Eagle Harbor Congregational Church

March 20, 2011

Scripture: Amos 5:14-15, 21-24; James 1:22-25; James 2:14-18, 26

Dee Eisenhauer & Madelyn Fox, preachers

Dee Eisenhauer:

Today we address the phrase in the UCC Statement of Faith “You promise to all who trust you courage in the struggle for justice and peace.”  If you were here last week, you will remember how Tamara declared that each one of the words she was speaking about deserved “unpacking” because they were so rich and complex.  The same is true for each of the words in this phrase.  But rather than putting these weighty words under a microscope, we intend to talk about a recent opportunity we had the privilege of sharing in the ongoing struggle for a better world—our recent trip to New Orleans to join the UCC post-hurricane Disaster Recovery work.  Our EHCC delegation included Madelyn and Don Fox, Joan Pratt and myself.

We chose the texts from Amos and James—and Martin Luther King, Jr.—as a backdrop because we believe they, among many others, give voice to God’s will for active participation in repairing the world.

Madelyn Fox:            

Amos is speaking directly to the issue of social justice. 

In this reading Amos bluntly takes issue with the rituals of Israel and his point is not that all ritual is bad, but that it is not of the essence of religion.  For Amos, the essence of religion is social justice.  And he says,  "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”.

In the ancient world it was the role of the prophet to be the conscience of the nation and speak up for the powerless. The lesson to be learned from Amos is that social justice is the business of religion. The test of piety is what happens in the marketplace rather than what happens in the church or temple.

As people of faith, we are called to be "Amos" in our modern world. Social inequities that Amos denounced in the 8th century BC are still very much with us.  Like Amos, we need to insist that government has a moral function - that protecting human rights, securing justice for all members of society and fulfilling the basic needs of the poor is a priority. 

Last Thursday Tressa, Martha, Laurie and I drove to Olympia to be part of the Interfaith Advocacy Day.  We joined with over 200 faith-filled people who had come there to share prayers, budget issue education, a rally on the Capitol Steps and finally a face-to-face visit with our Legislators.  We urged them to maintain and fund the Basic Health Plan, Disability Lifeline, human services and housing for the most needy among us.  It was an interesting and energizing day.   Like Amos we went to proclaim - - - "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream"

Dee Eisenhauer:

As I understand the point the author of James is trying to make, it’s that faith has to be more than a set of lifeless propositions.  Action is what animates faith, like the spirit animates the body. 

A book I’ve been reading recently on self-deception asserts that people act on their beliefs all the time.  If it looks like what they say they believe and what they actually do are out of synch, it’s likely that they don’t really believe what they say, but may be fooling themselves.  I think the author of James would say that if you believe that God’s love is good news both to you and your neighbor, you will act on that belief by trying to be good news to the neighbor. James wants the good news to be experienced—by each believer and through each believer to the many others who need a tangible expression of grace.

Marcus Borg has describes a popular notion of belief as something to which you give your intellectual assent.  A more accurate understanding of Christian faith would be more like “belove” than “believe.” What do we “belove?”  To what do we give our hearts, and further, our hands?  That’s the challenge of James’ epistle—to be both hearers and doers of the liberating word. 

It was a joyful privilege to be able to render faith into work when we went to New Orleans.  I know many of you would have loved to join us if your other commitments would have allowed it, and I thank you for encouraging us to go.  We felt your support as a community of folks who are consistently revealing your faith in your service.

Madelyn Fox:

Joan, Don and I arrived in New Orleans on late Sunday afternoon and Randy, our camp leader, and his wife Linda picked us up at the airport. It was only a fifteen-minute ride to our “camp” home for the week – which was Little Farm UCC Church

Our sleeping arrangements were former classrooms turned into dorms with bunk beds and air mattresses – fortunately for Dee, Joan and I the snoring in the women’s dorm wasn’t too bad!  Randy had stocked the kitchen shelves and food service for the week was a community effort.

We’d get up early, help ourselves to breakfast, pack our lunches to take with us to the work site and be in the van by 8:15 am driving half and hour to our house project.

We’d return about 5:00, stand in line for showers, enjoy good dinners, and spend the evenings in conversation or games.  By mid-week we were well acquainted and having a good time.

Dee Eisenhauer:

I really appreciated the hospitality of the Little Farms church.  There have been groups from around 400 different locations who have come to stay there and work.  Week after week they hand over the key to the church and urge the strangers in their church to make themselves at home.  Each Monday they bring a southern feast to feed their guests.  And they don’t just serve food and huddle in the kitchen; they sit down and visit with their visitors.  Strangers become friends.

