Reflections on the Durham Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope

A few weeks ago Duke Memorial went on a “Durham Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope,” with 18 participants. We learned the story of Durham through the lens of our Christian faith, paying particular attention to race and class. We learned about the Stagville Plantation, the Hayti Heritage Center, the Royal Ice Cream Sit-In, El Centro Hispano, Duke Homestead, the West End, and our own church, Duke Memorial. Here is an extended reflection on the pilgrimage experience by one of our speakers, Rev. Keith Daniel, along with some reflections from those in our group:

 

Pilgrimage as Authentic Transformation
by Keith Daniel

Pilgrimage is an ancient practice (Mecca, Jerusalem, Holy Land, Shrine, Sacred Places, the course of life on earth).  Pilgrimages provide a powerful way for contemporary Christians to authentically encounter and be transformed (the telos) by the suffering and hope of others across disparities shaped by culture, privilege, economics, and race. Unlike missionaries or tourists, pilgrims enter a host community as guests dependent on the hospitality of others, and as learners seeking to cultivate attentive presence with those who suffer or have suffered.  Through (1) receiving the hospitality of communities enlivened by hope in the midst of suffering, (2) visiting locations of spiritual and historical significance to the host community, and (3) learning from personal and communal stories of pain and hope, a powerful opportunity is created for authentic reconciliation and for forging new friendships, solidarity and compassion across deep social, cultural and economic divisions.

The Duke Divinity School Centers and Houses have led numerous pilgrimages to various parts of the world.  My first pilgrimage was in 2008 to the incredible city of Durham, NC coordinated through the Office of Black Church Studies (OBCS).  During orientation (former OBCS director) Rev. Marley identified Trevor Hudson as the “God-father of Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope.  Trevor wrestled with the racial disparities during the ‘80s in South Africa.  He heard God say, “Take members of your congregation with you to where their brothers and sisters are suffering.  Go and explore their conditions first-hand.”    We easily fail to appreciate the significance and impact our presence has on the community we are situated in and surrounded by.  So, we go.  We go as listeners, not talkers or preachers.  We go as learners, not teachers.  We go as receivers, not givers…  We go to see the face of Jesus in our neighbors.

When I assumed the role of interim director of the Office of Black Church Studies in August 2012, I looked forward to leading a Durham pilgrimage with students.  Reynolds Chapman, Minister of Adult Discipleship and Witness at Duke Memorial Church, contacted me last fall to collaborate on a pilgrimage experience with members of the Duke Memorial congregation.  I was excited to share the pilgrimage story of the founding of the PathWays Christian community at 1115 W. Chapel Hill St. in Durham West End neighborhood.

In 2005, as the director of Duke University Chapel’s student ministry called PathWays, I led a year-long journey (pilgrimage) with staff and congregation members that launched the renovation of a dilapidated house with a history of drugs and violence.  The house had been boarded up for about two years.  The community invited us into the neighborhood having heard that students would live there and serve in the community.

I enjoy sharing the story of how we came to reside in the West End to caring pilgrims.  Duke Memorial has a heart for the community.  The people are sincere and want to know and understand the history of their neighbors.  I have been honored to preach at Duke Memorial from the perspective of an African American “native son” who has good news to share where not much good news is reported in our media and local paper.

On Saturday, October 12, I met Reynolds and a new group of pilgrims at Lyon Park on Lakewood Avenue.  The group was running a little behind, so I parked and decided to use the time to check on my aunt Carol Ann who grew up in the West End.  She had recently had a mild heart attack.  I told her I was speaking with a church group about the community, and she asked if I was still responsible for the house on West Chapel Hill Street.  She began to share with me about another historic house in the community referring to St. Pauli Murray’s home.  Aunt Carol Ann got wound up about the historic significance and the importance of this history for our youth to know.  Aunt Carol Ann is a proud woman too.  I hated to cut her off, but the Duke Memorial group had arrived and was seated in the picnic shelter waiting for me to speak with them.

Thank you Reynolds and the Duke Memorial family for your listening hearts and your openness to being transformed by the renewing of your minds through the powerful ways Almighty God is moving in the midst of our pain and hope.

