The Nets are Full to Overflowing

My first blog postings were over 3 years ago. Haywood was already on its way to serving large numbers of people both housed and unhoused, privileged and poor, but the times and the notoriety of our Welcome Table and all the other offerings on Wednesday have attracted more people than the considerably sized Fellowship Hall and Eating Area can hold. By the end of each month when the reduced Food Stamp allotments that have grown smaller and smaller over the last Republican controlled Congress and Legislature years are all gone, we are serving 600-700 people on any given Wednesday and 200+ on most Sunday evenings, even though the missions won't let their participants come out after 4:30 and the buses don't run after 6. However, as our needs have grown so have God's resources. Trader Joe's gives us all their leftovers 6 days a week. We haul away all that our van can manage to hold. Thirty-six of the world class restaurants in Asheville bring their staff and their fare to our kitchens once or twice a month to feed the crowds. We've built a walk-in freezer(money miraculously raised in two calendar months) and we share our bounty with six other non-profits around the city that serve the hungry. Just accounting for and distributing this wealth of food has become more than a full time job. 

I've often wondered why this food has not been offered elsewhere. Some other missions have benefited but not like we have. I got my answer recently when a merchant friend told me he would contribute to Haywood because he knew we vetted those who get our resources and those resources would go to the best places. Yes, we would not knowingly pass along our bounty to someone who would misuse or abuse the gift, but we are a church of "yes" in a world of "only if" or "maybe if " you are deserving. We put no qualifiers on our grace anymore than God does. We do have our priorities, however, as does He. Those priorities are something like this: the strangers(might I add aliens) in our midst, the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned, and the sick(in mind or body). God gave us this list in the parable of the goats and sheep and we take it very seriously. Indeed, it is our belief that serving those who are least on earth is all God wants us to do and that proclaiming we believe in Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior is of little or no significance without the action that reaches out to all children of His that demonstrates we understand what those words mean.

Moreover, Haywood is not about serving to but serving with. There are no grandchildren of God here. We are all His sons and daughters so we need not look down upon anyone as if we have more than they. Yes, we may have become privileged due to our skin color or our inherited gifts or our material possessions, but often we have no idea how poor we are in the gifts of the Kingdom until we have a relationship with those who have suffered from their lack of privilege. I have been given forgiveness for my arrogance and for my inability to fit into their beaten up shoes. They are the first to be generous with one another and to protect one another and me from ourselves. The love of those who are least is so great it can reach into my hardened heart and crack the dried soil that surrounds it with their tears.

These are the lessons I have just begun to learn from Haywood Street Congregation. After over 3 years of attendance, I have just begun. As Andrew said to his brother Simon, I say to you, "Come and see!"

Freedom

     The Scripture this week was Luke 17: 7-10. The question was how is this Scripture about freedom?

     This Scripture is about what the Master expects of His servants. Masters don't sit down with their servants when they come in. Masters expect their servants to serve them. They don't thank them either. So Jesus tells His disciples that when they have done everything they have been told to do they should say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty."

Now perhaps we should back up a verse or two.  The parable of Lazarus and the rich man precedes these verses. It is a cautionary tale of serving the poorest of the poor, being present to those around us. Then Jesus warns about the ones through which sin comes to children or those new to the faith. The disciples have asked Jesus to increase their faith. He tells them how little faith it takes to move mountains, faith the size of a mustard seed. Then he tells them about their role as servants and unworthy servants at that and how they should look upon the wonders of what their faith can produce.

What does this have to do with freedom? The congregation had lots of answers from knowing what you are supposed to do and doing it to being aware of our role as a servant. Brian confirmed those to be true, but I have a feeling it is more, much more.

Brian began the sermon asking have we ever wondered why news stories are about Christians who find a lot of money and turning it in is considered news. It should be the Christians who don't turn it in that is news. Then he quoted a chaplain of the Senate who said that Christianity began in Palestine as a fellowship. Then it moved to Greece and became a philosophy. Then it moved to Italy and became an institution. Then to Europe and became a culture. Then Christianity came to the United States and became an enterprise. That is a provocative description of Christianity, especially in the United States, but something about it rings too true.

