My wife has a great post on our first block party here in the neighborhood. Here's an excerpt:

We truly had the poor, homeless, 2 prostitutes, one widow, one drug dealer and many children eating together with the believers of Christ. I'm telling you, there is no life better than that!

I love that we live in a neighborhood where a professor and a prostitute can come together at the same party. I love that we can engage in redemption and restoration, and join God in His mission here in this community. Trust me, He's been here far longer than any of us, and we are standing on the shoulders of so many other spiritual giants who have gone before, but how great it is to be a part of seeing Jesus renew all things.

The words of N.T. Wright are still ringing in my ears:

“The whole world is God’s holy land. At the moment the world appears as a place of suffering and sorrow as well as of power and beauty. But God is reclaiming it. That’s what Jesus death and resurrection were all about. And we are called to be part of that reclaiming. One day all creation will be rescued from slavery, from the corruption, decay, and death which deface its beauty, destroy its relationships, remove the sense of God’s presence from it, and make it a place of injustice, violence, and brutality. That is the message of rescue, of “salvation,” at the heart of” the gospel." - Simply Christian