Helping to Save Schoharie, One Saturday at a Time

A Reflection by Theresa Weinman, a member of the Journey United Church of Christ on our day of service in Schoharie, NY.  

You can view the pictures via facebook at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150310293588347.354753.122388083346

On a recent sunny Saturday morning a committed group of volunteers from Journey UCC & SUNY Albany met in the early hours to begin a service day to help our neighbors in Schoharie. Most of us had watched the news and had heard some difficult stories from friends who had already volunteered and thought we were pretty prepared for day. We gathered in the Journey parking lot to share coffee, donuts, load up our tools and take a few minutes to discuss sensitivity and safety. The ride to Schoharie was the same as any other ride until we were about 15 minutes away from our destination. Only then did the damage to houses, businesses, and trees become apparent. It was then that I began to wonder if I was truly prepared for what was ahead. A few of us headed off to Howes Caves to help a friend of mine put together the pieces of her medical practice. Her practice of 30 years sat steps away from her home and her patients traveled from several towns away to see their family doctor. Her practice was completely destroyed by the floods and her building condemned. She lost her building and everything inside.  Her home, just around the corner, took on water well into her first floor. She is determined to restore her home and it was humbling to see her strength and determination. We gathered the various office supplies, items she sent to us in an email wish list, and the guys loaded and unloaded dozens of boxes of damaged and disorganized medical records for her 1,000+ patients. As we loaded her newly donated office chairs, computer, fax machine and other misc items, I was struck by how grateful she was. She didn't complain that everything she had worked for over the past 30 years was gone and she was getting used and discarded items from others - she was just thankful we were there. She didn't seem to mind that she was relocating far away from her home and no longer had an entire practice - but would have 1 small room to work out of. She was putting one foot in front of the other, leaning on her friends and was sincerely moved by the generosity of strangers. I left grateful that we truly helped her in a few short hours - and frustrated that we couldn't do more.

Our next stop was to regroup with the rest of the Journey/UAlbany team in Schoharie. As we tried to join in with the rest of the team, it was clear that they had already had a few hours to take in the scene on this once beautiful street. While from a distance it looked almost "normal" as you got closer you saw the impossible water lines just below the second story windows and my mind struggled to comprehend that the water could have truly engulfed these homes to their second stories. Many had only 20 minutes to take what they could and assumed they would return to clean up flooded basements. It must still be hard to comprehend what happened to their home, their neighborhood, their entire community. Never having been a part of this process before, Pastor Sandy gave me the run down on my face mask, goggles and hammer. Before I knew it, I found myself smashing through living room walls, shoveling what was left of their kitchen into buckets and watching with sadness and pride as this group of volunteers took these rooms down to their shell. I watched as our team went from moments of laughter and camaraderie to moments of sadness - stepping out on the front porch to catch their breath and process it all it. I think working alongside the homeowners was .......Difficult. Heartbreaking. Humbling. Overwhelming. Inspiring. While we were ripping out walls and floors, they watched their lives being dragged out to the curb, as trash. One man told us how his brother was a Marine and had a whole wall full of photos, medals and honors. Not one of them survived the water - his entire history lost. As we scrapped the metal shovels across the wood floors, shoveling out the wet insulation and sheetrock, he told me his sister-in-law never let him wear his shoes on her wood floors. The sound of the shovels scrapping across those same floors must have been hard for him to stand. The incredible lady down the road whose  floors were completely rotted all the way through, insisting that her house could be saved. She took us, room by room, to show us the path of the water and tell us what "used to be here" and what "used to be hanging there."  She was most upset that she lost her son's handprint from kindergarten that was hanging on the wall. I'm sure our experiences are only a shadow of the desperation, heartbreak, anger and frustration that is running through so many neighborhoods. Yet this was not a negative experience. I  came away in awe of the resilience of the homeowners, proud of my friends and Journey members who continue to walk the walk - not just talk the talk. Impressed that a group of SUNY students would give up their entire Saturday to work HARD. Of the woman Sarah - who runs a command center in the middle of town, placing thousands of eager volunteers in homes in desperate need of their hard work, power tools and compassion. One woman has accomplished what our government could not - she brought those in need together with those who needed to help. I am grateful for the opportunity to help in this small way and I hope that the needs of this community will not fade away when other news stories take precedence. These families are going to need our labor, love and support for many months to come. Let's not let them down.

Journey at the Movies: The Help - The Courage to Make a Diffeence

A sermon preached at Journey United Church of Christ on Sunday, September 11, 2011. 

