Good Friday thoughts on Shawmut Ave

"The one who hung the earth upon the waters : today he is hung upon a cross" 

- Common Prayer, a liturgy for ordinary radicals  

GoodFriday by Josh Garrels

Friday around noon, the procession from The Cathedral of the Holy Cross came down my street and by my front door. 

I got a text from my housemate Cathi that they were coming, so i opened the door, with my cup of tea, and there, saw Jesus, bent under the weight of the cross, struggling down the street. Long dark hair, dark skin, rough linen robe, roman soldiers were yelling and whipping and there were others with small cross bars, struggling along side. They turned down Shawmut ave, and came towards me. A crowd followed yelling "crucify him!!" over and over and over... angry, mob. there were the chief priests and Pharisees talking together on the side, walking, dignified, long robes flowing and long beards

The street is cleared of cars from street cleaning on this side. 

people are filming, and taking pictures along the way with their ipads and cameras. 

I reach into my pocket to get my phone- Yes, my first thought is wow- i want to capture this moment and share it. 

spectator 

when i try to take a picture, A notice comes up - my pictures are full. The processing is going by - and i see the back of Jesus bent under the cross head around the corner. The soldiers with their robes and helmets are yelling and whipping. I am overwhelmed with a sense of sorrow for just being a "bystander" wanting to get a picture... and wondering if i had lived 2000 years ago, where would i have been? what would i have been doing? would i just be watching? The fear and intimidation of the occupying Roman forces would im sure have scared me from trying to do anything to help Jesus as he stumbled by, though maybe? maybe i would have come alongside Mary and wept with her and held her hand and shuffled alongside behind the crowds who have been swept up into this mob yelling "crucify him! Crucify him! He must die" No- do they know what they are saying? These same men and women were fed by his miracles, weren't they? amazed at the healing, his words of wisdom. Why this anger and blood thirsty excitement?! Is it sport? is it just drama? Is it just something we take a picture of and post on facebook? A good newsfeed? Intstagram it with a cool filter. 

Heartbreaking confusion, anguish, fear, why is this happening to the Lord? to Jesus? this one who came from Nazareth, born down in Bethlehem, this one who has shown us such love and compassion, and has opened up the Word and presence of God in such amazing ways. Jesus- why??? Why are they doing this to you? 

all this for me...?... yes. 

the procession passes by, with police cars taking up the rear, with their lights flashing, and as the last echos of "crucify him!!" fade away down the street i hear the ice cream truck's little jingle song playing in the distance. 

what a crazy world. 

----

later that day...

Good Friday service at South End neighborhood Church, combined with 3 or 4 other churches, English, Spanish, Amharic, and a few other languages represented in singing, prayers, testimonies, and looking at the last 7 words of Jesus from the cross. 

1) "Father Forgive them, for they know not what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)  Forgiveness: from Pastor C of SENCE, sharing that he is only able to fathom forgiving the man who shot and killed his son a few months ago, because of God in him, God's love and power. 

2) "today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) From Pastor Jose Flores, sharing that this criminal had NOTHING to offer Jesus, he was about to die, and all he asked was to be remembered. not to be forgiven or saved, but remembered. He is not any further away, or closer to jesus than anyone else. we all have this same chance to come to Jesus, to ask to be remembered.

3) "Dear woman, here is your son" (john 19:26) A member of the Ethiopian church (emmanuel disciples church) shared the awe - we cannot fully understand what Jesus did for us- his divine blood covers us and frees us, and we don't know what He was meaning when he said this to Mary, but maybe he was saying "it will be ok - I am fulfilling the Father's will". How heartbreaking for Mary to see this pain. 

4) "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!?" (Matt 27:46) Pastor Workneh Tesfaye from EDC shared that life is full of "Whys" and many questions, but we must follow Jesus example, and finish our "whys" in submission to the Father's will

5) "I am thirsty" (John 19:28) Carmen Barrientos from SENCE and Iglesia Communidad shared about Jesus' full humanity, and even to being thirsty. Remember the story of the Samaritan women? He asked her for a drink, and then also told her, that if she knew who he was she would be asking him for a drink, and he would give her living waters. He asked for a drink, while he was hanging there on the cross, to fulfill the scriptures, because he was tired and thirsty, and also perhaps to remind us - to ask him for a drink, to be thirty for him, and for the living waters that his death and resurrection provide for us. 

6) "It is finished" (john 19:30) Pastor Lowell Bowler from Dorchester Baptist Church asked the question "what was finished"?? Our debt was paid in full. done. complete. there is nothing we can add, or need to add. But out of the love in our hearts for Jesus, we want to serve and give our life to him.

7) "Father, into your hands i commit my spirit" (luke 23:46) Pastor Neal from SENCE shared again that Jesus submitted to the Father, he gave up his life willingly- it wasn't taken or forced, it was his love for us that held him there, and this is what brings us life and salvation. 

Thankful. 

I am so blessed to be a part of this community! 

