Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

missional

Reflections on one day with MDS on Staten Island

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by James M. Lapp

On November 8, following Superstorm Sandy, I was privileged to participate with one of the early Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) teams to Staten Island.  There amidst the front end loaders lifting wet debris from the streets into dump trucks, we encountered a busy community of local people and volunteers like us attempting to be helpful.  One thing became immediately clear.  MDS and Mennonites did not have a corner on compassion and care.

Along the street in front of the Oasis Christian Center building, men worked over a grill preparing chicken for anyone, including us, to eat for lunch.  The church (with partial Mennonite roots) had moved their worship to another setting to make the building available as a center of distribution for clothes and food.  In the background we heard the purr of generators providing power for the activities going on in the church.  Beside the church, at a makeshift table under a canopy, two people gave direction to the many people milling about who were seeking to be helpful.

Located only a few blocks from the bay, this church, like all the homes in the area, was vulnerable when the high tide and storm surge came roaring down the street.  Across the front of the church a distinct waterline indicated the height of the water during the storm—about neck high for an average-sized adult.  Basements and the first floor of homes throughout the neighborhood had been flooded.  Near to the church were several homes where the residents had drowned.

Inside the church, we sorted clothes and food donated for those in need.  “Do you have any hooded sweat shirts?” someone inquired.  Such a request was not hard to understand on this cold November day.

“We lost everything,” a woman reported through tears, with deep gratitude for jackets to wear.

Toiletries, clothes, and food of every kind appeared.  Twice during the day a U-Haul truck pulled up to the curb with contributions gathered around the city for distribution.  Others in our group worked at restoring electrical systems destroyed by the water, or in removing drywall so that the interior of the walls could dry without mildew.

The residents of this Staten Island community have lived near the water all of their lives.  Never has anything of this sort happened before.  How quickly the fury of the storm shattered the lives of these otherwise stable middle-class families!  It was hard for them and for me to make sense of such devastation.   I could almost hear in the background the taunting voices the Psalmist experienced in the wake of such a personal tragedy: “Now where is your God?”  (Psalm 42:3)

About dark we began our journey back to Lansdale, Pa., and to the safety of our homes. The team was united in gratitude for being able to participate in such a day of service to others.  But beneath the reward of having been privileged to serve, I sensed an unspoken sober awareness of the fragility of life, and the reality that natural disasters such as we witnessed were seemingly becoming more frequent.  At least that is what some of our public figures suggest.  What might that mean for our nation, for us?  That question, plus the inexplicable destruction we had just witnessed in this Staten Island community remained for us to ponder as we returned home that evening.

Jim Lapp is a retired Franconia Conference pastor who has served broadly in congregational, conference and denominational roles.   He and his wife Mim Book have returned to Southeastern Pennsylvania this fall after serving in an interim pastoral role in Nebraska.

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Individuals and teams from many Franconia Conference congregations have served with Mennonite Disaster Service since Superstorm Sandy, including Salford, Plains, Philadelphia Praise Center, Doylestown, Salem, Blooming Glen, and Ambler.  If you have served in this way and have reflections to share, email your thoughts to Emily.

Ain't gonna study war no more

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by Duane Hershberger

I used to hear this little jingle during the 1964 presidential election: “In your heart you know he’s right, A-U-H-2-0.” Barry Goldwater ran against Lyndon Johnson.

Conservatives generally supported Goldwater. He appealed to a murky, inner voice that shouted fears of a nuclear bomb attack, Communism and the new era that began Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, when President Kennedy was assassinated.

Even a little kid felt uneasy. Storms around the world threatened our peace and quiet. They told us the Communists could take over Vietnam. Then they’d take over Laos and Cambodia. On to the Philippines, Japan, India, Africa, Turkey, Europe. They’d leap at us from the east and they’d leap at us from the west and take over America. If we didn’t stop them in Vietnam, they’d soon be in Virginia. School kids girded up their loins for the leaping by crawling under their desks.

Kings and generals peddle fear to get people to fight their wars. Some people buy it. Some voters’ murky, inner fears hummed Goldwater’s little jingle, and he got votes.

