Stories of the City

LA Times features former DOOR participant

2010-07-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Pashby, a YAV/Dwell participant in Hollywood 2007-2008, was featured in a recent LA Times article about her work with PATH Outreach in LA. Click Here for article.

2010-07-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

My freshman year of college I took Congregational Worship, an elective course. We learned about many things, but I got wrapped up in theology of space. What does our space say about our theology? What should our theology speak into our space? As I travel around the DOOR network, I am drawn to look churches in this way. I find it fascinating and also very important.

This morning, I participated with a Discover team at Oakleaf Farm, a farm run by Berea Mennonite Church, a partner church of DOOR Atlanta. Oakleaf Farm is actually in the yard of Berea Mennonite. I learned that the church has been trying to decide how to use its space for awhile now, and this idea of having a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm was born out of that process. In the front, back, and side yards of this church there are rows of vegetables in which 10% goes to the community free of charge and much of the rest is purchased by getting a share in the CSA.

This redefines the theology of space for me. Its not just the chapel, the fellowship hall and the Sunday School rooms, but also how we use all our space, including the yard. May we continue to figure out new ways to use the space around us to live out what we believe!

Some more thoughts on Washington DC

2010-06-24T13:48:00.001-07:00

If I think about it too long, I worry that my new desire to research Robert E Lee is a bit misguided. Should I be interested in the general who lead the charge to continue enslaving people in the South? True to my love of history, and in debt to my history teachers along the way, I have become reinterested in his life thanks to a recent trip to Arlington National Cemetery.

My 8th grade history teacher may be horrified to know that I forgot about Robert E Lee’s story. He was a West Point graduate. President Lincoln offered him the top job in the Union Army, Lee said no even though he didn’t agree with secession or the Confederacy which he mocked in letters before the Civil War. Why? His allegiance was to his home state of Virginia, and when Virginia seceded, Lee left the Union Army and joined the Virginia state troops. If that isn’t interesting enough, once the Union won, the land around Lee’s house (passed down from his in-laws who happened to be related to George Washington) was declared to become the National Cemetery, including a big monument in the family’s rose garden.

General Lee’s story makes me wonder about my allegiances. Slavery was and is wrong. Period. Lee, in my opinion, made the wrong decision. So the questions become – What is my allegiance to? What or Who in my life plays the role of Virginia that could sway my opinions and decisions so drastically? How can I show my concern and my commitment to people without giving them complete allegiance?

Living in the midst of the City

2010-06-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block by Judith Matloff. I could relate in many ways to the story of this woman who has chosen to purchase a house in West Harlem, a place that was not on most realtor’s maps and her friends wouldn’t come visit during the early 2000s. Her story is humbling, funny, and reflective.

She reflects at several points in the book about gentrification. As she sees her neighborhood change from a Dominician stronghold and a place that realtors have labeled frontier and those that were interested in buying there as pioneers to a multicultural block with closer amenities, she struggles with understanding whose side she was on.

Was Miguel the local head drug guy really that bad? Were her fears of her next door neighbor who liked crack founded? Should she worry about being in this neighborhood? Would it be hell to pay if Miguel found out that while relating with him she also attended community activism meetings to try to get the drug trade to move from her street?

These are good questions, for Matloff, for me, and for our DOOR year long (Dwell) participants. By living in a place that doesn’t have clear cut answers within a complex intentional community and in a neighborhood filled with stories, the answers won’t come easy.

Maybe in asking of the questions we are able to live more intentionally?

Vacation

2010-06-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

I thought I was on vacation.

While touring the American Museum of History last month my husband and I sat down for a presentation about the Civil Rights Movement in front of the Woolworth lunch counter from Greensboro, North Carolina where four students had participated in a sit in. For more information about the event and to see the counter, click here.

The presentation was about how folks prepared for these acts of non-violent action and at one point the presenter handed out historic Woolworth’s menus “to help prepare us for what was ahead”. Like good schoolchildren, we passed around these menus until everyone had seen them. The presenter asked where the menus were, there was one laying on the chair next to me and like 3 others in the audience, held the menu up expecting to be asked to pass it to the front. Instead, the four of us were asked to come sit at the lunch counter.

While sitting at the lunch counter, we were given instructions not to react to negative responses and that we were to just sit. Then after awhile we were surrounded by the rest of audience to represent the people who gave negative responses to the original four protesters.

Tears came to my eyes. This is what I believe in….working to bring a diverse world to the table, and standing up (or in this case sitting down) to injustices that prevent this from happening.

