Jubilee! A Call to Life!
Below is an essay about Jubilee! by Avery Shackelford for her Introduction to Religious Studies course at St. Andrew’s-Sewanee School in Sewanee, Tennessee. Avery is the granddaughter of Mimi Shackelford, who has been involved with Jubilee! since the beginning and who made the lovely fabric wall hangings that adorn the interior walls at Jubilee!. By the way, Avery recently graduated after receiving an A+ on her paper.
Jubilee! A Call to Life!
By Avery Shackelford
In the mountains of North Carolina there is a place where hands come together to work, pray, create, celebrate, and love. These hands belong to the members of “a unique Community of Faith”1 called Jubilee!. Jubilee! is an inclusive community filled with people of many different religious backgrounds and beliefs, and as Minister Howard Hanger states, “Diversity is our middle name!” The people in this community, who refer to themselves as Jubilants, live up to their namesake as they personify all of the word jubilant’s synonyms including joyful, exultant, and exuberant. In a place where love is given out as freely as candy at a parade, there is certainly much to be jubilant about.
Jubilee! has a mission to make their community and the world a better place. In 1989, when Jubilee! first got its start, the group donated ten thousand dollars to organizations both locally and world-wide to feed and shelter the hungry and homeless.2 Today, Jubilee! annually donates about thirteen times the amount they gave out in their first year; as Mimi Shackelford says “Our goal is to give half of what we take in.” Among the agencies that receive from Jubilee! are Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, and Boys & Girls Club. Service based ministries in Jubilee! include “Outreach” whose mission is “ministering to needs of others through the appropriation of our outreach dollars” and “The Service Team” who “locates and facilitates ‘action oriented, hands-on projects’ that benefit those in need.”3 One unique way in which Jubilee! helps lend a hand is through their “Room In the Inn” program, “a local program of Homeward Bound, sponsored by 26 Asheville area faith-based communities, to provide safe and overnight accommodations and nourishing meals to twelve homeless women.”4 Approximately four times each year Jubilee! provides food and housing for these women with the help of 70 hands. Why are Jubilants so willingly ready to help? This question is answered by Jubilee! member Pam Raymond in her essay “How Much We Love.” She says, “We love…we love wildly and freely! We love the kind of love that is not afraid of dirty hands!” She goes on to say, “Radical love can change a life. Relentless love can change the world – one heart at a time. Keep on loving, Jubilee! that’s what is real.” Jubilee!’s drive to help make their community and world better stems from their perpetual love for all human beings.
The attitude of many Jubilants reminds one faintly of the ideas of the romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge both of who discuss the importance of human beings’ connection to nature in their writing. In Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” the narrator talks about his discovery that even the slimy snakes in the sea are part of God’s creation. Likewise, Jubilants say “Even the beasts of the field and every creeping thing praises God, according to the psalms.”5 The Jubilant! church year is unique in its use of “the vias”, “used as a quarterly focus for worship[, there is] one via for each season: Summer—via positiva, Autumn—via negativa, Winter—via creativa, and Spring—via transformativa.”6 The purpose of the vias is to help create your own path of thinking and being while still giving you clear spiritual guidance. The vias are a path, not “THE path.”7 Via positiva is a celebration of yes. Summer is a positive “yes-like” season in the abundance of color and nature. Via negativa affirms that there is darkness in life and that darkness should be approached with courage.
Autumn represents this darkness, as life appears to be dying. Via creativa helps produce a creative time to go inside one-self. Winter is the season of creativity. Via transformativa represents positive change and fullness of life. Spring is a time of change as life is reborn anew.8 In a recent via transformativa celebration, the congregation sang a song about the earth of which Mimi Shackelford says, “After we sang this Howard [Hanger] suggested we imagine singing it to the planet—the moon, stars, earth, and flowers.” Jubilants feel a deep connection to nature. Members of Jubilee! can actively participate in “Earth Team” whose goal is “creating awareness of the interconnection of all things and sponsoring projects related to the environment or justice”9, but being part of the Jubilee! community is enough to help one realize nature’s great effect on and connection to humanity and foster a deep appreciation for the earth. Aliyah Schick says, “I believe that everything that exists is part of the whole, part of what we call sacred, part of what we call God. All that we know and encounter is expression of the sacred and contained within it. Things change form—we live in change, everything is constantly changing—but nothing just ends or stops existing. It transmutes to another form. Water becomes ice, a tree becomes compost, minerals become crystals, oil becomes heat; matter becomes energy and energy becomes matter. There is much more going on than we humans will ever begin to imagine, let alone understand. I have a powerful sense, deep in my bones, that all is well, whether I know the details or not.” Jubilants have come to realize that God is with you in nature and the closer we are to nature, the closer we are to God.
If Jubilee! is a faith community comprised of many different kinds of people whose ideas and paths may not all be the same, then what is it that the people in this community actually believe? In “How Much We Love” Pam Raymond talks about how someone accused Jubilee! of not being a “real” church. At Jubilee! alternative lifestyles are accepted, diversity is seen as enriching, and faith is perceived as evolving.10 I asked three members of Jubilee! about their faith. These were their responses.