Others were skeptical, so they voted for Johnson, and he won the election. But the war grew and grew until 50,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese died to keep the Communists and their leaping ways out of Virginia.

People in our church taught a Christian discipline called nonresistance. We wouldn’t go to war. We wouldn’t sue someone because of a bad debt. If someone hit you, you were supposed to turn the other cheek. The discipline is based on multiple biblical teachings to love your neighbors as yourselves, return good for evil and, “Thou shalt not kill.”

But lots of nonresistant, turn-the-other-cheek, plain Mennonite grownups were sympathetic to Goldwater and later with Nixon and wars on Communism. Kind words were even said about George Wallace, the famous segregationist governor who vowed to keep black people out of the University of Alabama in 1963. Conversations around lunch tables after church were often about the threats of Communists, hippies, the Black Panthers, riots, revolution and unease that something stable was slipping away.

It slipped away. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. The Beatles, Kent State, Robert Kennedy’s assassination and Woodstock happened. In 1968, many young people voted no on grownups and war. But politicians toss vast hunks of red meat to people’s murky, inner fears and win elections. Inner fears didn’t go hungry during the 1960s. Young people lost the 1968 election.

Sunday school teachers and major league preachers told us that the opposite of faith is unbelief. But when you think about it, there is no such thing as unbelief. Everyone believes something. Unbelief is just the label for people who don’t believe what you believe. Calling it unbelief makes it sound sinister, and sinister begets fear.

The opposite of faith is fear—fear fed by the murky, inner voice that rings alarms about undocumented immigrants, Muslim terrorists, government takeovers of this and that, gay people, growing influence of minorities and declining churches. You can get otherwise reasonable people to believe boatloads of nonsense if you make them afraid.

A whole passel of religious people lives more by fear than faith. Kings, generals and presidents are slick at grabbing those murky, inner fears, wrapping them up in religious packages, then pushing them to voters like candy to a big-eyed kid with a sweet tooth.

Plain Mennonite people in bonnets and beards eat it up as much as anyone. Adolph Hitler used church language as cover to kill Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and lots of other people whom well-intentioned church people quietly distrusted. His soldiers went to Poland, France and Auschwitz with the words, “Gott Mit Uns” engraved on their belt buckles. That’s German for “God With Us” or “Emmanuel,” as in “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

And we must fight the things we’re afraid of, right? We must fight Communists because they might leap into Virginia. We must fight longhaired, British rock singers who wanna hold your hand because lots of people holding hands might lead to anarchy. We must fight to keep the blacks and whites separated because who knows what would happen if black people went to the university. Someday they might run a bank, and Lord only knows what could happen then. And so on. Feed those fears.

Kings and generals sit in their great houses and tell you war is about a grand cause. Millions of people in their small houses get rah-rahed up for the grand cause and march into battle. For the motherland. For freedom. To turn back evildoers. Kings and generals, with straight faces, will even tell you the grand war cause is peace.

But killing is personal. Its between you and the other guy. You have a gun and the other guy has a gun. He has a grand cause, you have a grand cause. One of you will die for the grand cause, but the killing is personal. Suppose the other guy isn’t a Christian. Kill him and score a run for your grand cause. But you took away every future opportunity for the other guy to receive God’s grace and become a disciple. And if you believe in a hell, you just sent him there permanently. What would you say to God if God asks you why you killed the guy when God was still speaking to him, drawing him into his love, perhaps preparing him for a great work? He did that with the Apostle Paul. Are you smart enough to answer God? Or, suppose the other guy is a Christian. What would you say if God asks you why you killed someone he gave life to and loved enough to die for? Are you smart enough to answer God?

You took way too much time to think about what you might say to God, so the other guy shoots you and you die. You are immediately in God’s eternal presence. The God who looks after the lilies and the sparrows will take care of the things left behind like your family and the grand cause. And the other guy has time left on his clock to repent and become bathed in God’s love. Brutal as it sounds, that’s how it shakes out. I’d hate to be in the other guy’s shoes when God stares him down and asks hard questions about that gunshot, but that’s not my problem anymore. This all goes against the way we usually think, but that’s because our brains have a problem.