I was on vacation, but this is my life. I hear DOOR participants talk about being on vacation while in our Discover program and often hear about “taking a year off” for service. However, like my experience with the Greensboro lunch counter, I hope that participants see their time at DOOR as a part of their journey instead of a special instance of service, God, or reflection. My prayer is that participants will commit or recommit to their passions, to God, and to a life of reflection in new ways while at DOOR because cultivating a life of service and reflection isn’t something that can be left for vacation.

Discovering the City

2010-05-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

When groups register for our week-long discover program, we don’t just ask for their name, contact information and a check. Instead we start the process of reflection by asking several questions which include expectations, goals and ideas of service. A group recently registered with the following.

Q:“What are some images you have of the inner city?”
A.“A place where vibrant life meets real struggles and needs.”

Yes. Yes. And Amen. The City is full of life and needs. May the vibrant life be witnessed by the Discover participants this summer.

Generalizations and Reflections

2010-04-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a recent reflection from Anna Yoder, serving in a partner program of Radical Journey. Anna is serving in South Africa and yet I think she captures many of feelings that I hear around the DOOR network.

It's really hard to sit there, unsure what to say, when people make generalizations right at you. This surprisingly hasn't happened a lot since we've been here, but earlier this week it seemed to come with full force. I was sitting in the office trying to work on BCA's annual report when someone came and started talking to me forever about how Americans are.

Uh…

Don't get me wrong, I am the first to admit that there are lots of things that have gone wrong in the States. After all, we have a lot of blood (and high fructose corn syrup) on our hands. Part of the reason I wanted to do this program as to get out of the United States for awhile. I have found that it's hard to explain that to people here, even if they don't like the US they are often surprised when I say that as whole, I do not either.

I've been struggling with this a lot since being here. I miss home, which means I miss the States. And that sounds weird and out of place to me. Yet, when I think about that, it's not that unnatural since what I love about the States comes down to people (well, and ice cream. Ha) – my family, friends, and people who have impacted my life (and that I'm tired of being far away from). When this someone told me that Americans (as in our Radical Journey group here) are more prone to stay in the states as oppose to the Canadians who are more open to it (I'm not sure where this guy got this from), I wanted to tell him that for me I guess that is true but it comes down to the fact that Barb, Sanford, Aaron, Janice, Titus, Michaela, Leah, Jeron, Kare, Jille, Drea, Laura, Krista, Steph, and Jills live there than easy access to cheap, corn feed and filled food.

Regardless, I get really frustrated when South Africans come up to me and tell me everything that is wrong with the States, especially when they loop me in with their generalizations. I find it very difficult to say anything in these situations. Sometimes, I wonder if would do anything if I spoke up for myself at all. After all, the States needs to be lectured on lots of things. Often, it is also that I don't even know what to say. How do you tell someone who tells you to your face that all Americans are materialistic and only care about clothes and make-up when hello! I'm right here in front of them with practically no make-up, my hair frizzy from the humidity, and the fact that I've been wearing the same pair of pants consistently for the past week.

I'm pretty bad at sticking up for myself, especially when I sometimes agree with everything they are saying. Still, I don't like to be lumped into the "you Americans" group, when I rather be lumped in with those environmental, pro-Palestinian, God's kingdom on earth, anti-corn syrup, anti-blind consumerism, jubilee economics, simple living, third way Jesus' shalom type of hippy freaks so would rather challenge the system they live in rather than become just like it or run from it. Obviously, I don't have these things down. But it's hard to express that there is so much more to me than being an America. Or that doesn't always have to mean the terrible connotations that it holds throughout the world. Maybe God has placed me there for a reason – to be a part of a movement that challenges what my government is doing with my tax dollars, that doesn't live with a blind eye to the world, but rather engages, yet never fully participates in order to bring about radical generosity and love to the places I find myself in.

I want to live in a way in which people are confused as to why I don't fit into their "you Americans" generalizations. Am I there yet? I am not sure…

For the blog in its entirety, see http://radicaljourney-annayoder.blogspot.com/2010/04/you-americans.html

Its more than money

2010-04-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

DOOR Hollywood member Mark Horvath’s recent addition to Huffington Post Imagine Dropping Off your Grandmother to Sleep on the Street provides more than a story, but with a challenge. “Housing alone will not cure homelessness. We must also be community conscious. Elaine would rather live on the streets where she has social contact with people she knows than be housed in a different part of town.”
I agree whole-heartedly. And yet, I wish it was as easy as throwing money at the issue. Building community conscious is harder.
But, community conscious doesn’t take money….so we can’t use that excuse of “if we only had the money…”. What can I do today that makes me more mindful of my community? How can I make my city more aware of being community conscious? What about you?
I dream of a world that is community conscious.