Someone mentioned that we shouldn't expect a reward for what we do. Brian said we certainly should not expect anything we do to be as worthy of praise as what God has done for us. Would we be Christians if there were no rewards?

So how many of us do what we do for God without thought of anything but a relationship deepening with Him through loving and serving other people? Does that free us from trying to please? Does that free us from thinking we have been anything but unworthy servants? Does that free us to bring about His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven because we recognize our brokenness, our lack of faith, our inability to do anything worthy of the Grace that God has given us, yet we can't help but act as His Body on earth because it is the only way we can be fulfilled? He made us for Him. He is the Hound of Heaven bringing us to Him. We realize that being His Hands and His Feet completes us and allows us to rest in His love.

Engaging

This week at Haywood was full of abundance, abundant flowers, abundant shared blessings, abundant joy at having Shannon back, and abundant gratitude for Brian’s recognition at Emory University. Trader Joe’s, the newest grocery in Asheville, has blessed Haywood Street Congregation for the last two weeks with buckets of fresh flowers. I hope the managers at Trader Joe’s were around to see the excitement of the congregants as they took bouquets of flowers with them to their homes and camps. There is just something about fresh flowers that brings such a boost to spirits. As we head into the cold months, I hope the remembrance of this gift will warm hearts. “Remember the lilies” will be our motto for the winter.

All of us were so glad to have Brian back from Emory after receiving an Alumni Award from the Candler School of Theology. Through him, all of us received note and that is very important for so many reasons.  Also, Shannon Spencer, who has been on maternity leave, was back in the middle of the Holy Chaos at the Welcome Table. Her consistent concern, care, and enthusiasm have been missed and everyone was thrilled to have her back.

Two among us had prayers fulfilled. One of us had a dog that needed a new home due to the owner’s illness. Her dog found that home with one of our Companions. Another Companion shared his happiness at having just signed a contract for a home. He is a success story of persistence in the face of difficulty. Who could help but return his smile?

Now in the midst of all this good stuff there was a note of sadness. Manna, who supplies much of the Welcome Table’s food during the winter months and some of it year round, has been notified that because of the government shutdown it will not be receiving its funding for food. This will affect Haywood Street, but many other agencies and churches who are supported by Manna will be affected. We are especially grateful at Haywood Street for the restaurants that are providing food for meals for the Welcome Table, for Trader Joe’s that is giving us their unsold fresh groceries, and for Dough, a new restaurant on Merrimon Avenue, who gives their unsold bread to Manna. Many churches continue to support Haywood either part of a meal or a whole meal. We thank them also.

That has led me to ask many questions about the place of government and churches in helping people. Jesus was clear throughout the Gospels. The poor, the sick, the hungry, the widows, the orphans, the imprisoned, and children, in general, were deeply and intrinsically connected to Him. When we do for them, we do for Him. I used to think that if there were enough people who were doing well, the “trickle down” theory would work and the less fortunate would be cared for, but that has been proven wrong in such a big way that it is more than obvious. Sinful human nature has won over Grace.

I believe that those of us that want to meet the living Lord do so when we look into the eyes of the suffering and we become God’s arms and legs and bodies to serve them. Now some of my fundamentalist friends would say that we deny the connection between God and His blessings when they come through the government. I have come to believe something very different. In order for me to live my faith with integrity, I have to support caring for the sick, the children, the widows, the poor, and the imprisoned in all ways that I can. Therefore I must support a government that makes healthcare available to all, feeds those who are unable to feed themselves, and educates all children regardless of who they are or where they live. In a democracy it means I vote for people who share my concerns for those people, actually who share my concerns for all people. What I have just written is simplistic, but Jesus doesn’t put any “if they are deserving” on any of his blessings because all are loved in His eyes.

Our Scripture this Wednesday was the parable of Lazarus and the rich man found in Luke 16. Jesus makes clear His point. Brian asked, “Why is the rich man in Hades?”