Here’s the problem. Start with the Apostle Paul, a self-proclaimed terrorist who killed Christians because he was afraid they’d spoil the Jewish religion and way of life. Suppose an overzealous disciple picked up a rock and thunked him on the head the day before he set out for Damascus and met Jesus? The disciple goes home, happy that he eliminated an evil-doing, terrorist threat. The grand cause scored a run.

But thank God Paul lived long enough to tell us in his Romans letter that the key to faithful living is to change our thinking with a big attitude adjustment. Paul calls it a mind transformation. “Be transformed by renewing your mind,” Paul wrote some years after he wasn’t thunked. A mind with the inner, murky fear is the old way of living.

Thinking with a transformed, faith-focused mind is the new way of living. Think about what we would’ve missed with an ill-timed thunking of the Apostle Paul the next time you hear someone rant about killing off all the evildoers.

Fearful people almost bask in the threats. “Did you hear about the Muslim who … ?” “Did you hear about the Mexican gang in Los Angeles that … ?” “Did you hear about the kid who tried to pray in school … ?” “Did you hear … ?” And so on. And so on. Fearful people build walls and wage war.

Faithful people build schools, communities and roads, even in their enemy’s motherland. Faithful people build medical clinics for someone who speaks another language. Faithful people show hospitality to an adversary. Faithful people pick up a sword and beat it into a plowshare. Faithful people give a soft answer to turn away wrath. Faithful people do good to their enemies and, in so doing, heap coals of fire on their enemies’ heads. Paul said that, too. Faithful people act like they have eternal life and don’t need to squeeze every last beat out of their heart muscle. Faithful people even speak out like prophets when their brothers and sisters pay too much attention to those murky, inner fears.

Instead of trying to persuade other people to start believing in Jesus, we Christians should start believing Jesus. Jesus said to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Sometimes that’s easy and sometimes it’s hard. When it’s easy, you can do good all by yourself. But when it’s hard, you need faith. When it’s hard, you can do unto others as you would have them do to you only when you follow the North Star of a faith that calls you to a higher, better place of goodness. Pay attention to that murky, inner-fear voice and you just hit back and thunk over and over. And what do you say to God then?

Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus said, “Don’t worry about food and clothes because your Father will take care of you.” Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of the one who can kill your body; be afraid of the one who tries to take your soul.” Politicians push fear of Communism or terrorism to trade your soul for a vote to keep them in power. Even in church pews, the boatloads of fear nonsense goes on. Bless us with better BS detectors, dear God.

Most world religions have peace, consideration for others and respect for our brothers and sisters as their core belief. Look at the core beliefs of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and Muslims. Peace, consideration for others and respect for our brothers and sisters is right at the center. Their core beliefs are about giving your time, talents and treasure to make this world a better place. Jesus was quoting well-known sayings from other religions when he said the words “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Each of those religions also has its fringe of fear-minded people and the monuments they leave that soil their faith heritage. Those monuments include the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the New York Twin Towers, the Oklahoma City Federal Building, Oscar Romero’s tombstone, the Mumbai hotel and on and on.

Christians have peace, consideration for others and respect for our brothers and sisters as core beliefs. In fact, we have not only the belief, but the unique, living example of the Word from God, a child from heaven who grew up as one of us. Jesus was guided by the North Star of heaven’s truth about profound love. When he was challenged on it, he stood rooted on that North Star path. People who listened to their murky, inner fears instead of looking up to the North Star of their salvation pounded nails in his hands and hung him on a cross. But that wasn’t the story’s end. Fear’s triumph lasted three days. Faith and resurrection own every other day of history.

If any religion has an antidote—the steroids, hormones, hydrotherapy, ear plugs or whatever—to quiet the murky, inner-fear voice, it’s Christianity. You’d think we’d sit in our churches, look at the pictures of Christ healing the sick, Christ leading the lost sheep, Christ on the cross and Christ rising from the tomb and be the most courageous people in the world.