Holy Week

2010-04-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

As you walk this journey called Holy Week,
may you welcome Jesus into Jerusalem with palm branches
may you travel through all the emotions that the disciples did
may you imagine Jesus washing your feet, passing you the cup, and explaining bread
may you attend to Jesus as he carries a cross on which he then is hung
may you wait, wait, and wait
may you awake to a new understanding of what resurrection truly can mean.

On the Other Side of Oscar

2010-03-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

I heard that The Hurt Locker won the Oscars. I haven’t taken the time to read the whole list of winners but I may soon.

I know that a DOOR group arrived to experience Hollywood on Sunday night, and not the Hollywood of Oscars.

Contrasts make up cities, and in my travels around the DOOR network, I am always surprised about how deep those contrasts can go – racial, class differences, political learning, dog walkers or cat lovers, fast food or 5 stars, and single or families. All these contrasts are alive and well in the city.

Yet, knowing all that, didn’t make me any less moved by the contrast of being 5 or so blocks from the Oscars and orienting a group to serve and learn for the next week. I am not sure words can describe that kind of contrast.

I am glad I was where I was.

New National Board Chair

2010-03-02T20:25:00.000-08:00

Mari Alarcon is the new DOOR National Board Chair. We are delighted to have her lead us in this way. Mari has been support staff and currently serves in San Antonio as board chair.

Mari is a 5th grade teacher who was recently written up as an example of a great teacher! See the article here.

Thanks for serving your city and DOOR, Mari!

Perspective

2010-02-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

My husband and I recently moved things around in our house and now each morning my first glimpse of a new day includes a full view of the highway that is right outside our bedroom. I find myself very aware of the slowed traffic or the lack thereof and it colors my morning conversation. “Oh, I wonder what is going on west of us, it seems to busy for this time.” “Wow, traffic seems lighter than normal.” “We need to leave earlier than usual today.”

I like this about the new arrangement. I think about people in my city basically the minute I open my eyes. If people are late will they get docked in pay? I wonder if the folks have hobbies while waiting in the car? Why do people drive when they can take the CTA?

What if a change of perspective was as easy as moving the furniture? Or maybe shifting one or two things in our life, could move the furniture of our mind and heart just enough to let more understanding in?

another link

2010-02-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here is another Chicago linked article about homeless youth.

What is it about a neighborhood?

2010-02-14T20:47:00.000-08:00

I recently read this article about Roger Park, a neighborhood in Chicago, that was published in The New Times.

This article is focused on why you should travel to Rogers Park. And yet, I wished I could rewrite the article to focus not on restaurants but the interesting markers of a truly unique neighborhood.

I would talk about the worshiping community of Living Water Community Church,

just a walk on near by Devon Ave - seeing the sights and sounds of India and also Jewish America,

what about learning about another religion by visiting the International Society of Krishna Consciousness

How about meeting with my friend Peter for a cup of coffee at The Heartland Cafe?

These things aren't the typical things to see on a tourist list...instead they are what I think of doing when I go to Rogers Park that help me see the people and heart of Rogers Park.

Where would you take people in a neighborhood that you appreciate?

Interesting charity studies

2010-02-07T19:28:00.000-08:00

This evening, I came across an interesting, yet a bit dated, study of non-profits.

The study is entitled 2008 Metro Market Study. This study was following the financial practices of non-profits regionally. The short conclusion was:

"Our analysis, completed in May of 2008, demonstrated that the financial behavior of America's largest charities is influenced by the metropolitan market within which the charity operates. For example, Charity Navigator proved that charities in Colorado Springs have the least amount of rainy day funds. This is due to the fact that Colorado Springs has the highest concentration of religious groups, which tend to maintain relatively small amounts of working capital. We also learned that charities in New York City, where the cost of living is higher than just about anywhere else in the country, report the highest level of CEO pay."

I found this study interesting and helpful in a number of levels. First, its important to see regional differences and make non-profits a more stable environment for people to work and support. Second, I found their markers of excellent to stretch my vision for how ministries and non-profits should be judged.

How do you judge non-profits? How do you decide to give money?

A reflection on service

2010-02-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

Arloa Sutter, a woman who serves and leads Breakthrough Urban Ministry in East Garfield Park in Chicago, recently wrote the following about service. Thanks Arloa for your service and your reflection.

Reflection on Service

Martin Luther King Jr quote

2010-01-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

May we all work to be more relationship oriented!