Based in part on a review, “Challenging the Status Quo” by Elisabeth Leitch at www.hollywoodjesus.com

READINGS FOR THE DAY: Esther 4:1-17 (CEV)

1 When Mordecai heard about the letter, he tore his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he covered his head with ashes and went through the city, crying and weeping.

2 But he could go only as far as the palace gate, because no one wearing sackcloth was allowed inside the palace.

3 In every province where the king's orders were read, the Jews cried and mourned, and they went without eating. Many of them even put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.

4 When Esther's servant girls and her other servants told her what Mordecai was doing, she became very upset and sent Mordecai some clothes to wear in place of the sackcloth. But he refused to take them.

5 Esther had a servant named Hathach, who had been given to her by the king. So she called him in and said, "Find out what's wrong with Mordecai and why he's acting this way."

6 Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square in front of the palace gate,

7 and Mordecai told him everything that had happened. He also told him how much money Haman had promised to add to the king's treasury, if all the Jews were killed.

8 Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the orders for the murder of the Jews and told him that these had been read in Susa. He said, "Show this to Esther and explain what it means. Ask her to go to the king and beg him to have pity on her people, the Jews!"

9 Hathach went back to Esther and told her what Mordecai had said.

10 She answered, "Tell Mordecai

11 there is a law about going in to see the king, and all his officials and his people know about this law. Anyone who goes in to see the king without being invited by him will be put to death. The only way that anyone can be saved is for the king to hold out the gold scepter to that person. And it's been thirty days since he has asked for me."

12 When Mordecai was told what Esther had said,

13 he sent back this reply, "Don't think that you will escape being killed with the rest of the Jews, just because you live in the king's palace.

14 If you don't speak up now, we will somehow get help, but you and your family will be killed. It could be that you were made queen for a time like this!"

15 Esther sent a message to Mordecai, saying,

16 "Bring together all the Jews in Susa and tell them to go without eating for my sake! Don't eat or drink for three days and nights. My servant girls and I will do the same. Then I will go in to see the king, even if it means I must die."

17 Mordecai did everything Esther told him to do.

Every morning, Abileen Clark entered the home of her employers, gathered toddler, Mae Mobley, from her crib wrapping her arms around her and has her repeat those affirmations.  “You is Kind. You is Smart. You is Important.” 

While the words initially seem to be spoken directly for baby Mae, as the movie unfolds, it becomes apparent that the mantra is just as important for Abileen, “the help”.  Each is as underappreciated as the other.  Mae Mobley? Well she just doesn’t fit her mother’s picture of a perfect beautiful baby.  She’s too big for her age and far too needy for her mom’s life.  And Abileen?  Well, she’s an African-American and she’s a maid.  She’s not really a person. She’s “the help.”

The Help takes us back to a time when racism was overt.  Jackson, Mississippi, is just another typical southern city of the time.  The white middle class households all had children and they all had maids.  The maids cleaned, shopped, cooked, raised the babies .. and most importantly, they know their place. 

The young white society women gather regularly to play bridge and occasionally hold a benefit for the hungry children in Africa.  The maids ride buses back and forth from the other side of town to work at their houses everyday.  The society ladies were likely raised by the same “help”.  Now they employ them and treat them with disdain following the example of their leader, Ms. Hilly Holbrook, who begins a campaign to establish a law that would require each home to build an outside restroom for the “the help” so they don’t use the household toilets.

It all goes along unchallenged, like it has for generations, until on of their own, Skeeter, comes home from college and become the catalyst for change.  Wanting to become a writer she is inspired by what she feels is a great idea – one that will bring about change.  She’ll interview “the help”, gather their stories about what its really like to work for their white families. 

The only problem is that she doesn’t understand how big the risk is for the interviewees.  Losing their jobs may be the least of their worries. 

Initially Aibileen wants no part of this, nor does Minnie of who can only get a job working for the “outcasts of white folks”.  It isn’t Abileen hears these powerful words from her pastor that she changes her mind. 

Video Clip

Preacher … “Courage is ..”

The whole film is an eye opener for me.  It portrays a world that existed only 50 short years ago.  This is the world that many of us look back on as the “good old days”.  Happy Days, Ozzi and Harriet, The Andy Griffith Show, Leave it to Beaver.  This is the world that all those shows ignored.  As one reviewer states:  “The entertainment media of that day ignored the plight of oppressed people just as the socialites of Jackson couldn’t see the plight of the women that were in their homes each day.  But they would help hungry children in Africa.  (Darrel Manson, Hollywood Jesus)

Of course these were turbulent times and change was on its way.  For the folks in Jackson, that change begins with women of color telling their stories – both the good and the bad.  They revealed the truth about the world around them.  Out of contentment or fear, nobody had ever set the truth out in the open.  The very act of speaking the truth was the beginning of a journey to freedom for “the help” of Jackson. 

