Racial disparities and the Church

West Charlotte	Myers Park
High School Graduation Rate =  56%	High School Graduation Rate = 98%
HS/MS test proficiency = 20%	HS/MS test proficiency = 20%
Average Age of Death in Enderly Park = 64 years old	Average Age of Death= 78 years old

30% of the population of Charlotte/Mecklenburg is black

83% of the Jail population in Charlotte/Mecklenburg is black

We have a problem.

I have a lot of questions for the Church.

Why is the church allowing for these and other disparities to exist?  Does the church believe these disparities exist because people of color are less capable, less willing, less interested, less worthy? Does the church believe that these disparities are not a concern of the church?  

Surely this cannot be the case.

My observation is, most often the church's response to these disparities has been either to ignore, to fear, or to commit missional colonization.  All of these approaches are problematic.

I want to scream at the Church, "What are you thinking?  Who are you thinking about?  Do you remember who you are?  Don't you remember the way?"

The people of Enderly Park are our neighbors and our family.  They are brothers and sisters in God's Kingdom.  How can anyone let themselves benefit from others' suffering and pain?

If you're with me, if you're screaming at the top of your lungs or you've got a lump in your throat.  If when you look around at the disparities, you feel queasy with righteous anger, then join me.  Tell me about your ideas.  Tell me about what you're doing.  Show me that the Church isn't all lost.

QC Family Tree is working toward another way: a way of solidarity, mutuality, and empowerment.  Through practices of prayer, hospitality, and creativity, we are laboring for "on earth as it is in heaven".  We're not perfect.  We've got our hang ups and our blindness- everyone does.  But, we're trying.  Here are the ways we've recently been addressing these issues and building family across economic and racial divides:

Speaking Out on Issues- Involvement in Advocacy and Action on issues such as:  Racism, Economic Injustice, Serial Displacement, Community Development, and other neighborhood concerns.  

Community Organizing- gathering neighbors together to work for positive changes for our neighborhood, changes that help our neighbors. Addressing land loss and serial displacement through partnerships and neighborhood-based efforts.

Developing Young Leaders who can articulate their own goals, situate them in the communities where they live, and work to achieve them.

Businesses for the Common Good- Creating businesses that will train, employ, and uplift neighbors that neighbors can own/run. Kinfolk Coffee develops strong leadership from outside QCFT staff with increased work schedule and profitability.

Youth/Kids Enrichment-  Cultivating strong sense of identity and kinship with one another and as part of QCFT group.

Discipleship- Bible study, worship gatherings, community service, prayers, church

Connecting to people- Improved communication between all QCFT residents. Making new friends/partnerships in the neighborhood and in Charlotte and beyond.

A Creative/Welcoming Place- landscape, gardens, décor, acceptance, public art, offering space to others, positive attitudes, inviting others to join us

Will you join us? 

Do you have ideas?

Are you taking action?

Let's hear about it.  Let's work together.  

Make new friends and keep the old...

A few days ago, I rolled out of bed and plodded down the hall to begin the wake up routine with the boys.  I sang the morning song and repeated the daily mantra. I walked out of their room and noticed a voice coming from the front porch.  This, in itself, is not altogether unusual.  There's a bus stop right smack dab in our front yard, so we often have folks sitting in our rocking chairs on the front porch waiting for the bus.  I peaked out the front window to see who it was and recognized the voice.  This wasn't a neighbor waiting for the bus.  This wasn't even someone who lived in Charlotte.  A previous intern had driven 2 hours to Charlotte in the early morning and was now sitting on our front porch.  I opened the front door.

 "Hey, is everything ok?,"
 "No!  I've had the worst night at work and all I wanted to do was find a way to be happy and the only thing I could think of that would make me happy was to come to Charlotte.  So, I came to Charlotte."
 "Come on in."

We poured coffee, made breakfast, and walked the boys down to the bus as she told us the story.  There were lots of pieces to the story, lots of feelings and lots of venting.  One of the things that resonated with me most was her exclamation, "Making new friends as an adult is really hard.  It's like dating all over again, but not at all that easy."