Reflections from the Group

“I am so glad I went on the pilgrimage. I really enjoyed the sense of community that was built within our group and with Durham. I think we became much more acquainted with the history that has shaped Durham in the past and how it is being shaped in the present as well. I really enjoyed hearing the stories of those individuals who advocated for justice here. Those we met and conversed with exemplified a  strong love for this community. I am thankful that I now have a deeper understanding of the place I live, and I believe this sort of deeper understanding is calling me toward service. I am excited for my future in Durham and hope to have many more encounters like those on this pilgrimage.”

“I am glad that I attended the pilgrimage because it really helped me to orient myself in the greater Durham community.  It is easy for me to get caught up in school and my own social circle so I appreciated learning and discussing the rich history of Durham with others.  I spent all of last year tutoring at El Centro Hispano without knowing its mission.  I feel that my eyes were opened to the role of individuals and groups in shaping Durham's past as well as Durham's future.  It was also a perfect ‘beginning of fall break’ activity.”

“I am glad that I went on the pilgrimage because I am new to Durham, and it gave me a rich (though necessarily limited) sense of the city's history, and the way that that history has impacted the place that Durham is now.  It was a great gift to be able to process my experience with others through the categories of gift/lament/hope/lens.  I learned a great deal from the other participants in the pilgrimage, and am grateful to have a new lens through which to view Durham as I continue to get to know the city!”

“I'm thankful I went on the pilgrimage, because it exposed me to so many different angles and nooks in the Durham community.  Too often we go from work/school to home without ever exploring the area around us.  This pilgrimage taught me an attitude of reverence and respect for a past that continues to shape the present.”

“I am grateful for the Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope having afforded us the opportunity once more to be pilgrims, people approaching journey in a way which leads inward to a place that is holy.”

Come to the Mobile Market This Saturday!

The next Mobile Market food distribution event is this Saturday, June 15, from 8:30am-1:00pm! It will be at the same location – City of Joy Ministries, in the Lakewood Shopping Center, 2000 Chapel Hill Road. There will also be a training Thursday, June 13, from 6:30-8pm at the same location. If you haven’t been to a training, please try to come. But if you can’t make it, you can still volunteer on Saturday. Thank you to everyone who came out last time!

This is a very significant ministry for our church. Last year when we had our mission theme, “Who is My Neighbor? Listening, Learning and Living with Our City,” we identified two communities that we would seek to know: JJ Henderson Housing Center on Duke Street and the West End neighborhood. These are two of the closest residential communities to the church, and they are overlooked and under-resourced, places where Christians can join Jesus’ mission to “bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18). The Mobile Market is a great way to get to know and serve with our neighbors, and be a part of God’s mission in the West End/Lakewood area.

Our mission at Duke Memorial is "Sharing Christ from the Heart of Durham." The location of our church building on the west side of downtown is significant to this mission. And this location is a tremendous gift! We are able to welcome, and send out, people in the epicenter of activity and life in our city. Our building is probably not going anywhere, and neither are these neighborhoods. Let's make the most of it!

So as you prepare to come to the next Mobile Market, whether it’s your first or second time, think not only about feeding people who need assistance with groceries. Let this be a doorway into sustained relationships with our neighbors. Cherish the conversations you have and relationships you build. Keep your eyes and ears open for the broken places that need healing, and how God is already working to heal them. And at the same time, be open to how God is using this Mobile Market ministry to heal us from our own broken places that need healing.

Sign up to get involved here: http://dukememorial.org/serve/mobilemarket/

Fogleman Newsletter!

The most recent newsletter for Sharon and Lynn Fogleman, missionaries whom we support in South Sudan, can be found here!

Holy Monday: A Reflection on Monday's Action Against Durham's Anti-Panhandling Law

by Wil Posey

 

Holy Week began for me with singing “We are building up a new world” at the base of a stoplight at 15/501 and Mt. Moriah Rd.  On Holy Monday, a group of folks gathered at this intersection to stand in solidarity with our neighbors who are presently homeless, and in protest of Ordinance #14375. 

