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Settling In ˜ 17
trains carrying innocent people toward death in concentration camps, we are
witnessing concentrated death carried toward innocent people of the future.
Our belief in life will not let us keep silent.
Living within the struggle of life and death, we, like all of God’s children,
are constantly in need of healing. Donna Pickens, a deeply gifted artist, leads us
to discover ourselves and to explore the inner relationships between art and spirituality.
There is now emerging a new aspect of our vision, as homeless guests
and community members mold clay and paint pictures that depict the love of
life in the context of the quest for justice.
John Pickens is also bringing a broader shape to the life and work of the
Open Door. Beginning as a lawyer on the twenty-first floor of a very tall building,
he now guides us in our Legal Defense Ministry. John walks the streets, visits
the jails, serves soup in the dining hall, and, out of personal relationships with
the homeless, he represents them in court. Liberty to the captives and rights for
the widow and orphans are directions of John’s discipleship.
The Open Door is home. It is a small portion of the Body of Jesus Christ.
We have nothing and we are nothing, except for Jesus. You, our readers, are a
constant source of hope and strength. Please visit us and pray for us and join in
the works of mercy, that love may reign.
The Open Door Community:
Purposes and Aims, by Ed Loring
N o v e m b e r 1 9 9 1
purposes
The Open Door Community is a tiny part of the wounded body of Jesus
Christ. We grew out of the womb of Clifton Presbyterian Church and, from our
move ten years ago to 910 Ponce de Leon Avenue, we have been a partnership
ministry with Atlanta Presbytery. We are, like the Body itself, ecumenical, diverse,
a bit wild, and deeply loved by most of you. We thank you.
The Open Door Community is a residential Christian community of thirty
folk living in a sixty-room home. We are formerly homeless, ex-convicts, and
middle-class Christian resisters to mainline America: that culture which crushes
the prophets for profits and calls the most powerful hunger for possessions ever
unleashed upon God’s good creation “The American Way Of Life.”
But Jesus Christ is alive, well, and Lord! He resides in the flesh and feet of