Why Becky Stayed

2010-01-19T06:03:00.000-08:00

Recently, I asked Becky Imig to write about why she stayed in the neighborhood in which she served as a Hollywood Dweller in 2002-03. Here is an excerpt from her answer:

As time moved on I found myself feeling more alive, awake, aware, and also burdened. I was processing so many urban issues that were new to me: immigration, homelessness, poverty, gang violence, teen dropouts, overcrowded urban schools, illiteracy, teen pregnancies, abuse, and much more. This was definitely the other side to Hollywood, the side less visible to the world. There was a daily struggle of so many people just trying to make it. I had never before lived in a neighborhood where my neighbors were: illegal immigrants living in constant fear (of deportation, of being separated from their families, of being taken advantage of at work and not being able to speak out), facing predatory landlords and unjustifiable evictions; families crammed and living together in one bedroom apartments; kids sleeping on couches or on the floor; parents working two to three jobs to pay the rent; parents illiterate in their home language and unable to help their children with their homework; parents that didn’t speak English and needed help translating mail or phone calls left on their answering machines; families separated from their kids with no “papers” to bring their child(ren) across the border; parents sending 1/3 of their paychecks to their relatives living in Central America; immigrants eager to learn English; and parents who feared stepping foot into their child’s school because it was too intimidating and scary. Over time (and tears), I was discovering that living a life of service meant caring about the issues that oppress, objectify, and hurt others. I was learning that living in community meant creating safe places for people to feel themselves, places where people could relax and receive love, places free of judgment, and places of true comfort.

From September to June my Latino neighborhood had become more “normal” and less shocking. My days were spent tutoring elementary kids after school, teaching adults English, practicing Spanish, hosting Community Nights for the neighborhood, and buying fruits and veggies out of a produce truck. But my favorite times were coming together with the neighborhood women to share our lives over coffee and pan dulce (sweet bread). I heard their stories about their countries, their families, their losses, and their dreams. These were women of extreme faith and hope. They had found joy in the midst of their sorrow, hope in the midst of their fear, and peace in the midst of their anxiety. They shared their gifts with me and blessed me with their hospitality. God was at work in my neighborhood and I had come to love it so much. I had discovered that this was the place that I wanted to stay. The thought of saying good-bye to the kids, youth, and families I had gotten to know so well was difficult to think about. I was feeling called to the city and loved that feeling of God expanding my heart. I think I chose to stay because I had discovered that living in community is part of our transformation and God was surely at work in transforming my life.

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

Over the last 72 hours, several Dwellers have written about what is happening in this New Year.

Here is Katie’s take who is serving in Atlanta.

"Empty. That is how this new year has begun. So many aspects of my life are currently empty. The gas tank in my car (or rather, the car my parents have been lending me for the past 5 years) is just a few miles from being completely empty. My bank account is a few cents (.97) from being empty. My Marta card has but a couple days left before it will be empty. The pantry shelves that usually hold my food are nearly empty.

Full and overflowing. That is also how this new year has begun. So many aspects of my life are currently full. I am full of excitement about the work I'm doing at the outreach center. My social calendar has been filled with friends visiting me and me visiting friends over the recent holidays. The Y fills me with energy and endorphines from exercising. My housemates, neighbors, and acquaintances are full of thought-provoking questions that are helping me discern more about my life and my relationship with God and with others. Not to mention, my stomach is full of nutritious food, my dresser drawers are full of comfortable clothes, and my house is full of warm air and warm people."
To read the rest of the post, click here.

Some words from Lauren who is serving in San Antonio:

"every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"
For those of you who are not familiar with the Band Semisonic, the title is a quote from their song “Closing time.” Not my favorite band but it does remind me of my younger years and my transistion in San Antonio."

To read the rest of the post, click here.

Also, an account from Connie who is serving in South Africa in Radical Journey, a partner program of DOOR.

"Our holiday started at 10 PM on Thursday the 31st, at church. BCI has a “praying in the new year” service every year, and let me tell you…it was awesome. I think it was my favorite church service ever. We had wonderful praise and worship and got to see lots of “items” - things like songs, poetry, and dance. And after the service, just after midnight, we put off fireworks in the church yard."

To read the rest of the post, click here.

Prayer for Thanksgiving- Marian Wright Edelman

2009-12-14T11:26:00.001-08:00

Marian Wright Edelman is the president of the Children's Defense Fund and a prolific writer of prayers. I am encouraged by her work. This is a prayer that she wrote specifically for Thanksgiving - but it is continuing to make me think.

God help us to end poverty in our time.

The poverty of having a child with too little to eat and no place to sleep, no air, sunlight and space in which to breathe, bask, and grow.

The poverty of watching your child suffer and get sicker and sicker and not knowing what to do or how to get help because you don't have a car to get to the emergency room or health insurance.

The poverty of working your fingers to the bone every day taking care of somebody else's children and neglecting your own, and still not being able to pay your bills.