Some of the men holding their “Hungry Please Help—God Bless You” signs are regulars there; you may have recognized them.  Others—also donning orange vests and carrying cardboard signs—who took to the medians and street corners included local clergy and laity.  Their signs read things like, “Asking for Help is Not a Crime” and “I was Hungry and you Fined Me.” 

As for me, I was at the base of a stoplight, singing, listening, watching, worshipping.  Leaders of the protest read Scriptures about charity, love, and visions of God’s kingdom.  They also shared snippets about saints who dedicated their lives to the poor.  And, of course, we sang.  All the while I watched Durhamites—homeless and homed—pace the medians asking for change.

Around this time last year, former Dean of the Duke Chapel Sam Wells spoke to a crowd of us in Whitford Hall and said when he first came to Durham, he asked the question, “Where does Jesus tend to show up in Durham?  That’s where I’d like to hang out.”  I went to the protest on Monday because I suspected that’s the sort of place Jesus is likely to show up.

Don’t get me wrong, I also believe with many others Ordinance #14375 criminalizes begging, prevents us from having the opportunity to practice generosity and charity, and pushes our homeless sisters and brothers further into the shadows of our city.  I went to protest those injustices, but I also went hoping to bump into Jesus.

And Jesus showed up.  I believe Jesus was present in the parents who held signs of protest while their children played in the grass nearby, and Jesus was in the kids who brought their own protest signs.  I believe the Spirit of Christ was in our singing.  I think Jesus showed up as members of his body gathered to stand in solidarity with one another on a frigid Holy Monday.  And I think, perhaps, Jesus was present in our brothers holding signs saying “Hungry Please Help—God Bless.”

During Lent we have thought and talked about how we might walk with Jesus throughout these forty days of fasting, devotion, and penitence.  In walking with our homeless sisters and brothers, we walk with Jesus. 

As I was leaving the protest, I asked one of the homeless men, “Do you know my friend over there?”  He said, “Her?  Yeah, she goes to my church!”  My church. 

Ah, yes!  Thank you, God.  Lord, help us be your church, for the poor and for the world, to the glory of your holy name.  Amen.

CROP Walk 2013 Update

On Sunday, March 17, 40 Duke Memorial walkers joined with about 2000 others for a brisk 5-mile walk from Duke Chapel to Club Blvd and back.  So far, 7 walkers have turned in donations from 39 individuals, for a total of $1427.25.  We aim to gather all remaining pledges over the next few weeks.  Thank you to all walkers and their generous sponsors.

If you have not sponsored a walker, it's not too late to offer your support!  Donations of any amount will still be gratefully accepted.  We encourage 100% participation at Duke Memorial.  Please see Karalyn Colopy or John Legge, or place a check to CWS/CROP in the offering plate.  You can also donate online at http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/goto/dukememorial.  Your donation to CROP will help end hunger right here in Durham and around the world.

Forum on Durham’s Anti-Panhandling Law Held at Duke Memorial

About two hundred people from the Durham community filled Whitford Hall last night to talk about a recently enacted city ordinance that curtails panhandling in Durham.  Ministers and members of local congregations, including our own, were present.  There were representatives from local poverty fighting organizations, like Urban Ministries and Open Table Ministry.  Police officers and city council members were there.  But the most powerful moments came when folks who’ve had personal experience with hunger and homelessness chose to share their stories.  These stories and the collective expression of community concern were moving.  For Christians, poverty is a compelling issue.  To learn more, please check out Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s blog via the link below.

                               John Legge

  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jonathanwilsonhartgrove/

This Thursday: Public Meeting on Panhandling Ordinance

On Thursday, March 21, Duke Memorial is hosting a public meeting about city ordinance #14375. Below I've shared some reflections on what this ordinance means for our city and for the church.

