Nouwen's Twist on an old saying

Nouwen wrote:

"Being in the Church, Not of It

Often we hear the remark that we have to live in the world without being of the world.  But it may be more difficult to be in the Church without being of the Church.   Being of the Church means being so preoccupied by and involved in the many ecclesial affairs and clerical "ins and outs" that we are no longer focused on Jesus.  The Church then blinds us from what we came to see and deafens us to  what we came to hear.   Still, it is in the Church that Christ dwells, invites us to his table, and speaks to us words of eternal love.

Being in the Church without being of it is a great spiritual challenge."


It reminds me of Jesus' critique of the religious leaders of his day, to paraphrase: "you save them from the future of hell to live a hell on earth twice as bad."  How often has religion been the problem rather than the solution. It has been said that Sunday is the most segregated time of the week as we go to our white church or black church.  Often it is the religious who lead the greatest persecution against the LGBT community, as religion was use in the past to support and justify slavery, women's marginalization, apartheid.  Often it is the religious who preach love but then practice judgement and self-righteousness that sounds more like hate than love...

...where did we lose God?  How has the Church become the force of the Anti-Christ, Anti-Love?    

I think Nouwen hits on it, when we stop having Christ as the center and we start to focus on politics and our own concerns we forget why we are the Church founded and fulfilled in Jesus.  We are Christians as a social construct rather than by faith, and we lose what it really means to be Christian--in doing so we too easily become anti-Christ.

YFX on National TV

YFX Physical Theatre

There have been a lot of changes in the last few months.  One of the most notable is our appearance on national TV with truTV's new show FakeOFF which premieres Oct 27th at 10pm.



Its an exciting program! 

We are also joining forces with ARTLABJ   www.artlabj.com
and creating a new church start in Detroit   www.youngfenixfellowship.com

More to come!

YFX is Born!

Young Fenix Physical Theatre is born!  Located at 1515 Broadway, Detroit.  We are proud to announce the newest creation of an international performing arts company which is birthed out of the ashes!  Many remember Mimeistry as it was, the troupes that traveled the world and the School that once was amongst the premiere schools for ministering arts. In 2008 Mimeistry fragmented into many new companies and troups.  Now Mimeistry's founder, Todd Farley, brings back the early creativity that made the original company a world leader.  With new techniques and new opportunities!  In tandem with international performing artist Adriel Ruben, we've added Circus arts, a contemporary base in dance and new elements of Comedia dell'arte--the physical theatre that is emerging is fresh and alive--with a message that reaches into our culture without shame. We present a show not bound by religiosity while retaining a profound spirituality.  We are not afraid to face cultures hardest issues, ask the darkest questions, while at the same time retaining the ability to laugh at ourselves.  There isn't a topic we are to shy to address or joke that we will not tell.

We hope you will come to our new shows.  We will be advertising our tours soon!  If you are interested in being part of the new YFX Troupe--auditions start in January 2014.  If you are interested in weekly workshops, they take place at our theatre space at 1515 Broadway, throughout the month (Monday nights at 6:30--but call for information 586-372-6102).  Upcoming!  June Summer Workshop, July/August Tours (including fringe festivals)...