Remember…

Since returning from the CCDA Conference last week this word remains to be on my mind. Remember. This has actually been the theme for this year within Urban Connection – San Antonio, to go back and remember what we used to do, how we used to do things because we have gotten so caught up in the daily grind of running a ministry that we have forgotten what makes us a viable ministry in the neighborhood.

Today while in my quiet time, I was reminded again to Remember. When I entered my office this morning the first thing on my mind was to clean off my desk and bulletin board, as I was doing this I came across a letter and a list of service ideas that were written in 2001, before Urban Connection – San Antonio even existed.

This letter was written to invite people to participate in the Mariposa Alliance which was the foundational group that Urban Connection was planted around. It was a group of social service agencies, neighbors, churches, and businesses that were interested in making a difference in the Lincoln Heights courts.

The letter reads:

“My name is Leslie Kelsie-Grubbs and I would like to invite you to participate in the Mariposa Alliance of San Antonio. Our meetings are every third Wednesday of the month at the Lincoln Courts Community room, 1315 N. Elmendorf, San Antonio, 78207 from 10 to Noon.

Mariposa began with a vision inspired by the changes in the welfare system. And how these changes would affect those living in public housing.

While working on the Westside of San Antonio, I would pass through the San Juan Homes housing projects every day, but wouldn’t see the boarded up building and deteriorating environment like everyone else. I saw well-kept yards, renovated buildings. Children playing together, neighbors talking to each other and helping one another, a place where people would be proud to live.

People were going to work, Mothers that enjoyed caring for children, running a child care center. Residents that loved to cook, providing meals for the children who were old enough to stay home and for the child care center. Those that enjoyed driving providing rides to residents that needed transportation. Residents providing a service to their neighbors, by providing housekeeping and laundry services. Those that enjoyed landscaping keeping everyone’s yard neat and clean. I also saw peer groups created for neighborhood support. The vision is so large that I cannot write it all. It was a community with pride standing up for itself. The “projects” was no longer a bad word but a place where individuals worked together, giving each other a hand up.

During a meeting in March 2001 with members of Innovative Concepts In-Home Counseling Service, while talking about the R.O.A.D. Center vision for the future, Mariposa Alliance of San Antonio was born.

Mariposa is a Spanish word meaning butterfly. The butterfly represents new birth and/or new life. The Mariposa Alliance works together assisting the residents of public housing in their transformation to butterflies. Presently we are targeting the Lincoln heights Courts on the Westside of San Antonio. As we become successful in this effort, Mariposa is to be integrated around the city in other housing developments.”

Reading this letter I was reminded again, of what we are here to do on the West End of San Antonio. We are not here to build a kingdom for ourselves; we are here to build the Kingdom of God by empowering, developing, inspiring, and encouraging our neighbors to do for themselves. We are here to assist them through the love of God to be the body of Christ, to be a community. Then we are to leave.

So today I am in a place of remembrance.