You’d think we’d sing such songs as “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, a Bulwark Never Failing” and “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine” and “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” and “How Firm a Foundation” and “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost and now am found, was blind but now I see” and believe these profound truths and live joyful, courageous lives.

This is us. Love prevails. Because of the resurrection we lift all our time, talents and treasure to the cross. We joyfully give our bodies and lives completely to the cause of bringing God’s kingdom to earth. Christ is alive. Even death won’t stop the North Star of God’s love and light from shining its bright shine. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Nothing. We are those courageous people only when God transforms our minds.

Forgive us, dear Lord, for “Gott Mitt Uns.” Forgive us the wars we fight. Forgive us for paying attention to that murky, inner-fear voice. Lift our eyes today and guide us, like the Wise Men of old to the place where Jesus lives.

Duane Hershberger works with Habitat for Humanity and has helped pastor several Franconia Conference congregations. He worships at Germantown Mennonite Church in Philadelphia.

Thanksgiving at the beach … and other tales, part 2

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Holiday MealThanksgiving dinner at the firehouse
by KrisAnne Swartley, Doylestown

After Hurricane Sandy, our congregation held “storm kitchens,” where we gathered to cook for those without power.  After the initial crisis passed, we asked ourselves as a missional mentoring group, “What’s next?” One of the young women suggested thanking our local fire fighters.  For many in our group, cooking and serving food is our passion and gift, a way that we express love and care for others.  So on November 27th and 29th, we served Thanksgiving dinner at two firehouses in Roslyn and Hilltown (Pa).

It is important to us as a missional group to bless those who help our community thrive, and these volunteers (can you believe this is still done on a VOLUNTEER basis??) do just that. We wanted to bless them from our faith perspective, while recognizing they may not share our beliefs or practices. They were very open to that and were genuinely appreciative of the prayer of blessing we gave them and the time we spent with them that night… as well as the food, of course!

I served at the Hilltown firehouse.  Although the meal was outside of our comfort zone, we soon discovered that humor unites. Within moments of arriving with my big roasting pans and all the food, they were teasing me gently and I gave it right back to them.  The joking created a comfort level that made us all feel safe in each other’s presence.

It took conscious effort for those of us from Doylestown to not just talk to each other, but to break out of our “clique” and begin to visit with the firefighters and their families. Once we did that, however, we made connections and shared stories and the conversation flowed freely.

Jenni Garrido, who organized the dinner at Roslyn, said the folks at the firehouse couldn’t believe someone from their neighborhood would take the time and effort to bring them a meal… they were floored by the generosity.

This felt like only a beginning. The firefighters are looking for connections and relationships within the community and are very open to more conversation and time together. A few of us are gathering to pray there on Friday morning.  Who knows what more may come?!

PPC Thanksgiving
Members of Philadelphia Praise Center lead worship at Quakertown Christian School on Thanksgiving. Photo by Octavianus Asoka.

A Thanksgiving Retreat
by Aldo Siahaan, Philadelphia Praise Center

On a beautiful Thursday morning around 8 o’clock sounds of laughter and excitement  could be heard from Philadelphia Praise Center’s building in South Philly.  About 100 congregation members were anxious to depart for Quakertown Christian School, where we held a one-day Thanksgiving Retreat filled with sermons, games, fellowship, and other fun activities.

At this year’s retreat, PPC was fortunate to host not one, but two special guests from Indonesia. The guest speaker was Rev. Daniel Alexander, a well-known preacher in Indonesia who has been ministering in Nabire, Papua since the 1980s. In addition, Rev. Alexander also brought along Stevano Wowiling, one of the finalists from a recent Indonesian Idol, who led the congregation in ardent worship sessions.

Halfway through the day, members of Nations Worship Center joined us after spending Thanksgiving morning at Salford Mennonite Church. The Thanksgiving Retreat ended with dinner at a nearby Chinese buffet.

