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I read the following piece in the May 17th edition of The Christian Century:
When a church youth group visited a Catholic Worker house in Birmingham, they wished to know how successful the work was with the homeless: How many families move into their own housing? How many adults find jobs? How many children enroll in school? The host responded: I am not often privileged to see the end of God's work in these people's lives. This house is one stop on their long journey. While they are here with me, they will see Jesus. When I read this, I thought of the homeless youth who sleep in our courtyard every night. Some of these youth are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. Some suffer from mental illness or serious emotional problems. On occasion, they commit violent acts, or vandalize church property. Let's not forget the dogs and the unpleasant gifts they leave behind. For years, members of our church have struggled with the question: how shall we respond to these homeless youth? Shall we ban them from our property? Shall we allow them to stay? Is there anything we can do? What about the risks they pose? Many of you seem to have ambivalent thoughts and feelings about the presence of homeless youth on our church property. Special areas of concern include the use of church property for illegal drug use and sales, the physical appearance and integrity of our property, and the possible liability risk for injuries sustained on our property. Of particular concern is our children's safety, especially if homeless youth discard dangerous drug paraphernalia in our courtyard or garden. On the other hand, you've also expressed genuine concern for the homeless youth, and you've looked through the often gruff and dirty appearance to recognize young people who are suffering. The homeless youth present us with a real dilemma: they are a property, financial, and liability issue for the church, yet they are "the least of these" of which Jesus spoke congregating right outside our door. How shall we respond? One response, in my view, is to have more face-to-face personal interaction with the youth. If a few of you showed up on weekday mornings around 9 am, you could help get the youth up and moving. You could invite them to use the rest rooms, offer a place to change or freshen up if needed, and supervise them a bit as they cleaned up the courtyard. You could also just chat a bit. Right now Jay Harris, our custodian, takes primary responsibility for getting the youth up and moving, and I help out on occasion as well. It would be great if we could get some more church members to participate. It wouldn't resolve our dilemma, but it would at least clarify and humanize the issues a bit. The homeless youth exist for us right now as an issue or a dilemma. We don't know them as real people. And to the youth, our church is little more than a courtyard and a basement that we offer LifeWorks for the Drop-In Program. I'm hoping we can transform our issue into a concern for real people and that we can help the youth recognize that our church is more than a space, it's people who care. Our new Christian Outreach Committee will soon be considering a plan that encourages members of our church to interact with the youth in the mornings. This plan will provide training and supervision as well as opportunities for reflection and discussion regarding further action. While this will not resolve our dilemma, it will humanize it. It will help us encounter Jesus Christ on our doorstep, and it will help the youth encounter Jesus Christ through our compassion. Tom
Marylin Vache provided the idea, John Goff provided the design, the Christian Education Board provided the pizza for the basket-making party, and the kids provided the enthusiasm. Our Sunday School children made and filled a number of Easter Baskets, then delivered them to the Seton Shoal Creek Adolescent Unit on Easter morning. We recently received some thank you notes from Seton staff and some young patients. The following are a few excerpts. Dear Mrs. Chapman and Congregational Church of Austin Sunday School Children: Thank you so much for the beautiful Easter baskets you made for the adolescent patients at Seton Shoal Creek Hospital. The patients were so surprised and the baskets really brightened their day. Congregational Church of Austin: Thank you so much for the basket! I really loved it. I am going to wear the necklace everyday. Hey Cameron! Thank you so much for the Easter basket! I loved it! I'm going to wear the bracelet everyday! Dear Alex: Thanks for all the great stuff. Dear Ava: Thank you so much for your kind thoughts and sweet presents (you made everyone's day). Thanks again.
