J.O.Y. 2005 Trip Journal #3

Thursday 28 July 2005

 

Sorry I didn’t get back to the computer last night, but I was really tired when I finally got back to the hotel.  Because I didn’t make an entry yesterday this is going to be a rather long one…

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) we went off to start our work at Calvary – Casa del Pueblo, a United Methodist congregation in the Cleveland Heights area of Washington, D.C.  Their pastor, the Rev. Dr. John M’Akwalu (a native of Kenya) has been with them for about five years helping them grow as an intentionally multicultural church that reaches out to the people of their community, particularly to the Latino and African-Americans who live in the neighborhoods on either side of the church and to the homeless people who live in the area.  They also help provide medical and legal resources to those who have no one else to help.

 

The church’s mission statement reads,

“We are a multicultural congregation which exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people and to equip, empower, and mobilize people for ministry within and beyond the walls of our church.”

 

Their vision statement reads,

We are a faith centered, spiritual community that is truly welcoming and dynamic where people can discover and nurture their identity in Christ and grow in relationship that carries out God’s redemptive purpose for our world.  We provide a spiritual environment where people can connect with God, with others, and share gifts and talents, opportunities and abilities to make a difference in the world.”

 

They have a building that is more than 100 years old and is literally falling apart at the seams.  The roof needs major repairs, the ceiling in the sanctuary regularly drops plaster on folks during Sunday worship, and they have significant electrical and plumbing problems as well.

 

We began by working to move some stage risers from their fellowship hall to the outside of the church.  Every year they have an outdoor worship service to reach out to the community, to bring the message of the Gospel to the people where they are.  We hauled six risers (about five feet wide by nine feet long by two feet high) through a long hallway and around the corner of the outside stairs, setting them up on the lawn.

 

Then we started cleaning the sanctuary.  With all their other concerns, they don’t often have the time or people resources to dedicate to cleaning.  We dusted the pews and altar, swept the floor and beat the dust out of lots of rugs that haven’t been cleaned in years.

 

After our time at the church, we went back to the hotel for a break.  The temperature was about 95 degrees with the heat index (the measure of what the temperature really feels like when you factor in the humidity) was about 105.  We took about four hours to relax in the air conditioning of our rooms, and to swim in the pool.

 

Then we got back on the metro and went off to Arlington National Cemetery.  We took the tour bus around the cemetery and saw President Kennedy’s grave with its eternal flame, his brother Robert’s grave, and the very impressive changing of the guard ceremony.  The men of the Old Guard (a special Army unit selected just for this purpose) guards the tomb of the Unknown Soldiers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 356 days a year.  During the summer, every half-hour they change the guard with a new guard coming on duty.  With very precise ritual the new guard comes into the tomb area and exchanges duty with the current guard.

 

On our way back to the Metro station the rains came and gave us a much needed relief from the heat.  Some of us got very damp because they’d left their umbrellas either at the hotel rooms, or forgotten to pack them entirely.

 

On Thursday morning we went back to the church and finished cleaning the sanctuary, using an orange oil polish to polish all the wood surfaces and giving the entire place quite a lovely smell.  Then we began cleaning the fellowship hall where they have a daycare program for several people in the neighborhood.  I also asked Pastor John to show me what the roof damage was like.  In the storms the previous night, many of their previous roof repairs didn’t hold and now there are bricks dangling off the side of the building.  The kids weren’t allowed to play in their playground today because the risk of falling bricks was too great.

 

After the church we took a quick trip back to the hotel to have some showers and change clothes.  Blessedly, it was about 20 degrees cooler today and it didn’t even seem remotely hot at 80 degrees after the previous several days’ heat wave.

 

Then we headed downtown to the U.S. National Holocaust Museum.  We toured the museum, taking nearly three hours to see the permanent exhibit about the history of the Holocaust.  We learned a great many things about the rise of German nationalism, how the Nazis began their persecutions with book burnings and the boycotting of Jewish businesses, their creation of “race science”, their attempts to purify their culture of anyone who didn’t meet their standards including the Poles, the disabled, homosexuals, and the Roma (Gypsies) along with the Jews.  Many of the images we saw were very disturbing, pictures of what it looked like in the camps and what the liberating forces saw when they rescued survivors from the camps.  While it was an emotionally draining afternoon, it was a worthwhile experience.

 

We also saw an exhibit at the museum about the current genocide in the Sudan and how, much like in the early days of the Nazi regime, the world seems quite content to stand by and do nothing while thousands of people die.  Tens of thousands of people have been murdered and thousands of women raped in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.  The Sudanese government soldiers and the militia they support have been perpetrating these crimes.  More than 1 million people have been driven from their homes and are trapped as refugees in their own country.  Thousands die each month from starvation, lack of water, inadequate health care and the lack of shelter in the desert.  They are afraid to return to their homes because the militia are still quite actively raiding the country.  The attackers believe they are Arab while their victims are “Africans” who are mostly from the Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit ethnic groups.  The government of Sudan, based in Khartoum, is fueling the genocide by stopping humanitarian aid from reaching those in need, bombing civilians from aircraft, and murdering and raping civilians.  You can learn more about what’s going on in the Darfur region of Sudan by looking at http://www.savedarfur.com and by checking the Holocaust Museum’s Committee on Conscience website at http://www.committeeonconscience.org.

 

After the museum we went out to dinner and talked about what we’d seen, sharing our thoughts and feelings, and then we returned to the hotel.

 

Tomorrow, we’re going back to the church to continue cleaning the fellowship hall, mopping some floors and cleaning out a storage room.  After that we’ll go back to the hotel and change clothes.  Then we’ll go down and see some of the things we haven’t seen yet on the National Mall – the Supreme Court, the Capitol building (from up close), the Library of Congress, the National Archives (where they have originals of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence), the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where they produce our money) and the Jefferson Memorial.

 

After all that we’re going to go to a Jewish Sabbath service with my step-sister, Maya, after which we’ll share in their potluck dinner.

 

Until then we hope everyone is enjoying this journal.  We’re having a great time.

 

Peace, Pastor Moira

 

P.S.  It seems that this journal couldn’t get posted on time because all of the phones in the hotel are down…my apologies, but there’s not much we can do about technology problems!