Making peace in the neighborhood

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by Samantha E. Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice

When congregational leaders of Nations Worship Center (NWC) chose to purchase a large old commercial building on Ritner St. in South Philadelphia, they couldn’t have guessed the disruption this would be in their lives—and the lives of the folks in that neighborhood.  The building was once home to the Knights of Columbus and a catering business.  Residents remember attending Sweet Sixteen parties and wedding receptions held there years ago.  But for the last 10 years, it’s been vacant.  When the neighbors and neighborhood association heard of NWC’s plans, Pastor Beny Krisbianto and others began hearing rumors of discontent and surprising misunderstandings.  Some worried that the congregation would allow homeless folks to stay there.  They feared this possible change in the human landscape of the place.  Many were concerned about the parking spaces worshipers would occupy.  Some saw the appearance of Nations Worship congregants mostly from Southeast Asia and assumed the building would become a Buddhist temple.

It’s an established neighborhood, a predominantly Italian neighborhood.  When I heard this, I was angry and embarrassed.  I’m half Italian, and I feel a strong identification with much of Italianness as I know it.  And, sometimes my people get carried away.  There’s of course the stereotype of fist-shaking bluster, a bark that is much worse than our bite.  In my personal and familial experience, that stereotype has been pretty true.  I remember my dad getting angry and yelling about some small thing, and the next minute he’d be whistling a happy tune around the house.  I’m not exaggerating.  Used to drive my mother crazy.

But then there’s the bite.  I admit, in some ways I’m confused by the strong reaction in the neighborhood against Nations Worship.  The Italians in my life are warm, generous, passionate about most of life.  On the other hand, I have noticed a cultural tendency to take care of our own and be wary of outsiders.  Let’s be honest: most tightly-knit communities with a history in a certain place are this way.  I’ve heard stories of Northerners moving South and never feeling accepted, after many years.  As human beings, we often give hospitality that is only skin-deep.

Then there’s this weird dynamic that many minorities experience of becoming like people who were once their enemies.  It shouldn’t be this way, but it happens over and over again.  It wasn’t so long ago that immigrants from Italy who spoke English with a strong accent were a significant percentage of Northeastern urban populations in the U.S.  My great-grandfather was one of them.  Donato Lioi (known in the States as Dan) left his home country and moved to Newark, NJ as a teenager.  Like many  immigrants, he worked as a common laborer in construction.  On Sunday mornings he would tell his young grandson (my dad), “David…meta le’Meeta d’Pressa…Walter Frankize…”—his own pronunciation of famed journalist Walter Cronkite.  My dad grew up understanding his grandfather’s Engliano as if it were an official language of the UN.  It was normal, everyday family life for him.

Now, I lean in to listen and understand English spoken with an Indonesian accent as I meet with my brothers and sisters from Nations Worship Center.  I respect their hard work learning English, and their desire to be a positive presence in whatever neighborhood they find themselves.  As they face resistance, they are not so unlike Italians who faced labels like WOP and prejudice from those who’d been here longer.  And because they are in a vulnerable position as new and recent immigrants, they do not respond to this resistance with clenched fists and a stubborn refusal to cooperate.  In some respects, they have no choice but to cooperate.

It’s understandable that folks would ask about parking; they’ve been used to parking in the unused spots for years.  It’s quite possible that many of the neighbors had never met an Indonesian Christian before.  But when Beny and other leaders—accompanied by several Anglo brothers and sisters—attended a public neighborhood meeting, they were saddened and somewhat frightened by the yelling and the accusations that faced them.  They wanted to be a blessing to their neighbors; how could they explain themselves in a way that would be heard?  Since that night, leaders of NWC have met several other neighborhood residents who have welcomed them and said they’re glad to have them around.  How to relate in loving ways with those who are still unsatisfied with their presence is an ongoing question, one they are living one conversation at a time.

It’s understandable that, having established ourselves in a place, having developed routines and deep relationships there, we want to protect all that.  It’s human.  But Christ calls us further than that.  In Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no Italian or Indonesian, male or female, citizen or non-citizen.  That can be a tough pill to swallow.  But Jesus’ teachings usually are.