I've felt that way so many times and I've also felt the "I have no friends" wave of doubt crash over me too many times.  Perhaps somewhere deep, my desire to live in community with others is a plain old craving to have friends.   Yes, community life is a faithful witness, a gift of God, a way of living out a Kingdom reality and I should be totally compelled by the Holy way of community.  But, let's be honest.  Some of the reason I want to live in community is simply because I want friends.  I want that "bestie" that everyone talks about- the BFF, the LYLAS that we wrote about in our yearbooks. I want my own Kimmy Gibbler or Ethel Mertz.  I want to live in the apartment with Schmidt and Nick or the Florida home with Rose and Blanch.

Does that kind of friendship even exist?  My experience in community life says yes.  My experience in community life also says no.  There have been some moments in community when I have felt able to release my heart into the hands of another.  There have also been some moments when I've released my heart only for it to be denied.  I think we all know that friendships are complicated and tricky, that they ebb and flow, that they require attention and intentionality. I think that's why we crave friendship.  We want to know others deeply and to be known fully.  We want to be seen and heard.  We want to be swept away by care and concern for someone other than ourselves.  We want to feel connected to another.

How does friendship happen in adulthood?  How does friendship happen in a sometimes disjointed and disingenuous society?  Is there such a thing as friendship eharmony?  Can you put an ad out?  Here's mine:

 Mix up a bit of Punky, Clarissa, Angela, and add a few years.  That's me.  I'm looking for my Cherie, Sam, and Rayanne mixed with a little Ethel and Will.  I'll be waiting for you at the corner of Tuck and Parkway or perhaps we'll find each other at Rhino.  I hope you like veggies because the Chaud Legume Sandwich is out of this world! See you there soon...

Daily Rhythm

I have found that ordering my daily activities around a rhythm of life is a very helpful and meaningful practice.  My most favorite part about keeping a daily rhythm is to share it with others.  It is encouraging and fortifying to know that my fellow kinfolk are engaged in the same or similar activities at the same times of day.  We are woven together by common daily practices that shape us into disciples and community.

Our Daily Rhythm

Wake up
Mill about in the kitchen getting breakfast
Bring Breakfast to the table
Pray together (For three years, we've been using Common Prayer, but we've also used  The Divine Hours and other resources.)
Catch each other up with the day's plans and send the boys off to school
Begin the work of the day (together or individually)
Midday Prayers- at noon, your phone alarm goes off.  Pause and pray using the Common Prayer liturgy.  If you're in the same location as other Community Members, pray together.
Supper at 5:30pm (most days)
Hang Out/ Veg Out
Sleep

I've noticed, recently, that there are some additional, more subtle, parts to our daily rhythm.  They include:

The city bus visits every 15 minutes, neighbors knock at the door, passersby wave hello, the phone rings, the dog barks, the walnuts fall to the ground, the clothing dryer beeps, circle birds dance in the sky before they make their night's home in the chimney.

The rhythm of our day brings meaning and clarity.  It forms us, shaping the way we hear, touch, smell, taste, and see the world.

The invitation is open.  Come and be shaped, woven together, by the rhythm of our days in this little neighborhood in the Kingdom.

Freeze, what's your name!?!

We've heard the message loud and clear a million times and it wrings in our ears:  "Freeze, ye therefore, and question your judgment, wonder if you're good/ethical/just/faithful enough, make sure everything's just right."  I've been well teached and preached.  I've got the real Great Commission memorized, but, by all means, I know better than the good book.  I've read most all of the books about shifting from Charity to Justice.  I've been to all the talk sessions about empowerment and liberation from the inside out.  I have been slapped in the face with my own white privilege and with the rejection of teenagers who'd prefer hanging out with friends than chilling out with Ms. Helms.

I, like everyone else, want to get things just right.  I want to be just.  I want to be involved.  I want to make a difference.  I want to be loved.  I want to serve.  I want everything to work out for the common good.  And, so that things may turn out the way I want, I've done my fair share of reading, reflecting, research, and dialogue.  I've attending training, classes, lectures, & association meetings. I've done demographic studies and immersed myself on the little corner of Tuckaseegee and Parkway for 10 years.  All that learning and all those workshops were helpful, educational, inspirational and at times, all those workshops and learning can be paralyzing.