Not that much different from that Old Testament story of Esther.  It’s not one we usually share with our children in Sunday School.  And lord knows, we don’t usually preach it on Sunday morning.  I think the only place the story may be told may be in one of those Bible studies, “The Bad Girls of the Bible”. 

But just as Skeeter and Abileen change the course of history by speaking the truth with courage, so does Esther, the beauty queen.  Like Skeeter, her life was actually going along pretty good; but like Aibileen the very existence of her people is at stake.  And finally, with the prompting of her uncle Mordecai, she speaks the truth to her husband, the King.  With great courage, she starts the ball rolling.  Because she is willing to life her life out on the limb, literally thousands of lives are saved. 

Esther 7:1-10 (CEV)

1 The king and Haman were dining with Esther

2 and drinking wine during the second dinner, when the king again said, "Esther, what can I do for you? Just ask, and I will give you as much as half of my kingdom!"

3 Esther answered, "Your Majesty, if you really care for me and are willing to help, you can save me and my people. That's what I really want,

4 because a reward has been promised to anyone who kills my people. Your Majesty, if we were merely going to be sold as slaves, I would not have bothered you."

5 "Who would dare to do such a thing?" the king asked.

6 Esther replied, "That evil Haman is the one out to get us!" Haman was terrified, as he looked at the king and the queen.

7 The king was so angry that he got up, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. Haman realized that the king had already decided what to do with him, and he stayed and begged Esther to save his life.

8 Just as the king came back into the room, Haman got down on his knees beside Esther, who was lying on the couch. The king shouted, "Now you're even trying to rape my queen here in my own palace!" As soon as the king said this, his servants covered Haman's head.

9 Then Harbona, one of the king's personal servants, said, "Your Majesty, Haman built a tower seventy-five feet high beside his house, so he could hang Mordecai on it. And Mordecai is the very one who spoke up and saved your life." "Hang Haman from his own tower!" the king commanded.

10 Right away, Haman was hanged on the tower he had built to hang Mordecai, and the king calmed down.

If you were Esther, would you have lived life on out on that limb?

If you were Skeeter would you challenge the status quo?

If you were Abileen, would you be able to speak the truth?

Yes, we’ve made strides since then.  When we think of destroying a whole race, we like to think we’re above that.  When we see the way the maids are treated, we know immediately that such behavior is unconscionable.  It seems hard to believe that this would have been acceptable such a short time ago.  So it would be easy to celebrated the progress we’ve made in racial issues.  Those advancements are indeed worthy of celebration. 

But we also still need to have the truth set before us.  There is still prejudice that is less overt that continues to infect our society.  In plays out in many ways – both in personal lives and in government policies.

I am reminded of that in these days when we remember and reflect on the meaning of 9-11.  This week as I want sitting with students and staff in a planning meeting for a 9/11 Interfaith Remembrance Service on campus, I was reminded that we may not always have the “big picture”.  We began our meeting with introductions and I asked each person to share what they remembered about where they were on 9/11 in 2001.  I wasn’t expecting much because most of our students were pretty young at the time.  However, I was immediately proven wrong as the president of the Muslim Student Association shared her story.  She lived in NYC at the time.  She remembered that many of her classmates were picked up by their parents early that day.  Their teachers didn’t tell them anything about what was happening outside those four walls, but she knew something was going on.  Her suspicion was confirmed when her mother finally arrived to pick her up … her mother was not wearing her hijab – the customary head covering.  She proceeded to remove her headscarf as well and she ushered her home quickly.  Only then did she begin to explain that she would not be going to school the next day and that things had changed.  In fact, Bibi would not leave her home for weeks and would not wear her hijab for a long, long time.  A member of the Counseling Center, also a Muslim, chimed in.  She remembered her neighbors yelling at her and her family to “go back to Afghanastan”.  She thought it was curious because her family wasn’t even from there.   

These stories stand in stark contrast to the stories I remember hearing and seeing in the days after 9/11.  I remember stories of heroes and survivors.  I remember seeing pictures of people working together in a time of great fear and anxiety.  Not that those stories were wrong.  It’s just that I didn’t have the big picture.  I didn’t have all the information.  I didn’t have the whole truth. 

