Hospitality, April 2003, vol. 22, no. 4 (Editor’s note: Ed Loring, a Partner at the Open Door Community, preached the following sermon at the Seattle Mennonite Church on September 29, 2002.) The Message to Laodicea And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful [...]
September 1, 1997 – 7:01 pm
Hospitality Vol.16, no.9 1 In a few hours many of us from The Door will be heading over to the Butler C.M.E. Church for the funeral of Charlie Young, Sr. He is a former resident and we continued a good and strong relationship after he moved out of the community and into [...]
January 1, 1996 – 5:48 pm
Carlos vomited all over himself at 3 a.m. The puke spewed onto the mats to his right and to his left. The groggy, somnolent men fled the Land of Nod, like Cain banished, cursing and screaming at the full-grown fetus bent with bellyache. He upchucked again, green with threads of red like a lion’s eye [...]
Not always. Sometimes, many times, it is despair, not hope, that knocks. Sometimes the push on the door is to get out, not in. The Open Door is often closed, too much, locked. But from the inside going out, all one need do is gently push the panic bar and whew! you are on [...]
Hospitality vol.12, no.3 In the year that Mr. Willie Dee Wimberly was the age that I am today with one testicle and a bicycle he moved to Buckhead, a wealthy section in north Atlanta. An unlikely place in the year 1970 for this son of humanity to move. There behind a fancy restaurant [...]
January 1, 1993 – 8:33 pm
Too many mornings gonna wake up soon Oh, Lordy eat my breakfast by the light of the moon Oh Lord by the light of the moon If you see my momma Tell her this for me Oh, I got a mighty long time Lord knows I’ll never go free Oh Lord I’ll never be [...]
February 1, 1989 – 7:22 pm
Thony Green is a beautiful Black man. He is big and strong. Thony’s human frame is full of African features: meaty lips, a flattened nose, coal black eyes that twinkle with mystery and love. He is dirt poor–Mississippi river-(south Louisiana side)-style poor: where the dirt is rich but the poor people are depleted. Thony [...]
December 1, 1987 – 6:54 pm
Willie London took the long way around to The Open Door, but since he has entered into our lives he has become a special friend and a most dependable co-worker. I am especially thankful to Willie because he, like Joe Bottoms, works each day in my office with me. When Willie was very young, [...]
