Perfect Joy

Last Friday was my last day in leadership at Sunnyside Coffee House.  My church would still be a part of cooking and serving food, once a month, but my bi-weekly visiting and praying with and serving the mentally ill and homeless of SE Portland is over.  For now.

I was pretty sad about the whole thing.  We cooked and served spaghetti (fresh basil and beef in the sauce, which was great) and then stood up to lead prayer.  I announced my leaving and that Mark Woodson would take over. Many people clapped.  Now, Mark Woodson used to lead the coffee house years before, so it was probably just joy that he's coming back.  But it felt like a slap across my face.  I've regularly worked twelve hour days for these people, making sure that had enough to eat and stuff to take home.  I've worked hard at creating a place of peace, so people would feel safe coming in, where there used to be people yelling and obnoxious shouting almost every week. I've been threatened, yelled at, cleaned up overflowing toilets, cleaned out a back storage room full of mouse feces.  We have prayed people's healings in, we had two weddings there, we showed movies, laughed and loved together.  And I was deeply shamed at the rejoicing of my leaving.

At that point I remembered a story of Francis of Assisi.  It's pretty long, so I won't quote the whole thing, but the summary is Francis saying, "Perfect joy is serving and suffering for your brothers only to have them reject you."  You can read it all here: The Perfect Joy of St. Francis

I said to myself, "Well, I guess no good deed goes unpunished.  I just need to chalk this one up for eternal reward."  I was being pretty self-pitying, really.

As the evening wore on, it was clear that it was two of us: Styxx and myself, cooking and serving and cleaning for the hundred or so people who showed up. It's a big job, but we were experienced and knew what we were in for. Pretty soon we had a number of people come up and thank us for the food, "This is some of the best food I've had."  Wow.  Many times people would come and complain about the free food they received.  This was different.  A couple came up and asked, "Could you use some help?" and I honestly replied, "Yeah, we should could."  They came in and helped serve seconds to folks as I went into the men's room to mop up an overflowing toilet.

In another twenty minutes, others, who did not ask to help, voluntarily wiped down all the tables, put the chairs  up and swept up.  Behind the counter, the couple cleaned up the counters and stove. All this work probably cut an hour off of Styxx and my evening.

A bit later Joline came up.  She's an older Native American woman who's lived on the street for many years.  She wasn't doing well tonight.  She was either a little drunk or sick or just depressed.  She said, "Thank you for all you've done.  Here's what I have."  And she put in my hand her last eighty cents.

At this point I realized that Francis was wrong.  Perfect joy isn't being rejected.  Perfect joy is working to build community where there was none before.  Perfect joy is seeing people act like Jesus, especially those whom people say could never be discipled.  Perfect joy is seeing God at work.

Cause of Homelessness: Bad Past

I have a family and a single person who have the money to get an apartment, but they can't.  Is it because of a bad credit check?  No.  Because of a bad reference?  Nope.  It is because they have a five year old felony.

Most apartments won't take you if they can show that you have significant jail time in your past. One of my friends has a job and a beautiful ten month old daughter and wife, but once the apartment managers see the jail time, he's rejected.  Even though he has had a clean record since he got out of jail and had voluntarily finished a rehab program and has a good paying job.  No one will touch him.

Another of my friends has a serious injury.  His hip is giving out and he is unable to walk very far.  He could go to the store as needed, but he can't be homeless any more.  He sleeps on one of my extra couches, but he has the money from disability to get an apartment, or at least to room with another person. But if he applies with another person, they will reject them both because he has a record, which is now six years old.

These are the people ready to get off the street.  But a number of the street folks are looking and saying, If it is this hard to get off the street, why bother trying?

Jail or Homelessness?

One of my formerly homeless friend and I were discussing the relative benefits of prison to homelessness.

Among the chronic homeless, jail is seen as a "vacation".  Sure, it limits your freedom.  But it also gives you three meals a day, which is more than you'd often eat on the street.  You don't have to walk as much.  You are less likely to be threatened by guards than you are by the community or the police outside.  You have greater access to a toilet in jail. You have a much greater opportunity for sleep without being harassed.