The rich man is in Hades because he didn’t engage with Lazarus who laid suffering at his gate. He is there because the rich man has made a chasm between himself and Lazarus, a chasm of his own making because he didn’t want to engage with him until the rich man needed something from Lazarus. He first wants Lazarus to drip cool water on his tongue and then he wants him to be his errand boy to tell his brothers about what has happened to him. It is interesting that the rich man did know Lazarus’ name even though he had done nothing for him in his lifetime. If you want to understand more about the chasm, you might enjoy reading C. S. Lewis’s THE GREAT DIVORCE.

Jesus even explains why the rich man will not be helped. He has Abraham remind him of the chasm which no one can breach in either direction, but Abraham tells the rich man that he had a good life while Lazarus suffered so now Lazarus is with Abraham and no longer suffers. Abraham also tells the rich man that even if he sent someone from the dead, the brothers would not believe him. The rich man himself didn’t know he needed forgiveness for his acts of omission.

It is another cautionary tale, but not one about the attributes of heaven and hell. Instead it is a continuation of Jesus’ explanation of the attributes of the values in God’s Kingdom.

What are some of the things we must ask ourselves? Are we engaging with those who need help? Do we not only acknowledge that we need forgiveness, but do we act in such a way as to show that acknowledgement? More importantly, however, are we really neglecting to engage with Jesus when we don’t accept that forgiveness and act in love and with integrity?

Children of the Light and Children of this Age

The Scripture this week at Haywood Street’s service was Luke 16:1-13. It is the parable of the shrewd manager. As Brian Combs said in his introduction to the sermon exchanges, most ministers either don’t preach from these verses or they ignore them altogether. They are full of irony and difficult to understand, but why?

On Tuesday evening I had a conversation with Brian Hooks and some of the Tuesday afternoon Clothes Closet workers. I made the comment that trying to explain to other people what Haywood Street was all about was impossible. You have to be at Haywood Street. It is like Copernicus trying to explain to his Inquisitors about the sun being the center of the universe, not the earth. They had to look through the telescope to see that the earth was not the center of all things and, in fact, the earth revolved around the sun.

I come every week to “catch” what the congregation at Haywood has and to work there on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning is to be exposed to the “sneezes.” However, learning to live the Gospel is a process, a process of learning Jesus in the most intimate sense. We must not think we can get it any better than the disciples who lived and breathed the same air as Jesus until we come into contact with the risen Lord. He told us where to find Him, with children, with the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, the hungry. Of course, you have to cherish the little children, cloth the poor, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and feed the hungry to meet the living Lord. That is the first place to be if you want to learn the Gospel. You must have ears to hear and eyes to see, too.

The parable of the shrewd manager adds another dimension to learning Jesus. There was a manager who was called in by his master. The master had heard that the manager had been wasting his possessions and told the manager to bring his accounts to him. The manager was worried. He couldn’t do manual labor because he was too weak and he was ashamed to beg. Instead he went to all the master’s debtors and reduced their debt so that they would be grateful to him and would help him when he lost his job. The master heard about it and he was impressed. He commended the manager for his shrewdness.

Parables are supposed to have one truth they are teaching. So what is it in this one? What on earth was Jesus trying to get across? Jesus explains that the children of this age are shrewder in dealing with one another than the children of light. So he tells his disciples to use wealth to help other people so they might be welcomed into heaven by the people they helped. Jesus further explains that if you are not to be trusted with someone else’s wealth, how can you be trusted with wealth of your own and if you are dishonest with very little, you will be dishonest with much. You cannot serve God and wealth, simple but hard to understand – and even harder to do. Money is only useful if it is helping others.

We did not discuss the last paragraph in this Scripture. Luke 16:14-15, but Jesus brings the point home in the strongest of language. Listen.

‘The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.  He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.”’

The question all of us rich and poor must ask ourselves is are we children of the light or are we children of this age like the Pharisees? Do we walk in fear or do we walk in faith?

God's Lavish Love

A few years ago my husband and I went to the Folk Art Center for the Fall Festival. There was a shepherd at the Festival shearing sheep. He demonstrated separating out a sheep to shear. The sheep were in a tiny fenced area. When the shearer entered the area all the sheep ran to a corner as far as they could get from him and faced in the opposite direction. He grabbed the nearest sheep and left the area. None of the sheep did anything to help their baaing brother as the shearer pulled him away nor did they even look his way.

