All Saints’ Youth Mission Trip – Days 8 and 9

We had a few prayer shawls and sweaters left to distribute so after packing up the vehicles and cleaning the seminar center we headed back to the Community for Creative Non-Violence. The sidewalks around the center were more packed than we’d seen all week. Our friend, Kevin, was just coming outside as we drove up. As we began to give away the blankets people came and swarmed around the vehicles. By the time Kevin returned with a cart, all of the blankets had been given out and so had some of the sweaters. The rest will go and be added to the clothes closet. They are so beautiful, I suspect that once the cooler weather arrives they won’t last long. Thanks be to God for the important ministry of our Prayer Shawl Ministry Team. If we had filled all three vehicles to overflowing with blankets it wouldn’t have been enough.

Everyone was so thankful as they chose the blankets they liked the best. For people with very little choice in life, being given the ability to choose the right color was everything! We take so much for granted. We have so many choices every single day and we don’t even think about them. Even down to what we eat. There are always lots of choices with regards to food and even what clothes we choose to put on in the morning. People living in homeless shelters or on the streets must eat what is being offered that day or go hungry; a far too common experience for them. They may not have more than a couple of different shirts or pants. Not a whole lot of choice. When they learned that they could choose which blanket they wanted, they took the time to carefully weigh all of the options and make the best choice for them.

As we were driving out of town, feeling pretty good about our ministry and what we had accomplished this week, we passed a park with so many homeless people. For some of us, we wanted to stay just one more day, to touch one more life, to make more of a difference. The need is so great. If we had stayed another day, another week, another month, another year, the need would still be there. We did touch lives, many lives, in ways we may never know. As we finished up the shelves we got a marker and left a little bit of ourselves. “Made with love and prayer. All Saints Episcopal Church, Marysville, MI, July 2007” we penned. When James saw what we had done he asked each of us to sign our names on those boards. They were so moved by what we had shared that they wanted us to leave our names, a little bit more of ourselves. If we were to return in 25 years I suspect those shelves will still stand, proclaiming our love and prayers.

We’ve learned so much during this mission trip. And it will make a difference in how we interact with people in our day-to-day lives. When we were asked what our biggest learning was during the mission trip many of us noted how friendly homeless people are. All of the stereotypes we’d arrived with were dispelled. Homeless people may be very well educated. They may want more than anything to get a job and live independently but be unable to get there. They aren’t all crazy people. They are polite and friendly, wanting to interact with everyone else. They are just like us.

Our learnings will always travel with us. We won’t be so afraid of a homeless person. We’ll notice them and say hello. We will work to make sure they aren’t invisible.

On the second day of our journey home a few of us began talking about the streets of Washington, DC. As we arrived in town we were more than a little confused with the layout of the streets. Intersecting the streets that were laid out in some sort of a normal grid pattern were angled State-named streets. They just didn’t seem to make any sense. After having walked the streets and even driven some of them this past week those patterns began to make more sense.

All of those State-named streets led to major centers within DC. The Capitol Building, the Whitehouse, the Washington Monument, the Memorials around the Washington Monument. Each one of those circles, if you will, have to do with identity. Each one says something important about what it means to be the United States, to be an American. So do each of the States. Somehow it seems appropriate that something with identity points to something important to identity.

We began to think about the church. Where is our identity found? For us, our identity is found in Jesus Christ. The center of our identity. So what are the “State-named streets” for us as parish, as Convocation, as Diocese, as Episcopal Church, as Anglican Communion? How does our identity point to the identity of Jesus Christ?

Some of that identity we lived this past week as we ministered in Washington; as we learned about the homeless and about dignity. We have been reflecting on those learnings all week in these daily reflections. But the learnings won’t end with this last entry into our journal of experiences. We will carry those with us for all time. We will continue to reflect on our week of mission work. We will integrate what we have learned with how we live our lives. We will continue to spread the news as we share with others what we did and what we have learned. We will continue to touch lives. May God continue to bless this mission trip and all that we have experienced as we Reach Out In Christ here at home.

Love and God’s Blessings,

All Saints 2007 Mission Team