In moments like this I recognize that we have a log way to go before we have a picture that includes all aspects of prejudice and racism and discrimination.  I recognize that I miss many stories of discrimination based on race, based on religion, based on sexual orientation, based on a whether a person is a legal or illegal immigrant.  The list goes on an on. 

To watch “The Help” and only think how wonderful it is that the world isn’t like that any more would only be to see what we want to see, like the white women of Jackson.  Like Esther who is tucked safely away in the palace. 

Perhaps our challenge is to continue to look for the truth – to seek out ways we continue to overlook prejudice and mistreat the people around us.  And then, alongside Esther, and Skeeter and Abileen, to have the courage to speak out in small ways and in big ways.  As individuals to confront the racism we encounter in the comments, jokes and attitudes of those around.  To be aware of policies and systems that perpetuate that discrimination.  As a faith community to work together to be informed and to speak for those who may not have a voice.

May we have the courage to make a difference recognizing that WE IS KIND, WE IS SMART AND WE IS IMPORTANT in making a difference. 

Journey at the Movies: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (part 2) - When Good Meets Evil

A sermon preached at Journey United Church of Christ on Sunday, September 4, 2011. 

READINGS FOR THE DAY: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (CEV)

One day he said, "Samuel, I've rejected Saul, and I refuse to let him be king any longer. Stop feeling sad about him. Put some olive oil in a small container and go visit a man named Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem. I've chosen one of his sons to be my king." Samuel answered, "If I do that, Saul will find out and have me killed." "Take a calf with you," the LORD replied. "Tell everyone that you've come to offer it as a sacrifice to me,  then invite Jesse to the sacrifice. When I show you which one of his sons I have chosen, pour the olive oil on his head." Samuel did what the LORD told him and went to Bethlehem. The town leaders went to meet him, but they were terribly afraid and asked, "Is this a friendly visit?" "Yes, it is!" Samuel answered. "I've come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD. Get yourselves ready to take part in the sacrifice and come with me." Samuel also invited Jesse and his sons to come to the sacrifice, and he got them ready to take part. When Jesse and his sons arrived, Samuel noticed Jesse's oldest son, Eliab  "He has to be the one the LORD has chosen," Samuel said to himself. But the LORD told him, "Samuel, don't think Eliab is the one just because he's tall and handsome. He isn't the one I've chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts." Jesse told his son Abinadab to go over to Samuel, but Samuel said, "No, the LORD hasn't chosen him." Next, Jesse sent his son Shammah .to him, and Samuel said, "The LORD hasn't chosen him either." Jesse had all seven of his sons go over to Samuel. Finally, Samuel said, "Jesse, the LORD hasn't chosen any of these young men. Do you have any more sons?" "Yes," Jesse answered. "My youngest son David is out taking care of the sheep." "Send for him!" Samuel said. "We won't start the ceremony until he gets here." Jesse sent for David. He was a healthy, good-looking boy with a sparkle in his eyes. As soon as David came, the LORD told Samuel, "He's the one! Get up and pour the olive oil on his head."

Samuel poured the oil on David's head while his brothers watched. At that moment, the Spirit of the LORD took control of David and stayed with him from then on. Samuel returned home to Ramah.

Ever played one of those games where you are shown a close-up picture of a familiar item and have to guess what it is?  The problem is the picture close-up is usually so “close up” that you really can’t tell. 

I think that little game can actually serve as an analogy for life at times.  It’s not always easy to see clearly when we get focused on minute little details.  We may get so consumed with the little things that we lose sight of the big pictures.  It even happens as we look at the people around us.  We can lose our ability to see clearly if we get obsessed with one or two smaller characteristics. 

Look at the priestly figure Samuel; when we find him in chapter 16, it appears he has problems focusing when it came to anointing the next king.  Let’s set the stage a bit.  Samuel has been told by God to anoint a new king.  Kings in those days didn’t ascend to throne through their family ties.  They weren’t popular elections or an electoral college.  Kings came to power through appointment – an appointment by God.  Now God had originally appointed Saul as the first king of Israel and he started strong.  But as is the case with politicians from time to time, he seemed to lose his way.  More and more he led in a way that met his own needs, not the plan provided by God. So God tells Samuel it times for a “godly impeachment” and set him on a path of appointing a new King on God’s behalf. 