You see sheep have been over-domesticated. They are totally dependent on the shepherd for their care and survival. You can never leave sheep unattended. Should one accidentally lie down in a field such that his shoulder is against a rock, he won’t get up – ever. He’ll starve to death first. A shepherd has to pick him up for him to move. To shear a sheep the shepherd places the sheep’s shoulder against his shin, almost in a sitting position, and the sheep is totally immobilized just by the positioning. That way the shepherd has a free hand to shear with.

Brian preached about the Pharisees seeing Jesus eating with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other undesirables. When they objected, Jesus reminded them that the shepherd would leave the ninety-nine of the flock to find and bring back the one lost sheep. Indeed, the Shepherd would celebrate the return of the one more than the presence of the ninety-nine. Then Brian asked, what was the crisis in the Scriptures?

There were lots of answers. One was the loss of a sheep was a crisis. Indeed, when a sheep is lost and found, the shepherd often breaks the legs of the sheep and carries it on His shoulders while it heals. That way the sheep learns not to stray and it forms a relationship with the Shepherd.

But the real crisis was the frustration, disillusionment, and anger of the Pharisees over Jesus spending so much of His energy and time on those that according to the Pharisee’s measure were unworthy. The Pharisees were like the sheep at the Folk Art Center. They were used to hiding behind their religious dogma, in a group, in a corner. They were not interested in their lost brothers and sisters. They had become so used to feeling safe by following rules on their own that they couldn’t save themselves by following the Shepherd’s lead, even when He was there to pick them up and set them aright.

Brian described God as a Shepherd with lavish love for His sheep. He was willing to give His life for them. He doesn’t wait for a prodigal son to beg forgiveness. He rushes to that son with His ring and a robe to embrace him. He does not wait for the sheep to come home. He goes out and finds him, brings him home, and celebrates his return. He is a Hound of Heaven. We can leave the Shepherd, but the Shepherd will not leave us.

In the parable of the Prodigal Son and the story of the lost sheep Jesus ends with a celebration. The world will know us by our love and by our party. At the end of the service yesterday we had two tiny liturgical dancers who reminded us what love and party looked like. If you missed the dance, be sure to join us next week. God’s grace is spontaneous at Haywood Street Congregation and it pops out in the most magnificent ways.

A Cautionary Tale

Grace. That’s what Haywood Street Congregation is about. So what do we do with difficult Scripture that talks about sheep and goats and disasters that the Potter is devising for His rebellious people. That’s the question that I have been coming back to over and over recently. This week Brian brought it to us through the Scripture according to Jeremiah, the Prophet, in Jeremiah 18: 1-11.

The part about the Potter shaping a spoiled piece of clay was easy enough to picture. God takes me, a sinner, and reshapes me into a more useful vessel. However, if I, like the house of Israel, don’t turn from the evil I do, then, He will devise an evil plan against me. Whoa! My forgiving God, full of Grace, would do that? To me? That’s what Jeremiah said. Looking back at the history of the Israelites that is what God did. Israel didn’t turn from its wicked ways.  And God let Assyria overtake them and later Babylon did the same and banished the wealthy and powerful to another land. There was a remnant that survived and remained in the Promised Land, but they were mostly the poor and the unskilled.

So what does that mean for me? I returned to the whole idea of Judgment and Grace. God warned the house of Israel what would befall them, but He left redemption open if they would come to Him. God is the only One who is good and therefore He is the only One who can judge. What is Grace? Is it forgiveness? No, Grace is more. Is it an absence of Judgment? No, Grace is more than that. We are free to do or not do whatever we wish, not because God will excuse our lack of concern or outright selfishness, but because He wants us to choose His Way and His love. So Grace is acting in the Way that leads others to God and brings us closer to Him.