The poverty of having a job which does not let you afford a stable place to live and being terrified you'll become homeless and lose your children to foster care.

The poverty of losing your job and searching and searching and searching for another amidst an epidemic scarcity of work.

The poverty of working all your life caring for others and having to start all over again caring for the grandchildren you love.

The poverty of earning a college degree, having children, opening a day care center, and taking home $300 a week or even month if you're lucky.

The poverty of loneliness and isolation and alienation -- having no one to call or visit, tell you where to get help, assist you in getting it, or care if you're living or dead.

The poverty of having too much and sharing too little and having the burden of nothing to carry.

The poverty of convenient blindness and deafness and indifference to others, of emptiness and enslavement to things, drugs, power, money, violence, and fleeting fame.

The poverty of low aim and paltry purpose, weak will and tiny vision, big meetings and small action, loud talk and sullen grudging service.

The poverty of believing in nothing, standing for nothing, sharing nothing, sacrificing nothing, struggling for nothing.

The poverty of pride and ingratitude for God's gifts of life and children and family and freedom and country and earth and not wanting for others what you want for yourself.

The poverty of greed for more and more and more, ignoring, blaming, and exploiting the needy, and taking from the weak to please the strong.

The poverty of addiction to drink, to work, to self, to the status quo, and to injustice.

The poverty of fear which keeps you from doing the thing you think is right.

The poverty of despair and cynicism.

God help us end poverty in our time in all its faces and places, young and old, rural, urban, suburban and small town too, and in every color of humans You have made everywhere.

God help us to end poverty in our time in all its guises -- inside and out -- physical and spiritual, so that all our and Your children may live the lives that You intend in the richest nation on earth.

Good article about hunger in America

2009-11-29T18:07:00.000-08:00

This article, Let's Feed America, raises some great questions about the source of hunger in the United States. How have you interacted with hunger issues?

Does your neighborhood have a personality?

2009-11-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Check out this Chicago RedEye article on Chicago neighborhood's personalities.

While I don't always agree with the article, I do think that neighborhoods do have personality! My neighborhood has a stark yet warm undertone. Think for a minute, what is your neighborhood's personality?

What would you barter?

2009-10-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

The city has great gifts; and so does each person. I was drawn to this story about a company that helps people barter. Maybe you don't own a hotel or need 1000 air conditioning units....but what could you barter? What is your gift?