10 years ago, a large family from New Orleans showed up to the vacant house next door to me in the middle of the night and moved in.  They had nothing when they got to the front stoop.  Without thinking, we rushed over and introduced ourselves.  We brought blankets and lanterns.  We ran an orange extension cord and a garden hose from our house to theirs. In the morning, we offered to take care of their children so that they could go to the city's Katrina refugee center.

What were we thinking? We were complete strangers, white people, offering to this devastated family to take care of their children on the first morning that they woke up in a strange place and a vacant house.  The family took us up on our offer.  We played games, walked the kids down to the rec center, started to get to know the young ones.  Not long after that, we offered to connect the family to some folks who could help provide furniture, more permanent housing.  We invited the youth of the family to go camping with us.  We got so involved with the family that I kept a notebook of everyone's name and relationship to each other and I planned on making them a family tree painting for Christmas.  (it was a huge family)

It was obvious we were rookies back then.  Now, we would know better.  Now, we've read and been a part of so many conversations: When Helping Hurts, Toxic Charity, AntiRacism, Moving from Charity to Justice, Empowerment, White Privilege, What Every Church Needs to Know about Poverty....  Now, when faced with a neighbor's concern, if I'm not wisely discerning, I'll hear the self-doubt message wringing loudly in my ears:  "Freeze!  You don't know what's best!  Whatever you do is going to harm someone.  You aren't doing enough.  You aren't talking to the right people.  You aren't a loud enough voice.  Your voice is too soft.  You've got to prove to them that what you're doing is trustworthy.  You've got to prove to onlookers that what you're doing is righteous, radical, prophetic, and pastoral. Careful, they might reject you.  Watch it, you're using your power again. Freeze, ye therefore, and question your judgment, wonder if you're good/ethical/just/faithful enough, make sure everything's just right."  and then..

Analysis Paralysis and all that goes with it.

Oh, to be able to turn back time and start fresh!  Oh for the days to be able to approach my neighbor and his/her situation with immediate and loving faithful compassion and concern.

I recently visited Koinonia Farms founded in 1942 by Clarence and Florence Jordan and Martin and Mabel England as a “demonstration plot for the kingdom of God.” When I unloaded my suitcase onto the bed at Koinonia Farms, I felt like I was unloading several things that I'd have to deal with while there. (none the least of those was the fact that it was the end of a seven day 1800 mile long trip with our youth group and a full summer of sharing my house with 10 people and my days with 50 scholars and 12 interns at Freedom School)  The next morning, we received a tour of the farm.  I followed along, swatting at mosquitoes along the way and listened to the history of the place and that's where I learned a very profound thing:  the library used to be a hog barn.

"Greg!  Did you hear that?  The library used to be a hog barn and now they're going to move the books and change the building into residential space!"

I couldn't get this thought out of my mind.  Something about that hog barn library (in addition to the image of pigs reading books) sent me into celebration.  You see, what this meant for me was that our dining room wouldn't always have to be a dining room.  Our weedy grass ridden garden bed wouldn't always have to be a weedy grass ridden garden bed.  We too could be a "demonstration plot" and an experimentation grounds for the Kingdom on earth!

This meant, to me, that a fresh start is possible.  Beginning from the beginning is not only ok but also it also holy.  It is a demonstration of the kingdom.  God is at the beginning.  In the beginning, God.  As co-creators with God, we must trust the one who calls us by name, who commissions us, the one who proclaims, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine."

Freeze!  What's your name?

My name is child of God.  My name is faithful.  My name is Compassionate.  My name is Seeker. My name is Hopeful.  My name is Justice.  My name is Wisdom.  My name is Made in the Image of God.