MDS volunteers provide help and hope at Thanksgiving

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by Stephen Kriss, Director of Communication at Franconia Mennonite Conference, on assignment with MDS

Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy
Mennonite Disaster Service is anticipating a long-term presence in New York as the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy continues. Photo by Dawn Ranck.

A new normal is emerging in Staten Island’s Midland Beach neighborhood where Mennonite Disaster Service has set up alongside the ministries of Oasis Christian Center, to clean up and rebuild following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. The one-story-high mounds of debris are gone. Traffic signals are working and electricity is back. Most houses have been inspected and are marked with red, green or yellow placards signaling the level of work required for habitation, or condemnation.

The Oasis Christian Center has been a hub of activity in the battered neighborhood. The church sanctuary is now full with donations—clothes, cleaning products, food. Supplies are in order and sorted. A sign out front says, “No More Donations.” The church’s basement has been gutted and new metal studs stand waiting for finishing. But there are still signs of the rolling wave that overtook the neighborhood. Flood damaged cars line the streets. Heavy equipment continues to roll in. There is a visible police presence.

Mennonite Disaster Service day volunteers are working and groups are scheduled into December. An average of 100 volunteers work each week. Long-term coordinators are living in a RV in the church yard next to Oasis. On these days before Thanksgiving, groups of volunteers were coming from the north, south and west: Amish and Mennonites from Lancaster County (Pa.),  diverse teams of Mennonites from Delaware and the Philadelphia area, members of the Bruderhof in the Hudson River Valley.  Teams from Franconia Conference congregations continue to arrive on a weekly basis.

Volunteers are busy with about 50 jobs waiting. Residents are working alongside volunteers. The process of tearing out and cleaning up is dirty, smelly, musty. Even on crisp fall days, the air inside the flooded houses is damp and heavy. The church is still receiving lunch donations. Food just shows up from Staten Island businesses. The overflowing generosity is increasingly better organized. A truckload of quilts and knotted comforters arrived from upstate New York, made with love and gifts of human grace.

Staten Island--Dawn Ranck
Members of Plains, Zion, Salford, Methacton, Perkiomenville and Swamp congregations served with MDS two weeks after Hurricane Sandy.

These days before Thanksgiving, the gratitude is evident. Staten Islanders still tear up quickly alongside volunteers. It’s tough to find temporary housing. It’s tough to imagine getting through this and getting to the other side. It’s tough to sort through belongings and to remember the surprising wave of water that submerged the neighborhood as it never had before. Everyone knows Midland Beach won’t ever be the same or feel the same. There’s a sense of loss alongside a sense of genuine hope.

In these days before Thanksgiving, the efforts seem persistent, patient, generous, unhurried, less frantic. There’s still much to be done. And yet, there’s still much to be thankful for even in the midst of an unthinkable disaster.  Hope and help keep showing up. Thanks be to God.

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MDS accepts monetary donations to support the clean up work in all areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. MDS does not accept donations of food and other items.Monetary donations can be made on the MDS website, mds.mennonite.net, by phone (717) 735-3536, or by mailing a check to MDS, 583 Airport Road, Lititz, PA 17543. To designate the donation for Hurricane Sandy, write “Hurricane Sandy” in the memo line of the check.

MDS responds to disasters in Canada, the United States and their territories. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) responds to disasters in international settings. MCC is responding to the damage from Hurricane Sandy in Haiti. For information on MCC’s work in Haiti, check their website, mcc.org.

Conference young adults serving with Mennonite Missions

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ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) – Emma Nafziger, of Pottstown, Pa., began a one year service term with the Service Adventure program in August 2012. Nafziger will be living in community with other young adults in a unit house in Raleigh, NC.

A 2010 graduate of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School (Lansdale, Pa.), Nafziger is the daughter of Robin and Dean Nafziger and a member of Vincent Mennonite Church in Spring City, Pa..