Honorable Marketing by Robert Lupton

2009-10-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Cheerios just got a black eye. For as long as I can remember, those little round “O”s have been a breakfast favorite of both children and adults. Kids have spelled words with them in their cereal bowls, moms have carried baggies of them in their purses for snacks, dads have shoveled down spoonfuls as they hurried out the door on the way to work. In recent years these nutritious, fiber-rich, toasted 100% whole grain oat delights have boasted an amazing ability to lower bad cholesterol. I believed them. Who wouldn’t believe in Cheerios? Then some whistle-blower or competitor cried foul and the Federal Trade Commission took a close look at these health claims. Cheerios may be nutritious but no longer can they claim to lower cholesterol. They got caught doing false advertising.
Is it buyer beware or do we want government watchdogs checking the validity of our marketing practices? Frankly, I’m glad there is some ethical standard in our society that attempts to maintain a modicum of honesty. Can you imagine living in a culture where you could believe nothing that you read or heard? What chaos! I’m disappointed in Cheerios. I wish their advertising were as wholesome as their 100% whole grain oats. But I’ll keep eating the little “O”s for breakfast. And I’ll also keep taking my cholesterol pills.
The Federal Trade Commission, an independent agency of the U.S. government, is charged with keeping American business free and fair. Included in its many responsibilities is “to prevent the dissemination of false and deceptive advertising of goods, drugs, curative devices, and cosmetics.” False claims, whether by Cheerios, car dealers or snake oil peddlers, when detected are subject to public exposure, penalties and immediate corrective action. The FTC has jurisdiction over a broad spectrum of activities but there is one realm it cannot penetrate – the church. The church-state barrier offers protection against government intrusion into the practice of organized religion. Of course, one would expect that, since the Judeo-Christian traditions are foundational to the ethical and moral codes of American society, the church would be the last institution in need of ethical policing.
Certainly the church is not without its flaws. The moral failure of church leaders is legendary. The media feeds off such scandal. Yet, in spite of the damage caused by the occasional fall of religious leaders, the church as an institution strives to preserve and protect high standards of conduct. Though its members, and too often its leaders, fail to measure up to its high ideals, the church remains the primary guardian of moral and ethical values. It may wrestle with controversial issues of the day such as gay marriage and abortion, but it does so in pursuit of a moral high ground.
But there is one area that seems to have eluded the ethical scrutiny of the church. Churches from the left to the right, high and low, share the same blind spot. Perhaps it’s because the practice is so pervasive or because the claims seem so spiritual. But if the FTC were to shine the spotlight on the marketing of missions, the expose would be, well, perhaps not damning but certainly embarrassing. Take a look at most any promotional package for a mission trip and you will get the distinct impression that lost, starving, forsaken people have their last hope riding on the willingness of Christians from the US to come and rescue them. The pictures are heart-rending – a close-up of a child’s sad face, a tin-roof shack beside an open sewage ditch, an old woman struggling under a load of firewood sticks. The emotional call goes out for the “healed, trained, empowered and Spirit filled teens to be missionaries to the world.” Such experiences promise to touch lives, change the world, and have a dramatic, life-changing impact on those who will sacrifice their comfort to go. For a week!
Can we be honest? Mission trips and service projects are important. For lots of reasons. But the truth of the matter is that dropping into a strange culture for a week or even two creates far more work for the local leadership than it’s worth, except for the money and gifts we leave. And those gifts more often than not do more long-term harm than good. As one local leader told me: “They’re turning our people into beggars.” Much of the work we do is make-work – painting a church, digging a foundation, leading a summer Bible school – all work that could and should be done by locals. “Our men need the work,” a seminary president once told me as we discussed the impact of US mission trippers in her impoverished country.
But this treatise is not about the downstream impact of mission trips. Some ambitious young reporter seeking to make a name for himself will sooner or later handle that expose. This is about the dishonesty in our marketing of these trips. Our “people-are-dying-and-you-can-save-them” rhetoric may be effective spin to lure young people (and older as well) into signing up but we know that only on rare occasions is this actually true. Yes, there are Katrinas. But the overwhelming majority of our mission trips are to places where the needs for development are far greater than for emergency assistance. And development is about enabling indigenous people to help themselves, not doing the work for them. Development is much longer term, calls for professional expertise and planning, requires lending and investing – not the sort of things that lend themselves to a typical short-term mission trip.
I am not saying that mission trips don’t have value. They do. Great value. They open up new worlds, new perspectives, new insights. They expose us to fascinating cultures, connect us with new friends, allow us to experience God at work in surprising ways, inspire us, break our hearts, build camaraderie among traveling companions. Any one of these benefits might well justify the time and expense. But isn’t it time we admit to ourselves that mission trips are essentially for our benefit, not for the benefit of the ones our marketing material portray? Would it not be more forthright if we called our junkets “insight trips” or “exchange programs”? Or how about Kingdom adventures? Do we really need to justify our journeying to exotic lands under the pretense of missionary work? Religious tourism would have much more integrity if we simply admitted that we’re off to explore God’s amazing work in the world.
I know we have to have good reason to justify spending the kind of money we do on mission trips. US churches spent well over $2 billion (that’s with a “b”) on them last year. This is not at all inconsistent with our normative pattern of church spending, however. We typically spend upwards of 95% of church budgets on ourselves anyway. So to admit that mission trip expenditures are primarily for the spiritual benefit of our members would not be out of line, that is if we feel justified spending that percentage on ourselves. But that’s a discussion for another time. Our subject here is marketing with integrity.
So how do we capture the imagination, the compassion, of a younger generation if not by appealing to the tenderness of their hearts? Come to think of it, it was the story of fatherless children that drew me into urban work nearly 40 years ago. I wanted to make a difference. That was a powerful motivator. So maybe “touching lives” and “changing the world” is appropriate rhetoric after all. It certainly appealed to my compassionate side and it played at least some part in shaping my call into ministry. The idea of sacrifice was also appealing to me, to offer myself up to a cause of great importance. I wanted my life to count. That was important. But playing to those tender Spirit-sensitivities should be done with great care. Setting up unrealistic expectations can lead to discouragement. Portraying false representations can lead to cynicism. Is it not enough to simply say “come and see” and then allow the Spirit to do the touching and surprising?
Here’s my bottom line: the Kingdom doesn’t need our hype. The Kingdom needs people who speak the truth.
-Robert Lupton

Why I Stopped Serving the Poor - by Claudio Oliver

2009-10-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

(Reprinted from Theooze.com)

Those who know me may find the above title curious, to say the least. Being with the poor is part of my history: My grandfather and grandmother were founders of the Salvation Army here in Brazil, and their ministry is a central reference point for my family. Their life was dedicated to the homeless, prostitutes, and in a special way to the orphans, the hurting and the renegades.

My teenage passion was consumed by the idea of fighting against poverty, hunger and injustice. Since I got married, 25 years ago, I have been involved in serving in slums, serving poor students, coming alongside needy populations, in peripheral neighborhoods, the beggars, the unemployed and other moneyless people.