It was a great pleasure to be there with such a cheerful company of workers from the western states.  I want to give a special shout out to my friends Randy and Linda Crowe.  Randy is the manager of N-Sid-Sen, our camp at Lake Couer d’Alene and Linda serves as the pastor of Veradale UCC.  They have been to New Orleans every year since Katrina, organizing work camps so that people like us could go easily and offer our service. They started by repairing the church we stayed in.   Randy was up early and late every day getting groceries and making arrangements for our work, and then working hard every day on the projects.  It is a gift to not only offer your own service but pave the way for your fellow believers to do what they can.  That’s part of the work of the universal church, to respect and value even the smallest gifts of service, calling forth talent, teaching skills, encouraging by example.  The Crowes are true disciples, and I am grateful for their being in the world.

Madelyn Fox:

The 14 volunteers were split into to two groups and worked on two separate homes.

The next pictures are from the work project Don and I worked on. (5 pictures – house

and work inside) Our 6 man team’s home project was laying laminate floors at Otis and Melba’s home.

In bits and pieces throughout the week Otis shared his story of flood devastation, a fire during the clean up phase, a bad contractor experience with financial consequences, and theft of all the copper during renovation. Finally, last December after 5 years, they were able to get an occupancy permit to move into this unfinished home and avoid paying more apartment rent.

Otis and his family were so appreciative of our presence and our work – He was there everyday, helped where he could and provided a great gumbo/rice lunch for us one day.

When the daughter came home from school to a new bedroom floor she literally JUMPED for joy running around giving us all a big hug. We really worked hard, the progress was rewarding and we knew that we were making a difference in this family’s journey to return.

Dee Eisenahauer:

On the other crew, our group of seven was charged with trying to tie up loose ends in a home that had been flooded, looted, and partially restored by a contractor who did some work (mostly badly) and left before it was complete.  The tales of woe in the wake of unscrupulous contractors in New Orleans number in the thousands.  Miss Mary, our homeowner, at least had some work done; she pointed toward one of her neighbors, an elderly lady who handed over tens of thousands of dollars in advance and received no services at all.  The district attorneys in Louisiana have decades of work before them in the struggle for justice.

It was a challenging setting to work in because of the staggering piles of stuff that had accumulated in many of the rooms we were trying to work on.  I don’t know if the tendency to collect and hang onto stuff was a pre- or post-hurricane thing with Miss Mary; perhaps the experience of so much loss contributed to the need to have and to hold.  At any rate, we were doing painting and repairs around a number of obstacles. 

Miss Mary has lived in New Orleans for almost all of her life; she had been in this home for 30 years.  She’s had a tough time.  She has survived the death of her husband and four sons (none during the hurricane). She stayed in the city during Katrina, one of the thousands who did not have the means to flee.  Like many others, she thought she was OK after the storm itself, but when the levies failed her home flooded.  She went with neighbors to a nearby Sonic drive-in which was on higher ground and ended up staying there for three weeks.  When she left there, she went to stay with a sister elsewhere in Louisiana for 18 months.  Since her home was not boarded up in her absence, roving looters took everything that wasn’t already ruined.  She came home to start over and spent a period of time in a FEMA trailer before moving back into her home. 

Miss Mary is hosting her adult son and grandson in her home now, both of whose lives were disrupted by the storm and its aftermath.  Mr. Louis and Mr. Charlie were, frankly, rather irritating; smoking and watching TV seemed to be their only occupation, except when they broke up the routine to comment unfavorably on the quality of our work.  I took to thinking of them as “Useless” and “Uselesser.”  My obviously uncharitable thoughts were chastened as I listened to a lecture by theologian John Cobb last week.  He spoke of the situation in the economy which has created an elite class of capitalists, those who control the capital and are the primary beneficiaries of economic growth.  There is a large class of workers who, since they no longer have very specific production skills like former generations of steel workers, for example, had, can easily be fired and replaced with other workers eager for their jobs.  Then there is a whole permanent underclass—20% or more of the population who are simply not needed nor wanted by the economy.  The economy wishes they would just die or go away.  In other words, from an economic standpoint, Mr. Louis and Mr. Charlie may well be “Useless” and “Uselesser.” African-American men in a long cycle of poverty can’t necessarily go out and make something of themselves; there are myriad forces both economic and psychological that are stacked up against them.  If I were in their shoes—essentially, not wanted by my society—I may find watching Perry Mason re-runs the most pleasant way I could spend my time as well.

That brings us to talking a bit about the New Orleans experience.  We got to see quite a bit of the city, driving around in rental cars in an afternoon we took off from our projects.  I feel pretty well informed about the gap between the rich and the poor in this country, but I have seldom been anywhere it has come more sharply into focus.  Where do the poor people live?  In the lowland that used to be cypress swamps.  Where do the rich people live? On high ground.  I don’t think we have any photos to show you of the incredible mansions that line St. Charles avenue in the wealthy Garden District.  Picture one that’s say, 8000 square feet, made of stone, with a large front porch supported by granite pillars.  On the porch are standing two men in tuxedos who are bowing to guests formally dressed, arriving for what was probably a debutante ball, which they still hold regularly in New Orleans around Mardi Gras time.  This scene is about a 20 minute drive from neighborhoods where house after house are still in ruin and deserted, with the eerie spray painted signs on the front indicating if there were any corpses discovered inside. 

