken can be made new. The only part of our brokenness left is the story of what was, and how it led to what is now. Brokenness doesn’t have to be the whole story, and we are promised it is not the ending. 

"The Sovereign Lord has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives."

Isaiah 61:1

Freedom. More than anything I have seen freedom boiled down to living in a new narrative. One that is not rooted in fear or lies, but a hope filled future that doesn’t negate what has happened, but includes someone walking hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder from there forward. 

So like most things at Hope Street, we are given the opportunity for our perspective to shift. To consider that broken nearly is a state, or posture that invites us into something more. It doesn’t strip us of dignity, or thwart our status as beloved, in fact it reminds us just how loved we are. It acknowledges we have a need, and someone went to great lengths to meet it.

So whatever it is that breaks someone’s heart, there is a safe place on 26th and Capitol in Milwaukee, that provides a home, and a place of community. A Greenhouse for People that reminds people they are beloved, and together we can rest in the fact there is a flourishing finish. A transformation from broken, to restored…a new creation. 

You can listen to the podcast on this chapter here, and to read the chapter Greenhouse for People you can purchase Well Moments here. Enjoy this story? Would you consider sharing it with a friend?