In this program of Mennonite Mission Network, young adults, ages 17-20, live in a household community, with a leader, for 10 months in cities and towns across the United States. Since 1989, Service Adventure participants have served in medical clinics, tutored children, worked with senior citizens, assisted in building homes, and helped meet additional needs across North America. They’ve become part of new communities; experienced and learned from different people and cultures; and grown in their faith.

Joseph BatesJoe Bates, of Red Hill, Pa., began a one year service term with the Radical Journey program in August 2012. Bates will be serving with a team in England.

A 2011 graduate of Christopher Dock Mennonite High School, Bates is the son of Randee Bates and attends Perkiomenville (Pa.) Mennonite Church.

Radical Journey is a Mennonite Mission Network program for young adults that emphasizes faith formation, service and cross-cultural learning.  Participants spend 10 days in orientation, 10 months in an international service location and another month in re-orientation with their home congregations.

Mennonite Mission Network is the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA and exists to lead, mobilize and equip the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Mission Network envisions every congregation and all parts of the world being fully engaged in mission.

A service of lament

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by Jon Tyson, Salford

Service of Lament
Salford congregation hosted a service of lament at Wellspring Church of Skippack, which lies in the shadow of Graterford prison. Photo by Jenifer Eriksen Morales.

On September 28, the state of Pennsylvania granted death-row inmate, Terrance Williams, a stay of execution. Williams, a Graterford (Skippack, Pa.) prisoner, was scheduled to be executed on October 3 at a secret time and location. As the time to execute Williams drew near, calls for a stay of execution became increasingly urgent from religious leaders, law practitioners, and ordinary citizens. The execution of Williams would have been the first non-voluntary exercise of capital punishment performed by Pennsylvania in fifty years. Soon before the scheduled date of execution, however, evidence surfaced that Williams had been perpetually physically and sexually abused by his victim. This development led a Philadelphia judge to charge the prosecutor with concealing vital information from the jury. The prosecutor has vowed to continue efforts to have Williams executed.

In light of plans to execute Terrance Williams and the construction of a $400-500 million prison facility at Graterford, rumored to house eighty more beds for death-row inmates, members of Salford Mennonite Church organized a service of lament beside the sprawling prison. The service of lament was attended by approximately twenty-five people and included hymns, words, scripture passages, and prayers of protest and lament. Each participant shared a statement explaining why they personally chose to protest and lament the execution Terrance Williams, the prison-industrial complex, and the existence of the death penalty. The personal statements were collected and will be sent to Graterford prison.

Graterford

The decision to organize a service of lament became increasingly urgent following an offering of forgiveness from Mamie Norwood, the wife of Williams’ victim: “I have come to forgive Mr. Williams. It has taken me many years. I want his life spared and I do not want him executed. I am at peace with my decision and I hope and pray that my wishes are respected.” Rarely in these kinds of cases do the victim’s beloved offer such unequivocal words of forgiveness. Efforts to forgive transgressions, in our culture of vengeance, deserve embodied support from congregations committed to participating in God’s healing work.

The organizers chose the theme of lament as a means of expressing and confessing our guilt and involvement in this system of perpetual injustice—a system that legal-scholar Michelle Alexander refers to as the “new Jim Crow.” As the prison-industrial complex continues to financially thrive in this age of mass budget cuts, we must confess our complicity in this system of domination and recognize that the gift of living in a democratic society charges us also with the responsibility to work for just and restorative systems.

The service of lament marks only the beginning of our effort to work for prison reform and the abolishment of the death penalty in Pennsylvania. We are followers of an executed God and thus we are called to participate in all efforts that strive for justice and wholeness.

Dignity & Hope: Moving Toward Equal Access in Norristown

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NVNNL Voter ID clinics
Sharon Williams and Donna Windle train volunteers from Montgomery County to run a voter/photo ID clinic. Pictured, counter-clockwise from the left, Williams, Windle, Rita Heinegg, Carol Newman, G. Hulings Darby, and Dot Martin. Photo by Ertell Whigham.

by Samantha Lioi, Minister of Peace and Justice

It started with a simple Facebook exchange. Donna Windle of Nueva Vida Norristown (Pa.) New Life noticed a friend’s comment reacting to controversy over recent  laws requiring the presentation of a government-issued  ID to vote.

