“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people.” Isaiah 10:1-2

sooooo I really suck at blogging...dang...but I need to tell you of an experience that rocked my world that happened...well around Easter. This is pretty long because I have soooo much to say.

My lovely friend Mindy and I joined Amos House Community on a spiritual awakening and understanding on the streets of Nashville during Holy Week. This was not an urban plunge but rather a spiritual pilgrimage. As described in Amos Houses' blog: just as Jesus sacrificed himself and embraced conflict and suffering, we too want to embrace the conflict and suffering that the poor and homeless experience on a daily basis. We knew that everything we were going to experience did not even measure to what a homeless person faces on a daily basis, but we wanted to walk the streets where they walk, read scripture on the streets, pray over the city, listen to one another, and learn from each other.

They told us in the beginning to not bring cell phones, money, food or extra clothing with us. We were allowed to bring our Bible, a journal, a water bottle and our id. We were to depend on the hospitality of others for food, a place to lay our heads, and a place to go to the bathrooms. This pretty much made me anxious about how this was all going to work but very excited on what I was about to embark on!

We started out on Good Friday around 4pm meeting at the church street park (the one across from the downtown public library) and began walking through downtown Nashville to participate in what was called the "stations of the cross." A little background about the "stations of the cross" because I really didn't know what it exactly meant. BUT the "stations of the cross" were a way to help Jesus' followers retrace his steps to the cross. The object of it is to help the faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage of prayer through meditating on the chief scenes of Christ's suffering and death. Soooooo a group of about 25-30 I would say walked to the jail, the courthouse, the state capitol, Downtown Presbyterian Church, St. Mary's Church, the construction site of the new convention center, and the downtown public library reading scripture, praying, and contemplating on what the stations of the cross mean for us today and for the impoverished and homeless in our community.

Jeannie, Lindsey, and Andrew, our fearless leaders, did an amazing job leading us through this and teaching us about how the poor are betrayed, condemned, crucified, helped and consoled on a daily basis.

After we finished the stations of the cross, majority of the people left and it was down to a group of 10 of us. We sat down and chatted for a bit about who we were and why we decided to partake in something like this. We also decided what were going to do for dinner which came to the conclusion that we were going to panhandle. This was an extremely difficult process for me. I hated the idea of asking people for money or food. I don't know why it was so difficult. Maybe because I was afraid they would ask me questions about why I was asking and I would fumble over my words or blow my cover or whatever. I'm not that good of a B.S'er. Anyways, new friend, Ian and I decided to see if we could get some chips from El Rey, one of the Mexican restaurants downtown. Ian literally had to coach me into talking to these people sitting on the patio for about 10 minutes. Once I finally had the nerve to ask, I walked up to them and asked if we could have their leftover chips....which they so kindly handed over to me...all bug eyed. Mindy and Rebecca were able to scrounge up $11 and some leftover Roma pizza that was sitting near a trashcan. The rest of the team found hot dogs and even more chips from SATCO!! I love SATCO even more now since they donated some of their food!!

Once we were all back together we went back to the Church street park and participated in the Lord's supper as well as supper of our own. I remember sitting there, not really even hungry and REALLY not wanting to eat the food that we found in the trashcan BUT I thought it wouldn't be right of me to not eat it because it came from the trash. Sometimes people can't choose where they want their food to come from, they just have to take what they can get at the time and this is what we could get, so I needed to eat it. As I was sitting there eating my cold bar-b-que chicken pizza in the church street park where many homeless people meet on a daily basis to rest their heads and chit chat with each other, I looked around seeing all the many high rise condos, which are most likely empty. I thought to myself....this would be miserable to sit here every day and watch all these people in their nice fancy suits go in and out of these buildings, seeing them watching television on their flat screen tv's from the comfort of their own couch, ( I could see inside their windows) wondering what it must be like to live the life they lead. I wonder for a homeless person if it sends them spiraling into depression or instills a fire of determination in them to try and get out of homelessness.

The rest of the night we talked about where to sleep and where to use the bathroom. We decided to break either into pairs or groups of 3 so we could go use the bathroom in the Renaissance Hotel with out being noticed. We were never noticed. We slept on the concrete steps ofMcKendree Methodist Church which I will mention why this church is amazing later on in my blog. It was so cold and all I had was a blanket. I spooned with a total stranger, well it was Rebecca, but I just met her and I didn't even care. I also spooned with Mindy too. I don't even like spooning that much. We slept out on the grass at first, thinking it would be softer, but it was so cold that we decided to get under the awning. I ended up sleeping on the doorway step using the Bible as my pillow. I did not get very much sleep.

Around 5am, we woke up and started on our Journey across town to the Nashville Rescue Mission where we sat outside of it and discussed the organization as well as the Command Center which stands across the street from it. At the command center, a day labor agency, homeless men from the streets line up there on a daily basis between 4 and 5am in hopes of getting chosen for work. The Command Center charges these men, who don't already have any money, for supplies to use while on site, such as work goggles, hard hat, work boots, transportation to and from site, lockers to keep their belongings in, and lunch. An 8 hour day of hard manual labor could add up to around $35 after you take all the fees out of it, which by the way, is absurd! And on top of that, you have to pay a fee in order to cash your check there! Some people may say, "well why don't they just go out there and get a better job?".....well gaining better, stable employment is more difficult for these men and women when they have criminal/misdemeanor charges on their backgrounds and they don't have a home address, proper identification, cell phone or transportation. Sometimes this is all the have to resort to. It's really sad that this agency is ran the way it is. Do away with all the dumb fees and pay these people what they deserve for their hard earned money. Give people a chance too!

The rest of the day we walked all around downtown Nashville in the pouring rain at first and then we finally had sunshine, praise Jesus! We used the $11 we had for breakfast at McDonalds! Dollar Menu definitely came in handy! We then walked to the public library to check out the civil rights floor which by the way is amazing and I need to spend more time there! While we were there we each read a part of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech." Honestly, I had never read the full speech before. It brought tears to my eyes and made me even want to change the world more than I do. I love love love MLK and wish I could take him out for coffee. The rest of the day was filled with things that blew my mind...things I did not know happened involving the homeless.

Although I would love to write about everything my eyes were opened too and all the things that blew my mind, I believe that Jeannie and Lindsey said it best in this article: http://amoshouse.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/enter-the-gates-and-weep-the-foolishness-of-mercy/

This has a powerful message and it's very long, so take some time to read through it.

I met so many amazing passionate people on this trip! Some were my age and out of college, some were older and much wiser, some lived under bridges in tents, some shared houses with each other, some were fixing to get married, some were with child, some were Vietnam veterans, some thought we were crazy and preached Jesus at us, some were generous and bought us hot dogs, some were homeless and some were not, some played beautiful music with spoons, some served us food underneath the Jefferson Street bridge, some told us about their family, the pain they were going through and some even prayed for us.

In the end, no matter who we are or where we came from or what we even did, we are all human beings who are loved by God and who are called to love each other. We aren't called to just sit there and do nothing about all the injustice in the world, nothing about the ones who are lost, the ones who are hurting....no we are called to do something! The time is now...not later....just do something!

If not us, then who?? If not now, then when??? John Lewis 1961

If you actually read ALL of this, I am thoroughly impress. Way 2 Go!!

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