But in the midst of this important moment, we discover that Samuel has a blind spot … not a blind spot that impacts his physical ability to see like cataracts or glaucoma.  His blind spot has more to do with his vision for how God works.  He is able to see clearly enough to find his way to the right down and even to the right house – the household of Jesse.  But then he loses his focus.  He had all of sons parade before him; it’s like an impromptu “king contest” in Jesse’s living room.   We can almost see him with his scorecard.  The oldest, Eliab, walks by - Big broad shoulder, handsome face … 9.8.  But God says’ “no”.  Then comes Abinadab - tall and fit… 8.5.  But God says “no”. Then Shammah … 7.9, but again God says “no”.  It continues through all of Jesse’s 7 sons.  He works his way through them all.  In desperation, he asks Jesse, “are there any more”.  Jesse sends for his youngest son, who is out tending the sheep.  We get a sense that Samuel, with his “blind spot” and is ready to dismiss the young shepherd boy when God corrects his vision and much to everyone’s surprise, God says “yes, he’s the one” These powerful words emerge from the story.  Words from God that serve as corrective lenses for those who have blind spots - “People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.”  I Samuel 13:7

Let’s face it, like Samuel, we all have blind spots that prevent us from seeing others clearly.  I’m not sure we can every truly overcome our natural tendency to look at others and make at least some snap judgments about them based on what we first see.  We are quick to make assumptions based on the color of their skin, the accent of their speech, how they are dressed and how they may act.  And based on what we see and what we observe, we are quick to judge and label.  He’d make a good king.  He wouldn’t.  They seem to be a good person.  They seem to be someone to be avoided.  They seem good.  They seem bad.  That person is good.  That person is evil. 

Reflect with me for a moment on the characters of Harry Potter. 

Are these people good or bad?  In this classic story of good vs. evil, on which side do they fall? 

Draco and the rest of the Malfoy family?; Harry, Hermoine, & Ron?; Neville Longbottom?; Snape?; Dumbledore?

There are lots of profound lessons in the final installment of Harry Potter – The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Lesson about sacrifice for the good of others; Lessons about friendships and alliances; Lessons about immortality … all powerful lessons indeed and perhaps one week isn’t enough for Harry Potter; we could perhaps do a whole series. I’ve read lots of reviews about all those angels… especially the good vs. evil plot that is woven throughout the whole series, but instead of going with the obvious, “in the struggle of good vs. evil, good always win” thing, I want us to look at it from a slightly different angel – how we discern good and evil.  How we judge people’s nature and character.  How it is that perhaps our own blind spots enter in the picture.  And how it is not simply always so clear-cut as we might think. 

Watch this clip and see if you can begin to understand what I’m getting at

Video Clip

Harry Uses Snapes Memories

As the final plot unfolds, I was struck by how difficult it sometimes is to tell the good-guys from the bad-guys in the movies …

 •             Severus Snape we discover has been working as a double-agent between the Death Eaters, the followers of Lord Voldemort, and the Hogwarts students and professors and their magical families.  As it turns out, instead of being a villain, he has served has Harry’s protector all these years. 

 •             Albus Dumbledore, as it turns out, has known the Harry’s secret all along and withheld that information from him bring Snape to accuse him with these words, “You have raises him like a lamb for the slaughter”. 

 •             The Malfoy family, who previously have pursued Harry at every turn, secretly turn against the Dark Lord and Draco’s mother makes the important decision in the final moments to actually lie to Voldemort about whether or not Harry is dead.

 •             And then there’s the hero, Harry.  We discover that Harry has a bit of Voldemort – a little evil - living within him; he discovers he is one of the Horcruxes he and his friends have been seeking to destroy. 

God’s words to Samuel return to me .. “People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.”  I Samuel 13:7.  And I recognize that I am often quick to put people in a box; label them – good/bad.   I’m learning more and more these days that things aren’t always “black and white” and more and more I’m called to live with shades of gray … especially when it comes to how I see the people around me.    There’s a challenge for all of us to allow God to remove the blind spots we have … to resist our urge to label and judge … to see people as God sees them … not as good or bad, sinner or saint… but as God’s beloved children who are often a little bit of both. 

We would do well to remember that God invites us to a new vision

PRAYER OF REFLECTION

God, we acknowledge before you, our blind spots.  We often fail to see your big picture, because we focus on the tiny minute details.  We have made ourselves judges of what is acceptable and what is not, forgetting that you are the only judge.  We have denies, repressed, ignored or condemned all the pieces of the world that we don’t like.  Forgive us our blind spots and restore our vision so we might see clearly through your eyes.  Amen.