Her friend said she would get IDs for people quickly, to show how easy it was.  Windle—a social worker serving as Assistant Director at Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center of Montgomery County—knew from wading through hours and days of red tape that it was much more involved than her friend might think.

At that moment, she remembers, “I hit send and heard God’s voice say, You have the skills…why don’t you do something about it?”

Windle approached a Bible study group in her congregation that shares her concern for justice. She and Sharon Williams decided they would run a clinic on the second Saturday of each month for people in Norristown who needed assistance in applying for a government-issued ID.  Many people who’ve come are working two or three jobs, don’t have a case worker, and don’t have the time to spend navigating the system and learning the changing requirements for IDs.  They also might not have the money to pay for out-of-state birth certificates or replacement/renewal ID cards.

Transportation to ID-issuing centers is a challenge for many eligible voters because of low income, lack of access to a vehicle, and in rural areas, few options for public transportation.  Many ID-issuing offices are open infrequently, or only during working hours, so that those in poverty who are working would have to take time off to apply for an ID.  According to Keesha Gaskins and Sundeep Lyer of the Brennan Center at NYU’s law school, “1.2 million eligible black voters and 500,000 eligible Hispanic voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have a photo ID than the general population.”

Not only that, but not all IDs are free. The free “voter only” IDs are not useful for other things and, depending on the documentation needed to get a photo ID – such as an out-of-state birth certificate – the cost of obtaining the ID can be prohibitive for low-income people.  Birth certificates alone range from $8-50.

Knowing the political landscape, before beginning their clinics the two women contacted the offices of both the Republican and Democratic parties to let them know their plans and to be clear that they were non-partisan.  In fact, Windle says, while helping people get an ID for voting is important, it is not her only or even her primary concern.

“Voter ID is important, but in general, people need an ID.  You can’t get a job, housing, or travel if you don’t have it,” she said.  Many of those who come to the clinics fall within the Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) definition of people who are precariously housed—“like Jesus,” says Windle, they piece together their housing needs by sleeping on friends’ couches or renting a room until their money runs out.

Likewise, some who come to the Norristown clinic don’t care about being registered to vote; they just want to get their ID and get going.  Windle remembers a volunteer saying, “’But she’s not going to vote.’ I said that’s fine; I didn’t ask her to vote. . . . It’s about building relationships, taking care of getting what she needs.  Her main concerns are where is she going to eat, where will she find a bathroom, and where is she going to safely sleep.  Voting is too high a [goal] at this point.”

As word got around about the clinics, volunteers came from Pottstown, Philadelphia, Harrisburg and even Boston. Since the clinics began in May, Windle and Williams have trained over 70 people to operate clinics in their home communities.  Working alongside the volunteers has also been an unexpected opportunity to educate about issues of poverty and racism, and to share Nueva Vida’s testimony.

The church has received donations to support the clinics. Grants from Franconia Conference and a black fraternity, designated for work on justice issues, covered supplies and money orders for photo ID renewal/replacement cards. To avoid abuse of their small system, the money orders are made out to PENNDOT.  Donors have also provided snacks, pizza gift cards for volunteers’ lunches, and stamps.

Realizing that the need goes much deeper than the desire to exercise the right to vote, they plan to continue to offer clinics once per quarter after the election.  Windle continues to hold both values as she works.

“More will be coming; am I going to get them all registered to vote? No,” she said. “But they will get their ID’s and the things they need… I don’t want them to be denied the right to choose who is representing them because they can’t afford an ID.”

Although Windle wants every eligible voter to have the chance to vote, she is concerned for the bigger picture of their quality of life and their struggle to provide for themselves.  This long view, valuing people’s dignity and holding hope for the livelihood of other Norristown citizens, enlivens Nueva Vida’s ongoing work, partnering with a God who became “precariously housed” to bring the kingdom of love and justice near.