What does that mean in daily living? At Haywood Street it means we offer food for everyone once a week so that we can have fellowship with one another and can meet a basic need. It means we have clothes available to adorn the body to keep it warm or dry and comfortable. Clothing is offered with only availability as a limit and with all the choice that we can afford. It means we have haircuts and vaccinations and acupuncture to bring additional boosts to our wellbeing. Most of all it means we listen and care and welcome one another without judgment because we are all imperfect pots that the Potter is still working on.  We gather at His Table for Communion in the Sanctuary and we praise Him with music and prayers. All of this takes tremendous trust in God and faith in His Presence among us, but the more we practice Grace the more likely we are to turn around and discover God is next to us passing the bowls of food, hanging up the shirts and jeans, serving the bread and wine, and sitting nearby loving every minute.

The Moral Arc of the Universe

Yesterday, August 28, was the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Across the nation many people commemorated the event that hastened the changes of the 1960's, which were changes long overdue in the United States. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech was remembered. Two past presidents, President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton, and our current Commander-in-Chief, President Barack Obama, along with Martin Luther King III and many other dignitaries and relatives of the great orator, minister, and leader of the Civil Rights movement spoke at the Lincoln Memorial about where the nation was in the 1960's, where it is now, and where it needs to go.

At Haywood Street Congregation Reverend King was remembered also. Brian began the spoken part of the service with a quote from Dr. King, "The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice." He repeated it three times.  Our first hymn was "This Little Light of Mine." His message was on Psalm 140:12, "I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy, and executes justice for the poor." We read it three times also. Let's hope all our little lights will shine and bend toward justice because the Lord cares so much for the poor.

We had two congregational singers. I wish I could recall their names. One sang a spiritual I had not heard but hope to again and the other was from Edward's church who sang, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

Prayers were offered for the people of Raleigh. Word had come from those who serve the poor and disenfranchised and homeless in the capital city that the workers had been told if they proceeded with their plans to feed the homeless on the streets they would be arrested. The missions are closed on the weekends and there is no where for the homeless to go for food. Prayers were also offered for the homeless of Columbia, SC who were picked up and taken to a field outside town this week and told if they return they would be jailed. (One of the news reports I read on-line said they were told they could enter a "program" at a mission, could be jailed, or would have to leave town. What the article didn't say was that the mission programs are not as readily available as one might believe.)

Barbara Bates Smith, a Companion at the Welcome Table, then put on her hat and her vest and became for a little while, Doris Haddock, Granny D, that grand great-grandmother who walked across America in the early 2000's to bring the message of election reform to the nation. I can't find the exact quotes that Barbara recited from Granny D's address before the Little Rock First Baptist Church, August 22, 1999, a church where Dr. King spoke in 1960, but I am supplying some of the quotes below that are on-line that are excerpts from Doris Haddock's speech.

"There can be no true equality in America so long as only the rich are represented at the table of power. That is no democracy. There can be no true justice in America so long as only the privileged make the rules and build the jails for those outside the rooms of power. That is no democracy. 
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This is an agenda of love. These things will happen if we are all at the table of power.
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Only when we sit together at the table of power can we do the right things by our communities.
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For when we are in the same room, looking eye-to-eye, speaking heart-to-heart, it is hard for us to deny each other justice and equality as Americans. If I tell you what my children need, you will help me provide for them. If you tell me what your children need, I will help you provide for them. That is the essence of self-government in a free land."

Jeff Sebens who accompanied Barbara as she spoke played "We Shall Not Be Moved" and the congregation joined in and sang along. 

There are many more memorable quotes listed for Granny D. The speech she gave before the judge in the District of Columbia brought tears to my eyes. She was a force to be reckoned with, a force of love, not fear, a force of grace. Thank you, Barbara, for introducing Granny D to us.

Karen and Edward played a moving duet of "Amazing Grace" during Communion. Karen is a gifted flute player and a Companion in the kitchen at the Welcome Table.

Coincidentally, we had something else to commemorate yesterday, Edward's birthday. At Haywood Street we enjoy celebrating the life of Christ given for us, great moments of justice in history, and small moments of joy. Happy Birthday, Edward, and thank you for your glorious music.