Hope from tumult is in another's eyes
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Rev. Rachel Martin had her eye on commodities last week.
Coffee.
Sugar.
You can't run her business without them. And demand, in the last few weeks, put a dent in supply.
"Do you have any idea how much coffee and sugar it takes if you're trying to feed 300 people?" she asked.
Three hundred people?
That's the number coming regularly for breakfast to the Church of the Reconciler in downtown Birmingham, where Martin serves as associate pastor.
Three hundred hungry people.
Once upon a time that would have been high even at the end of a month, when the money is spent. This month, it was just a start.
It's as if volunteers at the Reconciler, who prepare and serve breakfast each Tuesday through Friday, are sloshing in a leaky lifeboat. They bail as fast as they can, but still the water rushes in.
This perfect storm of hopelessness should serve as warning to us all. The economic meltdown - illustrated nationally with a daily shot of a chagrined stockbroker - has real implications on the alleyways that split off Main Street.
There's the price of gas and tightening credit. Here we have poor mass transit and fear in the banking and health care industries. Carraway hospital is in trouble, along with the county itself. And Alabama Power picks this time to jack up rates.
The victims, sometimes, look just like us.
Last week Martin scrambled to find shelter for a pregnant woman with two young children who lost her job at Waffle House and was evicted from her apartment.
"She was not the type of person we're used to dealing with," Martin said. "DHR would take her children if we didn't get her off the street."
Just one lady. Just one situation. Just one story out of, oh, 300 a day.
And counting.
Through August of this year, the Jefferson County sheriff's department physically evicted 3,023 people - about 378 a month - from their homes or apartments.
That's a brutal event, kicking folks out of their homes and setting their possession on the curb. It is, as sheriff's Lt. Randy Christian says, "the saddest detail we work."
And it happens about 60 times a month more this year than last.
To 60 more families.
Samford University nursing professor Elaine Marshall brings nursing students to Reconciler, among other places, to offer services for the homeless. They check blood pressures, and offer advice. Recently they gave HIV tests.
It is a good service, and a dose of real-life education for students. But talk to Marshall and you find it is something more.
"It keeps me focused on what life is about," she said.
What's that?
"When you look into someone's eyes and develop a trust between you, then you see how precious life is."
It is about people. People helping other people.
Yes, times are hard. But it's not all about Wall Street or your 401(k). When just one human looks into the eyes of another - that's where we will find hope.
John Archibald's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Write him at jarchibald@bhamnews.com.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Update, October 8, 2008
Hello friends!
Here’s a few dates to put on your calendar:
Tonight at 5 pm, Staff/parish relations (personnel) ministry team
Friday, Oct. 10 at noon. Finance ministry team
Monday, Oct. 13, Charge conference at Enon UMC
Wednesday, October 22, Banquet committee meeting, 6:30 pm at Vestavia Hills UMC. We will not have our usual prayer meeting at Reconciler that evening. All friends of Reconciler are encouraged and invited to meet at Vestavia as we make plans for our 2009 banquet. Thanks to Tom Bole of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church for agreeing to be our banquet chair. Tom supported last year’s banquet and silent auction in significant ways, and we’re deeply appreciative of his help.
Other news: Elaine Marshall, a professor at Samford University has agreed to be our parish nurse. We are grateful for her commitment to the health of our community.
The Youth Y in Birmingham will make their facilities available to our children! We plan to schedule a tutoring session or two there and perhaps our recreation time for VBS as well. The gym include a climbing wall and track and other facilities that our children will enjoy.
This Sunday: We expect shepherds for Sunday school from Morningstar UMC. Enon UMC will be bringing lunch. From now on, we will no longer be asking the groups that shepherd to bring lunch for the children. The logistics of doing both are difficult. For now we will feed the children the adult meals. If you know of any groups that may want to bring the children’s lunch on occasional Sundays, please let Rachael know. We can usually purchase pizza or McDonald’s for about $50.
Please remember that the children are singing in worship this Sunday! If you help transport the kids, remind them that it’s a special Sunday to make an effort to attend. They are to wear khaki pants (or jeans) and white shirts. They’ll be singing after the passing of the peace and before the creed, so we’ll need to do our best to get them to church on time and get them breakfast in a timely manner.
And finally, our deepest condolences to Jo Dobbins, who lost her husband Ellis this week. The funeral was this morning. I know we’ll keep Jo in our thoughts and prayers.
Peace,Marti
Here’s a few dates to put on your calendar:
Tonight at 5 pm, Staff/parish relations (personnel) ministry team
Friday, Oct. 10 at noon. Finance ministry team
Monday, Oct. 13, Charge conference at Enon UMC
Wednesday, October 22, Banquet committee meeting, 6:30 pm at Vestavia Hills UMC. We will not have our usual prayer meeting at Reconciler that evening. All friends of Reconciler are encouraged and invited to meet at Vestavia as we make plans for our 2009 banquet. Thanks to Tom Bole of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church for agreeing to be our banquet chair. Tom supported last year’s banquet and silent auction in significant ways, and we’re deeply appreciative of his help.
Other news: Elaine Marshall, a professor at Samford University has agreed to be our parish nurse. We are grateful for her commitment to the health of our community.
The Youth Y in Birmingham will make their facilities available to our children! We plan to schedule a tutoring session or two there and perhaps our recreation time for VBS as well. The gym include a climbing wall and track and other facilities that our children will enjoy.
This Sunday: We expect shepherds for Sunday school from Morningstar UMC. Enon UMC will be bringing lunch. From now on, we will no longer be asking the groups that shepherd to bring lunch for the children. The logistics of doing both are difficult. For now we will feed the children the adult meals. If you know of any groups that may want to bring the children’s lunch on occasional Sundays, please let Rachael know. We can usually purchase pizza or McDonald’s for about $50.
Please remember that the children are singing in worship this Sunday! If you help transport the kids, remind them that it’s a special Sunday to make an effort to attend. They are to wear khaki pants (or jeans) and white shirts. They’ll be singing after the passing of the peace and before the creed, so we’ll need to do our best to get them to church on time and get them breakfast in a timely manner.
And finally, our deepest condolences to Jo Dobbins, who lost her husband Ellis this week. The funeral was this morning. I know we’ll keep Jo in our thoughts and prayers.
Peace,Marti
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