I could report facts to support my pretensions over the years such as having helped “the poor” generate income, facilitated the restoration and organization of broken families, made bridges between rich and poor, fed the hungry, and facilitated the opportunity for some friends to discover professions, find their vocation and transform their own future. To “empower” people was once a key point in my practice in order to avoid creating dependency.

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After all of this, or even because of all this, today I am called to question my whole life of “service” and to give up on serving the poor.

Asking “Why?”

Throughout my life I have kept the habit of always asking myself whether what I am doing makes sense, whether my heart is aligned with God’s will, and whether or not I am missing the point. This discipline, is essentially the Three “Whys?” Rule. It forces me to question each given answer with the kind of question that only children ask, and which helps me to generate a permanent transformation vector of self-criticism and of personal adjustments. Thus, in each step I take, for every thing I do, I ask: “why?” Whatever the answer might be, again I ask, “why?”. I feel I am in the right path when what I am doing surpasses the third “why”, and then and only then, will I move on.

For some time now I have reflected on Jesus’ life, on the principle of kenosis (emptying) based on the text of Philippians 2:1-11. I’ve thought about Jesus’ incarnation into our reality and into the numerous contacts and conversations he had with miserable people such as the lepers, and rich people such as the publicans, the synagogue chiefs and princes of his people; how he spent time with middle-class families, with proprietors and with servants and beggars.

I have reflected on what Jesus saw and how he acted.

The “Rich” and the “Poor”

And all of this started to grow in me and made me think about the text in Matthew 5:3 where Jesus tells the poor to march on with their lives and rejoice for being poor, because theirs was the possibility of having their lives driven and controlled by God. Little by little, over these last few years, along with biblical reflection, I have observed how many extremely sincere friends come and go, getting very excited about serving, but soon afterwards loose their passion for serving as they get busy with their errands and preoccupations. Frequently, I also see how others pay for someone else to fulfill God’s loving service. They engage with the poor vicariously through others during certain periods of time, moved by real sincerity, even if from a distance and without personal involvement.

From another perspective I see how poverty takes over the lives of those who are poor, and how much it reveals their unfulfilled desire to own things, and have access to modern consumption – the destroyer of everything. I see how their situation is built by the seduction of the same things that seduce and destroy the rich: the same individualism, the same selfishness, and the same tendency to feel comfortable and find their identity in being able to own things. I see their same absolute adhesion to a hoped for lifestyle and a way of thinking that imprisons them to the myth of modern needs, to the mythical desire to evolve and come under in complete and un questioned submission to the myth of modern development.

Without exception, rich and poor have the same conviction that what they need is something that the market, money, the government or some other agency can offer them.

They are all convinced that they will be happy with ownership, with a full stomach (some with bread, others with croissants) and with the constant flow of money that can seemingly do anything and solve everything. And among this massive majority, there are a few well-intentioned people who extend their hand to “include” others into the lifestyle or the platform they achieved.

The stretched-out hand from top down…that’s what we call service.

Giving Up on Serving the Poor

Over the years I’ve discovered that the very position of serving the poor from a commitment to “liberate” them, has been filled with a sense of superiority. A kind of superiority that is translated into giving others what I have, assuming through my actions that what I have or do is what he/she should have or do. This subtle translation is noticed in the subtle arrogance of the so-called politics of “inclusion”, always trying to put the other inside the box where I live, including them in the sameness of my lifestyle.

All of this led me to give up on serving the poor. By making this kind of statement I am not taking sides with those who, from their positions of wealth, comfort and well being say, “See? That’s what I have always thought.” I’m sorry to inform these people that in no way do I believe in or embrace their lifestyle. A lifestyle that by design, separates them from contact with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the naked, the ugly, the smelly, and the “uncivilized” barbarians.

I do not side with those who pay their taxes or contribute to charity saying in that way they are fulfilling their role. To these people I keep on retransmitting the message of Jesus that confronts their blind, insensitive and arrogant lifestyles, a message that calls madness what the worlds calls security.

Seeing Ourselves in the Poorest of the Poor

I have given up on serving the poor for another reason.

Since 1993, when I regularly went to the streets with a bunch of kids to reach out to the homeless, I developed a spiritual discipline. On the cold nights when we would go out to the streets of my city, I made a point to the kids that we were not going out to meet the “homeless” or the “needy”. I would tell the kids that in all honesty, I never really ever felt excited about serving bread to a homeless beggar, or making him or her a bed, or clothing their nakedness. The spiritual discipline we instated was to constantly use the motto “we go to meet Jesus in the poorest of the poor”. Serving, feeding and clothing Jesus was our motivation. Now, that excited me.