Ordinance #14375 was passed unanimously by City Council in January. It essentially makes it illegal to panhandle on medians, which is where many people currently ask for money. The only place in which they can ask for money from vehicles is on a paved sidewalk on the right side of a one-way street. Even in this circumstance, the vehicle from which they receive a tangible good must have a passenger, as they are not allowed to receive anything from the driver. The ordinance also outlaws the sale of any item besides newspapers and magazines. Since the ordinance passed, numerous people have been fined or put in jail for asking for money.

This ordinance is important to us as Christians because Jesus was one who was poor, who taught us that it is blessed to be poor, who taught us to give to the poor, who taught us to be friends with people who are poor, and who preached the Good News of a Kingdom where no one would be poor. And he taught us to live into that Kingdom now.

When friends of Duke Memorial, who work closely with the people whom this affects most, asked Duke Memorial to host a public meeting, we welcomed the opportunity to convene this space. We recognize that this is a complex issue, and there many perspectives on panhandling held by generous and compassionate Christians. So I thought it would be helpful to share some details about what the public meeting will entail and why we’re hosting it. First, what it is NOT:

1. It is not a meeting celebrating panhandling. Panhandling is not an ideal situation for anyone - the giver or the receiver. A good society that reflects God’s Kingdom would indeed see no one panhandling - not because they’ve been pushed aside, but because they’ve been given the resources to emerge from their situation.

2. It is not an attempt to ignore great services that work with people who beg for money to help them become more financially stable. We have shelters, transitional housing programs, health care services, and many other services that help with these things, and we should surely support them.

3. It is not necessarily an encouragement to give money to panhandlers. Each time is different when someone asks another person for money. In every situation we should give something to someone who asks - money, food, a conversation, or even an acknowledgment - but sometimes giving money is not the best option.

That is what the meeting is not. On the other hand, the meeting is intended to be constructive. Most people who will be attending are dissatisfied with the ordinance for some reason or another. Here are some reasons why the ordinance warrants a response and what that response might look like.

1. There needs to be conversation. The ordinance that passed in January went through with no conversation. Durham has a Homelessness Advisory Council that was not consulted. The agencies that work with much of the people who panhandle were not consulted. This meeting is an opportunity to discuss what the implications of a law such as this might be.

2. Making panhandling illegal is a bad use of resources. Crafting, voting on, passing, and enforcing this ordinance is a bad use of our city’s time and money. Much will be (and has already been) spent in courtrooms, in the work of police officers, and in other areas of our city. And for the most part, the result will be the migration of panhandlers to another location. It won’t help their situation. If we want to address the poverty that leads people to panhandle, our resources should go into creating more jobs for Durham residents, and into providing affordable health care, counseling services, and substance abuse treatment. We have some good programs for this, but there’s more work we can do on this end.

3. Making tighter restrictions on panhandling criminalizes poverty. First, fining and imprisoning people who panhandle makes it even more difficult for them to emerge out of their situation because they go into debt from their charges. Second, although some panhandlers use deceitful means to solicit money or use the money to support a bad habit, that is not the case with all panhandlers. But this stereotype of panhandlers creates a common attitude of repugnance toward people who beg, which is certainly unfair. Making beggars criminals intensifies this stereotype. This ordinance also drives people who are poor further out of the public eye, which heightens xenophobic attitudes and lessens the possibility of a relationship that might help someone who is struggling get out of her or his situation.

4. Panhandlers and those who work with them are worth listening to. Those who decide on an ordinance like this should not merely be City Council reps, neighborhood associations, and businesses. An asset-based model to development in our city recognizes that people who are vulnerable have something to offer in the conversation about how to respond to the needs in the community. People who are panhandling have not said anything positive about this ordinance. But it’s also important that people who are not in such a vulnerable situation work with them, through relationships and strategy. Open Table and Rutba House, two of the sponsors of this public meeting, have named the ordinance as a problem. Open Table works with the people who often panhandle at the 15/501 intersection by providing relationships, immediate needs, and connections to resources. Rutba House is a community that keeps an open room for formerly homeless people. If these entities are saying it’s a problem, we should at least listen and perhaps trust their experiences more than the speculation of others or ourselves.