Threat of violence: same
Religious freedom: same
Social/Isolation time: same

Frankly, in some communities, jail is much to be preferred.  If you are in St. Petersburg or Las Vegas, those cities have taken away the rights of the homeless to be fed.  Many communities don't provide public toilets. And most communities already treat the homeless as criminals (without proof), so the disrespect of being a criminal is the same.

So which would you prefer, jail or homelessness?

Living Rights

A Mouse Story

A favorite of Patty's:


A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose"

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap-- alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't
concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life.
We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
To do the right thing.And be all we can be with kindness & compassion.

Does anyone know who this is by so I can give credit?

Peace Seeds

Below is a poem by Harlan Young, a friend of mine who recently returned to do street ministry.











Jesus was marginalized for hanging out with the poor,
the gangbanging zealot and despicable whore.
He went to dark places, the ghetto and hood.
He didn’t need affirmation, he knew where he stood.

The peace seeds he sowed were ridiculously small,
like mustard seeds when planted, invisible to all.
But germinate they did and grow to this day,
proving redemption through relationships is the best way.

I’ve joined him in the work that leads not to fame,
if I endure to the end I’ll be glad that I came,
to enter dark places with the torch of the Spirit.
If I first live out the Gospel, I’ll have the right to proclaim it.

The homeboys who trust me might invite me to toke
(I hope I don’t get buzzed on the second hand smoke),
but I graciously decline and explain as I say,
“Thanks dude, but I’ve found a better way.”

This is so not the life I had planned,
back in my Humboldt hippie days, eco-groovy and grand.
Waging the war to preserve ancient forest,
in hope that such beauty endure untarnished.

But I’m in a transition I can’t figure out.
I look back on my life and ask, “What’s this about?”
I still dig the forest, but my values have shifted.
My contempt for the city is now being lifted.

Like Jonah I tried to run from my calling,
afraid of the slums and actually falling
in love with the broken God so passionately cherished,
refusing to care whether or not they perished.

So now I’ve repented, to the inner-city I’ve turned.
Since entering its gates, this is what I have learned.
There is actually beauty here, ‘though sublime and misunderstood.
I’m finding hidden treasure waging peace in the hood.

Harlan Young
4/28/2011

East Multnomah County Homeless Meeting 2011

In April 2011 about 20 of the homeless community of Gresham met to discuss the current situation for the homeless and what services would be most helpful to provide. After a general list was created, the list was voted on to establish priority. The following items are listen in the order of the most votes.

1. Bus tickets
Transportation is a huge issue and the preferred solution is bus tickets
Either one zone or two zone tickets; bus passes would be wonderful, if possible
Tickets could be worked for; e.g. work at a church for an hour for two-four tickets

2. Pet health care
The number of pets, especially dogs, has increased considerably in the last couple years. Thus, the need for some care for the pets have increased.
Emergency care
On site clinic
Vaccinations
Licensing—obtaining free training
Raincoats for dogs
Look into donations from pet stores
Flea and worm treatments
Muzzles

3. Safe place to sleep overnight
This is not a shelter, but a place to camp or park safely. Shelters are not usually preferred unless the weather is particularly bad. The issue here is safety-- from anyone who wishes to harm the homeless or to steal their possessions.
A parking lot for cars
A safe camp where items can be permanently stored

3. Day labor site with phone—both ingoing and outgoing
There are many skilled laborers on the street but almost no opportunities to work. We could use the day shelter sites as places for day-employers to pick up and drop off laborers.
This can be done pretty simply using a cell phone we already have and a Craigs
Listing

3. Laundry facility or vouchers
There are currently no opportunities to do laundry for free in East County.
Check out store on Cleveland or 162nd and Glisan

6. Dental care
There is currently no dental care for the homeless in East County.

7. Permanent Night shelter

8. Community computer at the day shelters

9. Storage Lockers
These could be built and housed at Anawim.