The city of New Orleans is a visible parable on the pressing need to stay engaged in the struggle for justice.  Injustice and racism are deeply, deeply entrenched.

Madelyn Fox:

As Dee said, touring the city, we got a sense of the extensive destruction with pockets of REBIRTH. 

There are still lots of abandoned homes, leveled neighborhoods, and vacant/decaying commercial property with pockets of renovated homes or strip malls with “Dollar Stores” scattered among the ruin.  They seem to have “Dollar Stores” like we have Starbucks.  When you see one, you will shortly see another one near by.  I found it sad to see, after five years, there was still so much to do.

However, our leader, Randy, was very excited with the progress since last year, especially in the 9^th ward where the broken levee caused so much damage.

The next few pictures were taken at the 9^th ward neighborhood.  They show the progress of Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” project that began in 2008.   Pitt committed to a goal of building 150 safe, green and affordable homes for families formerly from the 9^th ward.  We talked with women who had lived in the 9^th ward for 30 years before the flood and returned just 2 years ago to build one of these homes. Turned out she was a member of Beecher UCC in New Orleans.

And, what’s a New Orleans experience without some quality FUN time.  Like going to the French Quarter for dinner, listening to jazz at Preservation Hall and eating crispy, sweet yummy Biegnets at the Café Du Monde   

We give a Big Thanks to the UCC Disaster Recovery Volunteer Ministry for providing this opportunity to accompany the people rebuilding lives and community.  (group picture)

Madelyn Fox:

Now I return to our UCC faith statement: "You promise, to all who trust you, courage in the struggle for justice and peace.” 

To be promised courage is a comforting statement to me knowing that the struggle for justice and peace is unending and always requires some form of courage. Sometimes physical courage in the face of physical harm as we've seen recently in the Middle East - emotional courage to support unpopular causes -  mental courage to resist opposition - courage to be patient, and persevere as seen, for example, in those who have spent years in the struggle for Nuclear Disarmament at Ground Zero  - courage to be non-violent.

And, courage to just leave our comfort zone and become involved in the struggle; to take ACTION for ourselves or on behalf of others in the struggle for justice and peace.

While the promise of courage is comforting, I can't ignore the part of the statement that says "to all who trust you".   When I trust I expose my vulnerabilities.  It's important for me to know the person on whom or thing on which I rely.  So, if I am to trust God, I need to know God.

For me this is where, in the struggle for justice, the flip side of action is contemplation or prayer.  Action and contemplation go hand and hand.

Jesus models action with contemplation in the gospels, as did Martin Luther King in the struggle for civil rights. It's the PRAYER part of the equation that helps me develop a personal relationship with God - helping me to know and to trust and have faith that the promise of courage will be fulfilled. That's our journey – and it’s out of this belief that I feel called to use my time, talents and treasures in a way that serves a community, especially disadvantaged groups.

I think the root of my desire to serve others is grounded in faith from my early Catholic education - strongly embracing the message to "love your neighbor as yourself". Later my spiritual growth with social justice issues developed through my involvement with socially active justice and peace groups within the church I attended in Michigan for over 25 years. Don has often been my cohort in these endeavors and when Dee asked us if we might be interested in going to the work camp in New Orleans, it sounded like a good idea to both of us.

The Spiritual experience of the week in New Orleans was our presence – our commitment to walk beside Otis and Melba as they rebuild their lives. 

Dee Eisenhauer:

In our homeowner, Miss Mary, I met a living example of courage in the struggle.  Here’s one of the things Miss Mary said as we visited during the course of our work on her house:  "I don't ask the Lord for strength, I don't ask him for things I already have--if I didn't have strength, I wouldn't have made it through." She does indeed have remarkable strength, and it springs from her rock-solid faith.  She testified over and over about how the good Lord has protected and guided her and ministered to her pain on her journey.  When she was huddled with her neighbors at the drive-in, listening to gunshots all around, she prayed for divine shelter from the violence and chaos and is positive that the Lord provided just that.  We sang a number of songs together while we worked.  One that stands out was this song, a favorite of Miss Mary’s: "Look where he's brought me from, look where he's brought me from. He picked me up and turned me 'round, set my feet on solid ground. Look where he's brought me from."  Would that we all could have such unshakeable confidence in God’s love and support.

Here’s what gives me courage in the struggle for justice and peace: I believe what Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed was true, that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.  That road to justice is the road on which God is striving to lead us.  It’s a windy and bumpy road, filled with New Orleans sized car-eating potholes.  It’s a long slog; courage often has to take the plain form of leathery endurance.  I believe it is a road worth traveling, a road of danger and fulfillment and joy.  And I believe that one day God’s people will all be able to look back and sing with one voice, “Look where he's brought me from, look where he's brought me from. He picked me up and turned me 'round, set my feet on solid ground. Look where he's brought me from."