I hope we all can be praying for God’s guidance as we learn the best way to live into God’s Kingdom of justice and peace. And let us continue to pray for those in our community who are in a position where they have to ask others for money, that they would receive their immediate and long-term needs. 

We hope to see you at the meeting on Thursday! Spread the word!

If you’d like to read more about the ordinance and how people are responding, see these links below:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jonathanwilsonhartgrove/2013/03/update-on-lenten-fast/

http://www.durhamvoice.org/panhandling-ordinance-making-life-harder-for-homeless/

http://www.indyweek.com/triangulator/archives/2013/02/09/at-durham-city-council-work-session-advocates-of-homeless-talk-to-the-hand

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/advocates-upset-over-panhandling-ordinance/Content?oid=3268351

http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x145778030/Lawyer-plans-challenge-to-panhandling-lawhttp://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=19967&stateID=33&statename=North+Carolina 

Peace,
Reynolds

A Humble Walk

by Karalyn Colopy 

When I was a child preparing for the CROP Walk, I walked up and down my street knocking on doors.  I told my neighbors I was raising money to help end hunger and that I was hoping to walk 6 miles.  Would they sponsor me for 10 cents a mile?  I was trained to solicit sponsorships on a per-mile basis, so if I only made it 4 or 5 miles, folks wouldn't be on the hook for the whole 60 cents.  

That was a long time ago.  The donations I'll collect today might be bigger.  No matter how generous, they'll still seem like too little.  

"If all 36.2 million Americans faced with food insecurity stood in line at a food pantry in New York City, the line would stretch to Los Angeles and back. Twice."

"Each day almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes - one every five seconds"

I can become easily discouraged by the basic facts of hunger.  The problem is so overwhelming, so complicated.  My possible contribution is so insignificant.  It's instinctive for me to put such big, distant problems into the mental bucket of "nothing I can do about that one."  And then stop thinking about it.  Move on.  Put my energy towards something productive.

"We poor people are invisible to others - just as blind people cannot see, they cannot see us."  Pakistan

"Being poor is being always tired."  Kenya

"When you are hungry you can't think about anything else."  USA

Simply having energy is a way of life I take for granted.  Having many choices about how to spend my energy... a given.  But naturally I want to make the best choices.  Our mission theme this year invites me to reflect: "What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).   

"We've had to stop buying milk for our two-year-old baby.  What we earn now isn't enough to feed ourselves properly or buy medicines."  Guatemala

"Lack of work worries me.  My children were hungry and I told them the rice was cooking, until they fell asleep from hunger."  Egypt

"It wasn't my turn."  Response of a US child who had fallen asleep at school when asked if he had eaten breakfast that morning.

What a wake up call.  Is it possible to hear such words and know of an opportunity - the CROP Walk, for example - and yet do nothing?  The message is so simple.  Forget the calculations - will I succeed? will I make a big difference? is it worth my time? - and just DO it!  Walking humbly may be dealing with a problem that has no easy solution, that requires a prolonged effort, that swallows all you give and demands more.  

"The lives of millions of children can be saved each year, at low cost, with vaccines and micronutrient supplementation.  Almost every child can be reached with vaccines and supplements, even under the most difficult circumstances." 

"In South Asia alone, it is estimated that if women and men had equal status, there would be 13.4 million fewer malnourished small children."

"Climate change adaptation programs are helping growing numbers of poor, smallholder farmers reduce the vulnerability of their crops to increasing climatic uncertainties. "

The end of the hunger may not be in sight.  The CROP Walk is not about sprinting to the finish, with trophies for the winners.  It's a humble walk.  After the crowd has finished the 4.8 miles, many in Durham and around the world will still be hungry and tired.  But maybe a few will have a little more hope.  And next year, we'll walk again.

If you would like to make a donation to the CROP Walk on behalf of the Duke Memorial walking team, please see: http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/site/TR?team_id=78929&fr_id=16528&pg=team

Durham CROP Hunger Walk
Sunday, March 17, 2013
@ Duke Chapel

1:30 Registration

2:30 Walk

For sources of "Quotes" above, see Church World Service: http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/PDFs/Resources/Hunger.pdf