JUNE BIRTHDAYS Credibility In the Church Lenten series, we gave some thought to what it meant to pray for someone - what do we think we are actually accomplishing? Here I want to raise the question of what we think we are doing when we pray for peace. This past Sunday, Tom spoke strongly about credibility, the need to follow words and commitments with action. Sunday after Sunday, we have prayed for peace in the Middle East, Iraq in particular. What do we think we are doing? Do our prayers have any credibility? Do we act for peace? Several people have raised the question in the congregation about whether concern for peace needs to be matched with a concern for justice. A good question. Do we who rejected the option of war in Iraq evidence concern for justice for the Iraqi people? Can we celebrate a new freedom for Shi`a Muslims to worship? What cry do we hear from the mass graves? Have we shown credible concern for the people of Afghanistan under the curse of the Taliban? The people of Bosnia? Kosovo? Chechnya? The Congo? Myanmar? And if our concern for these people is to be credible, what action would that call forth? If it calls forth an action different from that our government took, did we credibly pursue alternative means? I am not sure that marching in the streets of Austin raises to the level of credible action. Voting for peace, on those occasional times when we have that option, is important to be sure, but is it enough? Some have said that before we went to war in Iraq, we should have tried sanctions. But we have had sanctions in place for years, with devastating effects on the Iraqi people. The International Crisis Group proposed a different kind of sanction regime, but it was a plan dependent upon an extraordinary degree of cooperation from Syria, Iran and all other border countries, at a time when they have been notably unwilling to follow Western directions - in other words, not a credible plan. In another corner of the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians have continued to battle with each other, with a daily toll of lives. Some brave Christians have stood in front of bulldozers to protect Palestinians from losing their homes. Rachel Corrie died in such an action. Others, as part of Christian Peacemaker Teams, have monitored the daily provocations in Hebron for years. Others closer to home have pressured American Jewish and Christian groups to re-examine the moral foundations of their support for Israeli policy (not to be confused with support for Israel as a State). The concern is for peace, but also for justice, which is its handmaiden. But first, we need to clarify in our own minds, and our collective congregational mind, what the content of peace and justice is. We need to talk to one another. We need to argue a bit, educate ourselves and each other, and commit ourselves to informed activism and credible activism. We need to do this because we are the Church of the Prince of Peace and a Church of Just Peace. We need to do this because credibility, believability, the sense that our words and prayers have meaning and effect are at stake. We need to do this because we are a Congregational Church, in which the nature of faith, the credibility of faith, is located not in the pulpit, not on the throne, but in the midst of the congregational - you and me. We suggest that we organize regular fora in this church, inviting in those who can lead us in informed debate over many of the issues of our day - international, national and local - and that we put a priority on credible activity, which is educated activity, schooled in the furnace of debate, and made effective by the thought that grounds it. We cannot do everything, but neither can we do nothing, and what we do endeavor ought to be credible. Outreach Alert The newly-formed Christian Outreach Committee held it's first meeting on May 7. In attendance were members Matt Blackstock, Robin Chapman, John Goff (chair), Dennis Murphy and Liz Nash, as well as Tom VandeStadt. Our charter is to respond to Christ's call to live in response to God's Reign by pursuing ministries that bring our church members into active engagement with the world outside our immediate church community. These ministries facilitate the care, healing, renewal, and transformation of God's creation, and in turn, transform our own members in the process. In short, the Outreach Committee is entrusted with the spirituality of engaging the world in a Christ-like manner. The committee set two priorities for itself in the coming months. The first is to develop a coordinated response to the homeless youth who frequently sleep in our courtyard at night. We wish to build upon the work initiated by George Lemley and Tom, who have gotten to know a number of the youth. We intend to put forward a plan of action for approval by the church, and seek volunteers to participate in this ministry. The second will be to shepherd our church into the Micah 6 association of University area churches, which will begin activities this year for the benefit of people in need. Micah 6 will begin by overseeing the Freeze Night ministry, and by organizing a food pantry in association with the Capitol Area Food Bank. The food pantry will be run three days a week out the University Baptist Church. Both activities will provide the opportunity for volunteer work for all Micah 6 church members. Through regular contributions to the newsletter, the Christian Outreach Committee will keep the church informed of the various outreach ministries and opportunities for participation. We welcome suggestions for new outreach ministries, either that the church can sponsor or for which individuals may participate. Please contact John Goff at goff@ig.utexas.edu. The next CCOA volunteer day for the University Methodist Saturday Outreach Meal Program is June 14, from 10:15AM to 1PM. Parking is available at the University Methodist Church. Please sign up in the fellowship hall. PERSONALS Karl and Andrea Putz had an enjoyable long weekend in Chicago the first weekend in May. They were there for the wedding of Andrea's cousin Ryan. It was a nice break for the studious duo as they are both writing dissertations at the same time. They were delighted to be bringing home a laptop computer passed in to them by Karl's mom. It will make the dissertation writing a more flexible enterprise. Coincidentally, Pat Oakes was on her way back from Iowa City (where she helped Beth and Eugene with Ethan and Emily during Beth's last week of school) and was on the same plane home to Austin from Chicago. The Adams family news is that Jamie will graduate on the thirty first, instant, from Huntington-Surrey, where he was ably taught by our own Steve Domingue and Marilyn Pickens, and that