Bruce Mulkey has been attending Jubilee for over ten years. He has served as member of the Board of Directors and helped produce Jubilee!’s website. He also has his own blog (brucemulkey.com) and is the author of several books. Mulkey believes, “I have the power to create exactly the life I want for myself, and only I can do so. On the other hand, given my connection with every living thing on earth, I have responsibility for their well-being as well. This does not mean that I’m responsible for anyone else’s happiness, but it does mean that I can treat every human, every living thing with love and respect.” There are some religious traditions that are not as accepting of other people’s differences, and not that there is anything wrong with that, because any Jubilant would treat someone intolerant of alternative lifestyles the same way that they would treat someone who does pursue an non-mainstream lifestyle. When discussing the basic question “What’s around the corner?”, Mulkey accepts the unknown as part of his faith by stating, “Life/God/Buddha/Yaweh/Mother Earth/The Big Kahuna/Fill in the blank with a deity of your choice” provide me with exactly the experiences I need to awaken to reality and to who I really am. The only time we have is this moment. The past is gone and the future is unknown. Death? Who knows? Certainly not me.” The importance of living “in the moment” is stressed among the Jubilee! community as a way to enjoy life and each day’s blessings.
Mimi Shackelford, who says she has been at Jubilee! “since the beginning”, has had many roles at Jubilee! amongst them board member, spearhead of “Celebrating Creation” (a holiday parade), Sunday school teacher, nurture team member (a group that focuses on wellness), and designer of banners, brochures, and flyers. Despite her busy schedule Mimi also finds the time to be an excellent grandmother to her eight grandchildren and spoils them all by making her infamous chocolate pie. Of her faith, Mimi says, “I am an individual with thoughts, gifts, and talents that I believe are best used and developed in the community, by sharing them and learning from others. I believe that all of creation is evolving daily and that wisdom comes from all traditions and cultures—from everywhere and everything. I believe that all of creation is sacred and should be treated with respect.” Like Mulkey, Mimi uses the word “respect” in the description of her attitude towards creation.
Respect for humanity, respect for the world, is a definite common thread in the Jubilant community. Mimi further explains her faith by saying, “For me, the word ‘God’ is simply a symbol for the power of life that moves through the universe and for the presence of love that enhances and gives meaning and joy to life. Love and compassion give us the ability to cope with the suffering and uncertainty that is ever present because we are alive and aware.” When I was little I remember Mimi always told me she wanted to be cremated and then sprinkled over the ocean, but also on the tennis courts so that her friends could visit her (I think that part was a joke). On a more serious note Mimi discusses life after death by saying, “I hope that some part of me will live on in the hearts and minds of those I love and who love me…and that my life will continue to exist in those I’ve taught, contributions I’ve made, or ideas I’ve shared. I’m perfectly willing to become part of the earth and elements once more. This life has been full of deep joy and love—and that’s enough! I am grateful!!” I know I am grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful and wise grandmother who so readily gives out love not only to her family but also to complete strangers and those in need.
Aliyah Schick, a Jubilee! member for nine years now, is the leader of the prayer chain and also periodically reads her poetry aloud in the services. She describes her poetry as spiritual, with spiritual being a broad adjective that encompasses everything, as “everything meaningful [such as poetry] is essentially spiritual.” She believes, “The most important thing is to be fully present in each moment and true to who we really are. Being that evokes self-worth and integrity, which evokes empathy, which evokes compassion, which evokes connection and community. I focus on the positive, on the miracles and mysteries, on the possibilities.” Simply by being ourselves, Aliyah says that we all contribute and benefit one another: “Together we co-create this life here on earth.”
I now return back to the comment that Jubilee is not a “real” church. Perhaps Jubilants do not have a rigid set of beliefs or system of thought they must follow, but is that what faith is defined as? Faith is not formed through objective practices or codes of ethics. Vicki Garlock writes, “Faith is not about spiritual beliefs or religious commitments. Rather faith is a worldview that guides one’s life. It’s a way of moving through life’s wonders and challenges.” She continues by saying she wants her kids to have faith: “A faith that reminds them they are connected to the earth and all the people on it. A faith that holds them steady when necessary and allows them to float away in ecstasy when the opportunity arises. A faith that grows out of trust and love. It’s a lofty goal but I’m pretty sure the relatively mundane task of getting dinner on the table – helping them to appreciate the earth’s bounty, sharing time together as a family, and offering a glimpse of my love for them – serves as a decent stop along the way.” Raymond agrees with this sentiment by saying, “Our spiritual progress is not measured by how much we pray or meditate, or even by how much money we give away to the poor, Our spiritual progress is measured by how much we love.”
Loving is what Jubilants do best. Somewhere in the space between one another something powerful exists. Whether or not you refer to this something as “Life, God, Buddha, Yaweh, Mother Earth, or The Big Kahuna,”11 it’s there. Jubliants realize that the closer we get to one another the closer we get to this something. So love. “Love wildly and freely. Love the kind of love that is not afraid of dirty hands.” 12And with your hands reach out to others, reach out triumphantly and jubilantly, because you will find that God is love, and love is all around us.
* * *
Sources Cited
1 Howard Hanger, Minister, through “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
2 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
3 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
4 “Room In the Inn at Jubilee!” brochure
5 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
6 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
7 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
8 “What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)”
9 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
10 “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
11 Bruce Mulkey
12 “How Much We Love” by Pam Raymond
Primary Sources:
Bruce Mulkey
Mimi Shackelford
Aliyah Schick
Secondary Sources:
“How Much We Love” by Pam Raymond
Howard Hanger, Minister, through “Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
“Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life”
“Jubilee! Community: A Call to Life!” brochure
“Room In the Inn at Jubilee!” brochure
September 26, 2008 Newsletter
“Via Transformativa: Jubilee! Community Spring 2010”
“What Is This Via Stuff, Anyway? (Uh-oh, Here Comes the Theology)” by Vicki Garlock
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