We discovered each time we went out, that in each of these encounters with a camouflaged Jesus, the so-called “Miserable” would be transformed into Masters - into those who denounced our personal misery, and who were transformed into unveiling agents of our manipulative mechanisms.

We suddenly saw ourselves mirrored in the very “poor” we were serving. We recognized that we were constantly using the same excuses and lies to get what we wanted - perhaps more successfully, and surely with more social acceptance and security mechanisms. But throughout this process we came to discover that we were “the poor”.

Those of us who experienced that spiritual perspective were freed of ourselves. We grew, and we changed. Confronted by Jesus and taught by him through the contact with his poverty and misery, many of us discovered what the Gospel (good news) really meant. During those days, many of us were transformed by Jesus’ touch and by the good news that he transmitted as we discovered ourselves as “the poor”.

An Alternative to “Serving” the Poor

However, this somewhat mystical sense of awareness was not always a constant burning flame. I would so often return to that worldly perspective to serving the poor, letting myself believe that I was the healthy, privileged helper, many times forgetting my own misery. As I have already mentioned, the alternative is not to stay away from the poor, judging their conditions, circumstances and attitudes from a top of my comfortable superior social position. Nor is it helping the poor, by raising their own awareness of their situation or “including” them in an unquestioning submission to the development politics of the last 60 years. The alternative I present here is different, discovered through encounter, recognition and identification.

I’ve given up on helping the poor, given up on serving and saving them. I have rediscovered a hard truth:

Jesus doesn’t have any good news for those who serve the poor. Jesus didn’t come to bring good news of the Kingdom to those who serve the poor; he brought Good News to the poor. He has nothing to say to other saviors who compete with him for the position of Messiah, or Redeemer.

God Shows Up in Our Need to Be Healed

Jesus’ agenda only brings a message for those who recognize themselves as poor, naked, hurt, tired, overburdened, needy and hopeless. As for the rest, his agenda has little or nothing to offer.

The only way to remain with the poor is if we discover that we are the miserable ones. We remain with the poor when we recognize ourselves, even if well disguised, in him/her who is right before our eyes. When we can see our own misery and poverty in them, when we realize our own needs and our desperate need to be saved and liberated, then and only then will we meet Jesus and live life according to His agenda.

God is not manifest in our ability to heal, but in our need to be healed. Finding out this weakness of ours leaves us in a position of having nothing to offer, serve, donate, but reveals our need to be loved, healed and restored.

Herein lies the meaning that the power within us is not the power of our strengths, abilities and wealth, but rather, in the power that is present in our personal misery, so well hidden and disguised in our possessions and false securities. As Jean Vanier says in a book I recently read. “We are called to discover that God can bring peace, compassion, and love through our wounds.”

How much more sense does Isaiah’s text about the Messiah make now: “by his wounds we are healed”. The remaining messiahs of this world tend to avoid Jesus’ example of emptying himself (kenosis) to the point of becoming one of us, of dying with us and thus opening the door of resurrection for us.

The power that Jesus used to heal us, and uses to keep on healing us, does not reside in his access to universal power, but in his identification with us on the cross; in opening himself in wounds, in becoming one of us, in living our life.

I have given up on serving the poor. I’m going back to encountering the poor and finding myself in them.

Again, I have discovered the misery that hides in the very-well structured lives of my own false security. Seeing things from this perspective helps me understand this Jesus who talks with lepers and wealthy businessmen, with tax collectors in their parties and with the sick and miserable on the streets. In his identification with each and everyone, Jesus saw what perhaps no one else did: the extreme misery and poverty of the human condition, apart from any status or social gown.

Serving from the Bottom-Up

I came to re-encounter my poverty, to see myself in each situation of misery, and to get in touch with my inner pain. From there, I pray for healing, freedom, community and love. I ask for mercy and restoration.

Whoever serves out of the sense of having something to offer, serves from the top down.

Jesus calls us to become incarnate and to see ourselves in the other and to place ourselves under him or her as powerless dependents. He calls us to give up in trusting our own capacity to impart goodness and to change our direction in order to encounter and recognize our own wounds, weakness and pain. From there, we discover the power that lies in being less and not more.

I have given up serving on the poor. I have rediscovered my poverty. And with it I can cry out again: “Son of David, have mercy on me.”

About Claudio Oliver: Claudio is a pastor of Igreja do Caminho church in Curitiba, Brazil. He is also a Red del Camino Network connector, both in the Brazilian Network and the regional Latin American Network movement.

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View THEOOZE.TV video of Claudio Oliver interviewed by Spencer Burke