Julia had her first Brownie camp out on Saturday, May 17-18, delighting her daddy so much he almost didn't mind missing the Oakes' anniversary celebration. Michael's mother is making the trip down for Jamie's graduation although she is not in the best of health. The plan is that, late in the summer when Jamie has gone to Rhodes College, Mama Adams will move in with Michael and the remaining family, permanently, or, as permanent as anything is in this life. Jake Burlinson won an award for entering the Teams Engineering Contest - his team came in 2nd in State. Jake is graduating from Anderson High School and looking for summer work. He is on the "wait" list at Texas A&M, but is leaning toward attending Southwest Texas State because of their criminal justice program. He wants to be a police officer and work in law enforcement. Eunice Paul will be stateside from England the last 2 weeks of May, spending time with her son Martin and his family in Connecticut and having a visit with Tim and his family when they come from Pittsburgh to spend Memorial Day weekend with them. Rizer Everett and his friend Johanna Householder had an enjoyable 7 day trip by train and car to West Texas. They took in a night show at the McDonald Observatory, enjoyed the lovely park at Balmorhea, and then saw some of Big Bend Park. They looked at fossils at the Chisos Basin and the next day saw the Santa Elena Canyon. Other highlights included visiting Alpine where they checked out a museum on the Sul Ross University campus and then the lovely Gage Hotel in Marathon and its beautiful gardens. Sarah Kirch will be getting an award for her reading! She sits in the back seat of the car and reads signs as we go by; she thinks reading is very exciting, and she's right. Lisa has defended her dissertation and expects to graduate in August. Lisa reports, "I am told the defense was a good one, but my response to that was, 'Then I'm glad I don't know what a bad one looks like.' They spent an hour and a half telling me what I'd done wrong (disagreeing about what parts were done wrong), arguing about what footnotes should look like, and telling me they missed all the parts my advisor had told me to cut. Then they sent me outside for an eternally long five minutes, to sit there by myself wondering how I could have written anything so wretchedly bad without knowing it was wretchedly bad. When they summoned me back in, they told me they loved the horrible thing, were especially impressed by the unusual amount of original research, and wanted to nominate it for next year's dissertation prize." In April, Marilyn Gaddis and George Carruthers drove to Perry, MO, for a Palm Sunday concert directed by Marilyn's cousin and a mini-reunion of her mother's side of the family. The last "Perry Passion" featured Handel's Messiah with 76 in the chorus including Marilyn and 6 of her cousins. Of the 20 orchestra members, 7 were her cousins. On their way to Perry, they stopped in Tulsa and Springfield, MO, to see some of George's Air Force buddies. The redbuds and dogwoods were in full bloom in Oklahoma and Missouri! After the concert and family reunion, they drove to Little Rock for a short visit with 2 of George's cousins. From Texarkana, they drove the back roads of East Texas and enjoyed more spring foliage on their way back to San Marcos. Pat and Mel Oakes had a wonderful weekend May 16-18 celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary with family and friends. Mel's brothers and their wives and two old school friends from Vicksburg were here as were Pat's parents, 2 sisters (maid-of-honor Nancy and bridesmaid Sandy 40 years ago), brother-in-law Doug, and cousin Jessamy. Daughters Beth (with baby Ethan), Sarah and Mardie were also home. Further congratulations are in order for Mel who was named a Minnie Stevens Piper Professor. The award is given to 10-15 outstanding teachers in Texas higher education each year. The prestigious award is enhanced by the $5000 check which comes with it! Clark Hubbs, accompanied by Cathy, gave a talk on the water (and the lack thereof) in arid lads at a meeting in Las Cruces, NM, The area is just gorgeous according to Cathy who was particularly impressed with the stunning purple mountains. Maggie Smith and Vic Appel met in the Chicago airport after Vic spent 5 days helping daughter Cheryl with a siding project on her house in Madison, WI. Maggie and Vic spent 6 days with Maggie's son in Pittsburgh. They took in a Pirates game, took the duck tour (involving an amphibious craft of some sort), rode the cable car to Mr. Washington, and attended a wonderful Easter service at Eric and Cindy's church with Maggie's grandchildren Reeves and Olivia. Eric took advantage of the wonderful weather and Vic's expertise and learned how to prune his bushes and trees. Congratulations to newly confirmed members of the church, Jeffrey Lemley, Annie Nash, and Sarah Moore. Each of them wrote a short paper and made a presentation at church the Sunday they were confirmed. Members of the congregation were impressed with their work. HELP NEEDED SEEKING: Motivated individual(s) to take on huge project: management, operations and oversight of ongoing maintenance and beautification project. THE WOMEN'S BOOK CLUB has chosen its selections for the next few months. Come One, Come All! Our early Summer clean-up of Mount Bonnell is upon us. Please mark your calendars and plan to come on Saturday, June 14. We will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will be finished by 1:00 p.m. As usual, lunch will be provided to our dedicated volunteers. Please sign up on the Mt. Bonnell sheet in the fellowship room so we can plan for you! JUNE CALENDAR Jamie Adams Awarded College Scholarship We are delighted and proud to announce that Jamie Adams has been awarded a four year scholarship to Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where he will enroll for the Fall, 2003 term. Jamie intends to major in History, with support work in several other liberal arts fields. The scholarship award is for $20,775 annually, or about two-thirds of the typical, annual $30,000 cost. Jamie passed up a full-cost, four-year scholarship offered him by Hampton-Sydney College in Hampton, Virginia to take advantage of the opportunity at Rhodes, his first choice. Rhodes College is a small, highly selective, private, Presbyterian-related liberal arts college. 3rd Annual Interfaith Pride Service in Austin The 3RD Annual Interfaith Pride Service will be held on Saturday, June 7th, 5:30 pm, at University Baptist Church. This service seeks to celebrate diversity, and to support the spiritual lives of gay and lesbian people in Austin. Last year's service was very moving, with speakers and music that was truly inspirational. |
