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Tell Your Friends
Celebrate the 4th of July with the Homeless
A lot of people have wanted to know some practical ways they could help in our mission of loving the poor, homeless and destitute of Raleigh, North Carolina. Here is your chance.
At 4pm on the Fourth of July, 2008 we are going to have a cookout in Moore Square (click here for a map) in downtown, Raleigh. There will be hot dogs, baked beans, watermelon, soft drinks and much more (we hope, anyway). If somebody could bring some guitars and such, that would be pretty cool too.
Why are we doing this, you ask? Several reasons:
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Because while no doubt you have friends and loved ones to spend the Fourth with, many of the homeless and poor do not. Bring your friends and loved ones with you.
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Because on holidays the soup kitchens are closed, so any free meals usually consist of bag lunches with peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Surely we can do better than that?
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Because when the poor go hungry, it ticks Jesus off.
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Because you need more friends who have less than you do.
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Because you will get to eat with some really cool people.
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Because things like friendship, community, dignity and happiness are important in the Kingdom of God.
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Because while everyone else is celebrating their allegiance to the American Empire (the same Empire that often says your worth is related to your net worth), we can show our ultimate allegiance to the Kingdom of God, which says these people are priceless and worth fighting for.
NOTE: The purpose of this event is not to win souls, to pass out tracts or to break out with the street preaching. Instead, we want to have fun, to meet new people and to show the love of God in the way of Jesus.
If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, we need lots of food and help to pull this off. Leave a comment below or send me an email and I will send you a list of things we need.
Some Days, Hope is Hard
Hope.
Sometimes, I feel my biggest job out here is that of a cheerleader. I encourage, lift up and praise people who make baby steps toward recovering their lives. I listen and empathize with those who need a friend to talk to. I urge the church to move toward action and get off their pews and start loving people who have less than they do.
Some days, it is easy. The guy you give $10 and a ride to the DMV to get his photo ID and he gets a job the next day and a month later, you are eating food he cooked you in his new place. The gang banger who decides he wants to follow Jesus, not because of the persuasiveness of my argument (mainly because I did not have one), but because he noticed the people loving him all followed Jesus and he wanted to be able to love people too. The church that accepted me with open arms, listened to my story and asked ‘What can we do?” and then did it.
Some days, hope is hard.
Every Sunday, the street preachers show up. Last Sunday, some of my homeless friends and I are sitting in the audience, waiting for the preaching to stop so we could eat together. (They will only feed you after the preaching…not sure where in the Gospels that came from…”feed the hungry after you tell them they are going to hell”…anyway, I digress). One of my friends is a transsexual (born male, identifies as female) and she faithfully attends these street preachings because she feels very uncomfortable in traditional churches. She is there nearly every Sunday, and several times it has lead to she and I having deep discussions afterward.
This Sunday, her partner and her were there, in the front row, listening to such a sermon that can only be done in a vacant lot, complete with shouts, screams, bad praise music and at least one woman breaking into speaking in tongues. Honestly, it is NOT a very good representation of the church, sound doctrine or even good Pentecostal preaching. The lady with the microphone has a sudden word from the Lord, who tells her ‘There is a Devil in our midst”. Then she started pointing at my friend and said “Begone, Satan!” Over and over she said it causing my friend to, uhhm, revert to street manners and tell the ‘preacher’ lady which particular body part she was gonna kick if the lady did not shut up. This then further convinced the lady that she was correct, and she increased her volume. Begone, Satan! Begone, Satan!
In the interest of maintaining my witness as a pacifist, I got my friend out of there, asap. She came to the church for Hope, but got called Satan. Yes, you and I know that lady did not represent the true message of Jesus. How do you tell the audience that? How do you undo the damage that was done that day? How do you convince them that they are loved unconditionally? How do you give them hope?
Betrayal by girlfriends. People who hire them for day labor and then don’t pay them because they know they will not complain to the cops. Muslims who get thrown out of the (Christian) soup kitchen when they ask (politely, I was there) if they can wait until there is something to eat that does not contain pork. Church people who promise to do something, but don’t show up because of a football game. Spouses who ran off with other women and left them here with 3 kids and no money. ‘Friends’ who know they struggle with addiction, yet shoot up in front of them.
Yet, for the most part, they manage to hang on. So, I figure the least I can do is hang on with them. After all, when I had no reason to hope anymore, Jesus never gave up on me. Can he expect any less from us?
Bringing You Up To Date
It has been a while since I updated the blog here, but it is not because nothing has been going on; it is because too much has been going on.
- As I told you a few weeks ago, I have moved to a much more convenient apartment closer to downtown. While this is an overall gain, the 101 things you need when you have a full apartment that you do not need when renting a room means I am at the dollar store almost every day.