We all circled around the large wooden cross, that was taken down from the wall and Nate held it up in the middle of the room. prayers and songs, and crying out to Jesus, thanking him for what he has done for us. 

Hallelujah!!  

---

After service I found out my friend Darla passed away that day. I've known her for several years, as she has struggled with homelessness and alcoholism, and come in and out of prostitution. She used to come over for tea on mondays, or stop by for a shower randomly, and would stay over night now and again. Once i helped dye her hair here in the bathroom. she liked to have jet black hair, and wanted to get rid of the grey that kept persisting. We did a pretty good job i think, and didn't make too much of a mess :) 

She had crazy unique rings on her fingers, often wore big clunky work boots, and was quick to laugh, even in the midst of the darkest seasons. Im going to miss you Darla. I gave her a pencil sketch of a girl with her face looking up into the rain when she had a place a while back here in the South End. As soon as she saw it in my room one night she identified with it, and felt it was a picture of her. I wonder what ever happened to that. 

Im sorry Darla... I wish there was a different ending. I trust that Jesus is holding you today though, that you are finally home, that you have finally found what you've been looking for all this time. The systems, the friends and families, even the churches of this world failed you in so many ways... But Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. I know you believe in him, and called out to him throughout your life. I trust that he has brought you home.  

"there in the ground, his body lay: Light of the world by Darkness slain..." 

but this is not the end...

rouge abolitionists

The city is rushing around this lovely fall morning... and im sitting here in starbucks pondering some amazing conversations i had with folks in the abolitionist movement and the fight for justice this week! Its exciting to be part of a team with so many incredible people! its a common bond of wanting to end slavery - its not an official network, or "membership" but rather, a group of friends. many of them don't know each other yet... but im hoping to fix that soon! :)
One of the themes we all were agreeing with yesterday was that we need to be more connected, and that it is about the movement, not any one organization or official title! When we start to loose sight of the bigger picture, we render ourselves ineffective! And, we can actually cause more harm.

One of these friends was told "if you are not a professional in this game, you won't be effective." That is just not true. Yes, we need to be informed and smart, but we don't need to have official titles to our name to dig into the systems, learn and listen and begin to see where the gaps are, and where the systems are broken. It actually can work far better to have someone who is not "officially" part of one particular organization helping to network, because there isn't that inevitable sense of competition over money or resources, or distrust that one group is trying to use another. Sadly, that's what is currently happening in the non-proffit world, and then when you mix law enforcement in, there is just a lot of miscommunication and distrust! Leaders of organizations often begin to lose sight of the larger vision of why their NGO was founded, and get caught up in the goals and objectives and funding to just keep themselves running.
The truth is, with most of these non-profits and social services, if we were actually carrying out our goals in the whole movement, we would be working ourselves out of a job! That should be our end goal, right? That slavery is stamped out, that hardly anyone is homeless anymore, that everyone has access to good food - the goal is that Civil Society and the systems and structures in place will be generating these positive results, and we don't need organizations to "raise awareness and money to "fix these problems" that the systems are creating".
But no one really wants to work themselves out of a job! That's when it gets scary- social services just do what they do, to keep clients coming to them, so they can apply for grants, to get funding, to pay their employees... what about the clients actually moving out of the system and into a healthy place of independence?! What about prevention so people don't even need to become "clients" at all? That would be dumb, they might lose funding! hmm.
So, obviously this world is broken, and there's a very small chance we will fully fix these systems. But perhaps, my point is, that yes, the systems need to be redone, but the bigger vision is- its about PEOPLE = its about building healthy relationships! its about loving people, and loving them to Jesus - to One who IS redeeming and restoring in and through and so far beyond the brokenness! Its about seeing people as beautiful, with dreams and visions of their own and strengths to offer, not just as "Deadweights" sucking up handouts.

So we, here on the ground, dreaming about better options and possibilities - YES! continue to dream, and share ideas, and build relationships with each other. love and support and pray for one another. Love our neighbors, and invest in our communities, and put feet to the ideas we dream about-  even in little ways.

(picture from Clair's fb page. thanks!  :)

If you are working for an organization, be careful not to find your identity in that. Sadly things can happen, people and organization can fail, and you find yourself "on your own"- stand strong! God can use you just as you are. The movement is so much bigger than any one group! You, as a "rouge abolitionist", can change the wold- in community - in just following God's leading one step at a time. You can be amazingly effective as part of an organization as well - just keep the perspective of why we are doing what we do! be open to out-of-the-box thinkers in your networks.

If you find yourself working as a "rouge abolitionist", and you're getting a hard time of it - keep pressing forward! you have the flexibility to think and act "outside the box" - be sure to have a community of friends around you, to keep sharing ideas and resources. And as we plug in our collective crazy dreams in to the systems and networks things will in fact start changing! it already is happening.

Have courage. Stand strong. Dream big.

want to meet up for coffee? Let's talk! I want to hear your thoughts, and get to know you as a person.

(thanks for the conversations this came from, Dave, Viju, Arwyn, PW, Pat, Annery and Erika!)