The conversations and questions are good.  The deep reflection and the consideration of my own part to play in someone else's life is of great importance.  We certainly have a lot of work to do and a lot of changes to make.  But, I cannot let myself get frozen by "enlightened" self doubt.  I must remember  my Name and my sense of calling to "Go, Child of God, Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”





Articles on this subject that I looked at before writing:

http://www.uua.org/action/56280.shtml

https://books.google.com/books?id=1LaSAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252&lpg=PA252&dq=moralizing+social+justice+work&source=bl&ots=t1iStBm90r&sig=sBjK-I9u2FDrEHeYok2jGuFyXMg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEEQ6AEwCGoVChMI2MjItt_5xwIVxdg-Ch2MiAoc#v=onepage&q=moralizing%20social%20justice%20work&f=false

https://www.google.com/search?q=moralizing&rlz=1C1TSNF_enUS469US469&oq=moralizing&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l2j69i59j69i60j69i61.1267j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

After a few weeks of recuperation from a very full summer, we begin again: first days of school, reconnecting with old friends, remembering where we left off last, getting back into routines.  Even though we're retracing our steps a bit, going back to school and back to reality, what we experience this time around feels fresh, new, different.  And so, we enter these new days with hope, awareness, and with watchful spirits for the ways in which we will experience life renewed and afresh.

August marked our 10 year anniversary of living among the good people of Enderly Park.  We remember, 10 years ago, meeting a vibrant family from New Orleans who fled to Charlotte after Katrina.  In those first months of resettlement, the Brown family allowed us in and showed us, by example, how to live with generosity and perseverance.  We remember the early days of walking door to door to meet neighbors and of playing basketball with teenagers at the rec center.  We remember our first ever community meal where we experience first hand the lesson of five loaves and two fish.

Much has changed since those days.  Some neighbors have moved away.  Many of our youth have become adults who have family and job responsibilities.  Development is creeping its way toward our neighborhood, bringing with it a shift in culture.  Yet, even with these changes, many things remain the same.  We remain committed to and engaged in the lives of vibrant generous neighbors who continue to teach us hospitality and perseverance.  With our young people as our guide, we are working towards creating small businesses that will empower and employ neighbors.  We continue to find ways of sharing our daily bread with one another through the practices of communal prayer and meals.

After 10 years of ministry, we begin again.  Rooted in this particular place and with these particular people, we look for ways that the Spirit is calling us to re-imagine the possibilities. Together, let us start at the very beginning and watch with wonder for what will come.

Enough

by David Whyte

Enough. 

These few words are enough.

If not these words, this breath.

If not this breath, this sitting here.

This opening to life

we have refused 

again and again 

until now.

Until now.

A David Whyte poem from 

Where Many Rivers Meet

From here on out

Well, it is way past Pentecost and I'm finally back.  On July 19th, Greg and I left our position as Co-Pastors of SouthPark Christian Church to pursue full time ministry at QC Family Tree.  After persevering through a very full summer. we took a couple of weeks to recuperate and adjust.  Almost fully rested, we're easing our way into the next steps here on the corner of Tuckaseegee Rd and Parkway Avenue.

From here on out, I'm going to use this blog space to ask questions, share stories, make commentary, and post updates about life and ministry on our little corner in the Enderly Park neighborhood of West Charlotte, NC.  

Here's what I can promise: honest words, creative imagining, and a little struggle here and there.

Here's what I cannot promise:  great writing, frequent posts, the best blog in the world that results in a book deal and a social media following.

As much as I'd like to be any number of bloggers or artists or writers who have made it big, who have a following, who are known out there in the world....that's just not me.  I may have been a communication major, but I've forgotten how to write (except for writing on a page in a way that helps me to know how to preach from that page and what that means is a lot of grammatical mistakes and weird phrasings).  I may be an artist, but I am a terrible self marketer.  I may have something to say, but I often tell myself it isn't really anything worth sharing.

And so, I'll blog without a whole lot of expectation about how it'll turn out or who I'm writing to and we'll see where it goes from here.

Thanks.
and Enjoy.

Eastertide break

Thanks for reading along throughout Lent.  This blog was a Lenten practice that seems to be growing into something else.  While I wait and listen for what might be brewing within, I will be taking a break from posting.  I intend to return to blogging at Pentecost.  Until then, hop on over to the QC Family Tree website to learn more about what we do in our neighborhood to be kinfolk rooted in discipleship in West Charlotte.  If you'd like to email me questions or suggestions on what to write about next, feel free.  I'll see you on the other side of Eastertide!