Day 6- Mercy Church

We spent our morning and afternoon with Mercy Church, a congregation of those who are experiencing poverty and homelessness.  And our only job there was to be community with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Mercy Church was formed when Pastor Chad felt called to form a congregation among this community and left his job and moved his family into this neighborhood.  He doesn't earn a salary and dedicates himself to the work of listening, welcoming, loving and modeling grace.  He also leads this community in song and Bible study with a deep humility.  

We joined them for worship, singing songs that Pastor Chad wrote and then David, one of our students, played us some songs, too.   Some folks chatted, some napped, and some sang as we meditated, prayed for those in need and joined in Bible study.  As we read Matthew 6, one of the guests talked about how someone had stolen his things and he knows he's not supposed to retaliate.  But he wondered with us how not to harden his heart and how can God help with this? 

I had a long conversation with Melvin who grew up a block away from Ebenezer Baptist, right where we were yesterday.  "Growing up, there were some folks on public assistance, but they were ok.  Things are different now." he said.  "The systems just don't work the same."  He grew up in a strong family but he fell into addictions because he couldn't resist life on the streets.  And now he his homeless due to circumstance and a bit of his own choosing.  His dream is to live long enough to sit on the porch and have people some to him to hear stories and chat. 

Then we brought lunch to two spots on the streets, with many of the guys who were there for worship joining in our procession of food.  During one of our stops, a particular gentleman was incredibly upset and ready to turn violent and Pastor Chad and the rest of the community stepped in to de-escalate the situation. And then we sat together on the stoop on the side of the road- those experiencing homelessness and our students eating together.  Pastor Chad told us that he believes that in most communities, economic differences keep people more separate than racial differences and listening to the experiences of some of the men, that was fairly apparent.  The folks at Mercy Church told us that the big church that offered them space in a small basement room invited them to church on Sunday, but didn't really want them there.  They said they mostly wanted to feel good about offering them space, but didn't want them as part of their community.  Whether that is the truth, I don't know, but it doesn't seem far off from how things often are.

After a stop at Rita's for free water ice  (yeah, first day of Spring!) we gathered with Tina, the Lutheran campus pastor to the HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) in Atlanta and Mica, who is doing an internship on her way to becoming a Lutheran pastor and had done an internship at Emmaus House.  And we talked about the systems of racism that we see at play- from inequalities in government, healthcare, and job opportunities.  About how there is often underlying racism in policies that disadvantage the poor because there is the perception that these policies will mostly affect communities of color.   And she talked about how talking about economics is dangerous.  It's why 1966-1968 of MLK's life isn't talked about as much.  It's what made followers distance themselves more from his message in those years.  Talking about economics implicates all those with political power, not just those behaving in discriminatory ways.  It implicates an entire system that we all participate in.  And it doesn't allow the media to portray the South (or other communities- MLK said he faced racism just a vicious as the South when he lived in Chicago) as backwards while others are more enlightened.   It touches all of us, no matter what our feelings toward a particular racial group, and it asks us to give up what we have to change things. 

Tina asked us where we go from here and stressed the importance of authentic conversations about race- about actually asking questions about how another person experiences certain things and listening to their story.  Really listening.  And for those who are being asked questions about their culture, to have patience and be willing to answer questions that you probably shouldn't have to answer, simply because that is how people grow. 

And Tina asked the question that needed to be asked, "What will you do when you encounter resistance?"  She knows that when we go back, that although people might want to hear about our trip, many of them aren't going to want to hear about how we've been changed.  Plenty of folks will disagree with conclusions we've come to about systemic racism and many, many more simply won't feel the passion that we do.  So what do we do then?  Mica offered that this is when you just need to listen to how they feel and then do your homework even more, to respond with facts and with love.  She cautioned us not to try to do everything at once, but to work at steady change. 

As we closed in worship, we talked how we will creatively resist the way the way the world tells us to be and instead walk the way of Jesus.  They talked about their intentions to  bring those they know into experiences like they had.  One planned to continue a dialogue program at school that teaches freshman to have authentic conversations.  Another wants to provide ways for those who are hungry near their college campus to be fed and a student who is an RA continuing to educate the students on her floor about the importance of using language that honors who a person is.

At the end of this trip, our students are returning home changed.  One student is returning realizing that the Civil Rights story is her story, even though her parents emigrated to the US after 1965 and didn't experience this struggle themselves.  Another is looking at her town through new eyes after hearing words of challenge about racism one of our guests experienced not far from where she lives.  And other students are realizing the importance of the struggle for civil rights for all people after seeing young people and others work so hard to change unjust laws and make a new way forward.

This is not the end of the experience for this group.  Part of our covenant on this trip is to bring this trip back to our home campuses in some way and also to gather together once before the end of the semester to be engaged with our community in some way.  I don't know where we're going next, but I am sure that God will be walking with us as this journey continues for us.