It was an unusual sight--40 people walking through our neighborhood, from house to house, carrying forks. It was Sojourners Community's first "progressive dinner" (that's "progressive" as opposed to "stationary" rather than "progressive" as opposed to "conservative"). The occasion was the celebration of Sojourners' 15th anniversary.
We began with nachos and guacamole at our Harvard Street house, moved to 13th Street for bread and salad, shared enchiladas on Euclid Street, and ended the feast with a vast array of desserts on Fairmont Street. Then we made our way to the Sojourners Neighborhood Center, where a collection of memorabilia awaited us.
One wall was devoted to material from the Sojourners archives, including the first "manifesto" of the Peoples Christian Coalition (forerunner to the Post American, which was forerunner to Sojourners)--a statement of opposition to the Vietnam War, racism, sexism, and every other bad thing in 1971. Also included were Jim Wallis' "letter of resignation" from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, citing a conflict of interest and time between seminary studies and putting out a magazine, and various news clippings about the trouble this "radical band" was stirring up at the conservative seminary.
Another wall was plastered with snapshots from 15 years of community life-- demonstrations, parties, moves, our children, worship. On the third wall were pictures that each of us had contributed of ourselves "from around 1971," when Sojourners came to birth. This wall generated the most laughs, as we saw each other as junior high school students, soccer players, and young brides and grooms, among other things.
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