- Yesterday was my birthday and I got to spend the night before with the awesome folks over at Merge - we had dinner together, they baked me a homemade chocolate cake and we broke bread at the Lord’s Table after that. I love communion…
- I mentioned on the blog a few weeks ago that I had been wrestling with burnout earlier in the year. Well, be assured that I am much better now (although I do appreciate the emails that came in from those of yo worried about me). It was just a matter of not having a realistic schedule and goals.
- The work continues, and with near 100 degree heat, everyone is running to ground during the day. People who used to be in the park all day are now to be found at Cornerstone, in the library and drinking very small drinks at local coffee shops.
- There is more I want to tell you about churches that have come on board to support me, cool new people I have met and some success stories, but honestly, they all need their own post. So, hopefully this weekend I will get some computer time and bring you all up to date.
Our New Friends
Note: Guest post by Chad Miller
Almost year ago Suzanne and I began visiting people in downtown Raleigh. We never knew all that God would do through our lives. We have made a lot of new friends and met some people who really need substantial help. I always had a struggle of being a bit of a pew rider, never wanting to get outside my comfort zone. Sure, I visited people in hospitals, counseled people and was an activist, but it never required so much of me as the pain of seeing people who are continually in physical needs. After I would visit people before, I could go back to my suburban home and know the people I was with were going back into a similar situation.
When you spend time with people who have less, you realize that community and friendship is all they have. I guess it helped me realize that community and friendship matter much more than economic status or stuff.
I am definitely not a person who will condemn anyone for being wealthy. Yet, I want to challenge people to know some people outside of their own so-called class. I think it helps you to become less selfish and materialistic.
So now, a year later, I have a lot of friends who would still love me, no matter what. I am part of a ragamuffin family , and I love it.
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Chad lives in Apex, NC with his incredible wife, Suzanne. Chad and Suzanne have been involved with the homeless of Raleigh since January of 2007. They currently are working as schoolteachers in the community, trying to bring awareness of people less fortunate to other people. Suzanne is also an aspiring writer. Chad is on staff at Connections Church in Raleigh, NC as a Children’s Pastor. They both work in unison to bring dignity and grace to all types of people they meet with.
Hugh’s May 2008 Newsletter
Dear Friends,
One question I get asked a lot, especially by those in traditional churches, is about my statistics. How many people I work with get off the street, how many get sober, how many get ’saved’. I have to tell you up front; I have crummy statistics. But I am OK with that because I have some awesome stories.
Like the young couple I was talking to right after they heard her mother was in the hospital with heart trouble and they had no way to get home (200 miles away) to be with her. They are upset and crying and depressed and really pouring it out to me. While we were talking, an ‘evangelist’ pressed a tract in her hand and told her that if she gave her life to Jesus, he would change her life. As a result of that day, that couple and I have an ever increasing bond that has led to them making serious changes in their life. That evangelist saw a statistic, but that couple and I have a story.
Or the guy who braved the snow to visit my friend Renee in the hospital, bringing a collection of fruit, peanut butter sandwiches and crackers he took up from the other homeless. When I scolded him for coming, he looked me in the eye and told me, “Hugh, all my life I have not been worth much. I have been in and out of jail, in and out of rehab, in and out of relationships. I am 38 years old and you are the first person my whole life to ever tell me they are proud of me. I love you, man. I am here for you.” All those Social Workers saw a statistic, but he and I have a story.
There is the lady who had to leave her husband because liquor was destroying her life and he refused to quit when she did. She moved into a small hovel owned by a slumlord where she could barely pay the rent. When ends did not meet one month, the landlord filed eviction papers. I went to court with her and all the money but $50. The statistics said we did not stand a chance, but when she showed up in court and he did not, we got the eviction overturned and bought a few more days to raise the money. Now she is still in her house and still tells her friends the story of when she and I went to court.
Stories, not statistics. Names, not numbers. Meals, not metrics.
You see, we operate from this crazy premise we see in the teachings of Jesus that love, once given, spreads and grows (sorta like yeast, or a mustard seed…) and takes hold and, in small ways and in incremental bits, works to change us, then each other, and then, the world, working towards truly making it on earth as it is in heaven.
The way it happens is not through statistics but through stories shared over a plate of food, on a walk through the park together, sitting with them in the living room while a loved one dies in the bedroom. It takes being there.
You guys bless me incredibly by allowing me to be out there, touching lives and building relationships with people the world has written off but God has not. That you support me in doing that with your prayers, your time and your money mean more to me than I can ever say. Because of you, some people who have reason to have a low opinion of the church get to feel what the love of Jesus feels like.
Love Wins. Always.
Hugh Hollowell