Call to Worship and Prayers for Sunday…..

Just wanted to share….

Call to Worship:

One: We question your miracles

All: Of turning water into wine, raising the dead, healing the blind

One: There are so many miracles that have gone undone

All: Miracles of healing from cancer, finding a job, or depression

One: Why can’t you fulfill those miracles?

All: These are our questions, our prayers, and our petitions to you God.  And so we wait, with You and with each other – where we will find comfort.

Prayer:

We live in the in between –

We believe in Your love for us and the world,

We see Your blessings in our own lives and others’

Hopeful for your Word yet to be fulfilled

But then there is the reality –

a reality that we are hurting,

we are filled with self-doubt,

We are overworked and tired

            We want peace

                        We want quiet

and we wonder where You are.     

So this is our confession -  

That we live in the in between – that we both believe and doubt

And we are grateful that we find You in both places ….

And so, with all our hope, belief and doubt we continue to pray the prayer that Jesus taught us saying… 

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

They're not defecating out of spite, I promise.

This morning, while getting ready for work, I heard NPR’s story about Cities Sweeping Homeless Into Less Prominent Areas.  (Oh Biscuitgate!)  They interviewed councilman Cameron Runyan of Columbia, South Carolina – a city that recently tried to criminalize homelessness, whose statement struck me: 

“Businesses have a real issue with panhandling, there’s an issue with defecating.  We just arrested a woman for using the bathroom on the sidewalk right in the heart of the main street business district area.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but using the bathroom is a private matter, particularly if it’s number 2.  Even in my 7 year committed relationship – we still shut the door for such private matters.  Even as an avid hiker, I try to find some privacy behind a tree or bush!  Hell, my dogs don’t want me to watch them has they do their business each morning and evening!  The last thing I would ever desire is for my only option to be to defecate in public.  What an incredible loss of dignity.

Does councilman Runyan believe it is the desire for the visibly poor to defecate on the streets? What has happened to our society that his would be a line of thought? I raise this question, because I heard a similar statement last week at Raleigh’s council meeting and it breaks open my heart.  

It breaks open my heart because it is a sign that we have really lost perspective.  It breaks open my heart because it means we have a bad case of Hobophobia.  It breaks open my heart because it means we have stopped seeing our most vulnerable as human beings – as children of God.  It means we believe we can herd the poor like cattle, pushing them into less prominent areas, arresting them because we don’t like to look them - as they are a reminder of our failure – our failure as human beings, as a city, as a nation and as people of God.  It is our failure that we have not found plausible and creative solutions to affordable housing, transit, employment opportunities and social services.  It is our failure that all we are willing to do is to keep the poor in their residential tent cities and feed them there. 

As I have learned from Rev. Hugh Hollowell, homelessness is about loss – loss of your job, loss of your house, loss of your most sacred possessions, in some cases – loss of your children, loss of your pets, loss of your safety, until finally you lose your dignity because you can’t afford to buy a .99 cent soda from the local pharmacy just so you can use the bathroom and so you are left with your only option: to defecate in a public. 

It is my prayer that we will remember the poor and most vulnerable of our cities the next time we have to go - really, really bad; and we are praying that the light turns green, and that the jackass in front of us would step on it, and we hope to God we can make it home ---  that next time- when we do have the option to run screaming into the comforts of our home, into the privacy of our bathroom, to sit on the reliefs of our throne ---in that moment when we know you’ve held it too long and it's going to hurt when we start.  I pray that we can remember the least of these and consider what it means to still have our dignity. 

hos·pi·tal·i·ty - the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

Hospitality is my thing.  Ask my partner, whom I probably drive crazy because I constantly want to have people over for dinner.  Just this past weekend we hosted dinner for three strangers in something called mealsharing.  (More on that next time) There are few things that give me such delight as inviting people into my home and offering food, conversations, and laughs. I’m no Martha (and I don’t worry about the perfect centerpiece) but I enjoy making sure everyone feels welcome.  I don’t know where my drive for hospitality comes. I didn’t grow up in a family that threw large dinner parties.  I didn’t grow up attending them either.  Somewhere, somehow an ethic of hospitality was deeply instilled into my soul and I consider it a spiritual practice.

I see life revolving around the practices of hospitality – the generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers.  This could mean striking up a conversation with the cashier as you check out at the grocery store, saying ‘good morning’ to the guy you pass by on the street, or picking up the lost dog that’s roaming the neighborhood. 

Living and sharing hospitality is a way of life.  I have often found my own city of Raleigh, NC to be hospitable.  I encounter people saying “hello” to each other when walking by.  Just last week, Jay of Jay’s Italian ice, a pushcart across from Beasley’s Chicken and Honey, kindly struck up a conversation with me and gave me a hug before we parted ways.  It made my day.  Raleigh is host to wonderful events from the World Beer Festival to OUT! Raleigh and it’s not at all unusual for the server at some of my favorite downtown restaurants to bring a bowl of water for my two Goldens.  So I was not at all surprised when I found out that Raleigh was recently listed as one of the nations top 10 most hospitable cities.  What a great honor! 

However, this may not be your experience if you are among Raleigh’s most vulnerable population.  I was just shocked to hear that Love Wins Ministries, a nonprofit that provides hospitality to those experiencing homelessness, was kicked out of Moore Square last Saturday and threatened with arrest if they handed out biscuits and coffee – an act of hospitality they have been doing for over six years without any such threat.  

This story has received national attention, perhaps because many of our nation’s cities have been struggling with what to do with the “homeless” population.  Seen as a nuisance, our most vulnerable have seen an increase of resources decentralized, laws imposed to outlaw homelessness, and access to feeding programs cut back.  For cities such as Raleigh, where billions of dollars are invested, these “untouchables” are an eyesore and not good for business. 

I work with Love Wins Ministries.  My work there has allowed me a glimpse into the lives of those Jesus called “the least of these”.   It is easy to judge the poor, people in section 8 housing, people on welfare and Medicaid.  It is harder to take the time to listen to their stories.  Stories of a life of working in manual labor jobs, resulting in knee problems and needing to seek out disability.  Stories of compassion where sons and daughters have left good paying jobs to move to North Carolina to care for their mothers and fathers and now cannot find work.  Stories of people, who made poor decisions when they were young, have paid their time in prison, and are now trying to get back on their feet in a city with limited shelter space.  Stories of people with mental illness who need psychiatric help but end up in jail.  Most importantly – these are stories of human beings, not homeless, or untouchables, or those people.  Human Beings with real names: Rocky, Ashley, Roger, Anthony, Robert, Mike, Devon, Shon, Cassie, Darrell, Isaiah, Jeanette, Kevin, Joe, Alicia, Ski, Curtis…… 

It is my dream that I can live in a city (and country) that is hospitable to all people, no matter their lot in life. I want to live in a city that is compassionate and works in realistic and tangible ways to work with those who are experiencing homelessness - not pretend the issue doesn't exist.  I want to live in a state that doesn't cut unemployment benefits and in a city that doesn't criminalize people's compassion when trying to feed those who now have even less.  

Hospitality is more than just about feeding people.  It is about creating a safe space for all to call home, a place where everyone’s voice can be heard, where resources are shared and everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  Hospitality is a choice.  What will you choose?