Category Archives: Compassion

First Responders…with a dash of hope

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Sometimes terrible things happen and there’s absolutely no reason why. Sometimes there are reasons. And sometimes it just doesn’t matter. I don’t know much about this story, I’ve been watching from a distance and am unfamiliar with many of the details, and…well, I’m not sure it matters. Our local newspaper, The Columbian, writes about it here: http://su.pr/2vC1z5 and here http://su.pr/1tzvIe.

Essentially my friends had a shooting happen not only in their neighborhood but in their front yard. What was so amazing, what was so beautiful was that my friend is a firefighter. So as the person to call the police and as the first person to make it to victim who had been shot six times he was fully prepared to care for this boy in ways that you or I would not have been. Even further, however, my friends family (including his wife and boys) are people who have spent the last many years learning to respond with love, grace, and compassion to anyone and everyone who comes their way. So not only was he equipped to deal with the physical stuff (and it looks like the young man is going to survive!) but their family has been an overwhelmingly amazing ‘first responder’ to the family and neighborhood’s needs as well. From coordinating meals for the victim’s family for a month to now coordinating a neighborhood-wide effort to honor the family through inviting a communal voice of hope with chalk (I’ll explain in a moment) they are finding ways to be responders with hope.

Once again, The Columbian writes about it here: http://su.pr/2KOtPB

So here is what I’m getting to. If you live in Vancouver or Portland, I want to invite you on August 21st from 10:00-1:00 to join the Hough neighborhood to “Chalk the Walk“. Chalking the walk is a Vancouver tradition (and a very cool one at that) but this year at 1114 W 21st, Vancouver, WA 98660 it’s going to be a tradition marked with a deeper message when neighbors and friends counter the senseless violence that happened with messages of hope, life, and togetherness. Want to join?

Here’s the thing. I’m tempted to end this blog by saying something like “It’s not about Nate and Jasmine and how they’ve responded. It’s bigger than them. It’s about the neighborhood, it’s about you, its about…” but you know what? You know what the reality is? The reality is that we have so much to learn from this family, from Nate, Jas, and their boys (yes, their boys seem to always be a integral part in leading the charge as well!). If it were not for their posture of responsiveness to their neighbors none of us would be entered into this story. If it were not for their families core of love, grace, and compassion none of us would be invited to be ‘second responders’, if it were not for them this story would look very differently. So, you know what?, while this blog would probably feel better if I expanded it here at the end to include all of us as the ‘moral of the story participants’ the reality is that we’ve got to be learners here! We’ve got to learn from the Cook fam’ how to be first responders with a little dash of hope.

While we cannot (and should not…and I WILL NOT) try to pretend like any form of response at this point will dull the pain and terribleness of the situation–our hope, as always, is that God can transform shit into something beautiful. That’s what he does when we allow him to enter into our story. He doesn’t always get rid of the messiness (oh how I wish he would) but he is willing to enter into our narrative and do something magically beautiful. None of us know where or how this story is going to end, but because of this families willingness to enter into the fray we all are being invited to bring a candle of light into the bleak narrative in hopes that light might one day shine through it.

So will you join with us on August 21st from 10-1 at 1114 W 21st, Vancouver, WA 98660 as a second responder of hope?

"The Fence of Matthew Shepard"–Reposted Blog

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Richard Beck has not only written a great book that I’m almost all the way through but he’s also an exception blogger. His blog this morning struck me and made me ask myself “am I any different?”

“It’s gay awareness week.”

That’s what the killers said to Matthew Shepard before brutally beating and torturing him.

Eighteen hours after the prolonged beating a cyclist found Matthew, alive but unconscious, hanging on a fence (pictured right).

The cyclist initially mistook Matthew for a scarecrow.

Matthew was taken to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. We was in a coma. The autopsy later revealed that Matthew had been struck in the head 18 times with a pistol causing severe brain-stem damage. Matthew never regained consciousness. He died at 12:53 a.m. on October 12, 1998. He was twenty-two years old.

The Westboro Baptist Church attended Matthew’s funeral.

They held up signs.

“No Tears for Queers”

“Fag Matt in Hell”Many of us recall the news coverage of Matthew Shepard’s death. The outcry was enormous, eventually leading to advocacy groups requesting that attacks made on the basis of sexual orientation be added to the federal definition of a hate crime. After numerous setbacks and a great deal of political posturing the legislation was finally passed in 2009 by the US Senate and House. President Obama signed the bill into law on October 28, 2009, eleven years after Matthew’s death.

…

People wonder from time to time why I write about the relationship between the gay community and the Christian church. It’s not a comfortable topic where I live and work. But the answer is pretty simple.

I’m haunted by the scarecrow hanging on the fence.

In James Cone’s recent book The Cross and the Lynching Tree he makes the argument that the cross and the lynching tree need to form a dialectic. If the two are separated the cross becomes innocuous and meaningless. As Cone writes:

Unfortunately, during the course of 2,000 years of Christian history, this symbol of salvation has been detached from any reference to the ongoing suffering and oppression of human beings…The cross has been transformed into harmless, non-offensive ornament that Christians wear around their neck.Cone argues that during the Civil Rights struggle the Christian symbol of salvation should have been, though it was not, connected with the lynching tree–an actual and ongoing location of human oppression and cruelty. For when the two become separated–when the cross hung around our neck or in our church fails to bring to mind current and ongoing locations of cruelty in our world–then the Christian faith has lost its way.

The cross, to be a truly Christian symbol, must bring to mind the lynching trees of the world.

Christ hangs from the cross as Blacks hung from trees. As Matthew Shepard hung from a fence.

Cursed scarecrows all.

As it says in the Good Book: “Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” (Deut. 21.23)

Until we see Jesus standing with the cursed we will never understand the central symbol of our faith nor what it means to be a Christian.

Saul falls on his face on the road to Damascus. He looks into the blinding light and asks, “Who are you Lord?” And the reply comes: “I am one you are persecuting.”

Jesus hangs on the crosses of the world, from the trees and from the fences. It is as Elie Wiesel describes in his memoir Night. After watching a young boy hanged by the Nazis in the concentration camp:

Behind me, I heard a man asking:

“Where is God now?”

And I heard a voice within me answer him:

“Where is He? He is–He is hanging here on this gallows…”I don’t want to be read as drawing a strict equivalence between the history of African-Americans in the United States and that of the gay community. I don’t want to put sorrows in the balance. Gay persons are not being lynched and hung from the trees as Blacks were in the Jim Crow south. Because of this we might conclude that the fence of Matthew Shepard is an isolated incident, a crime committed by two hateful and deranged individuals. That the death of Matthew Shepard has nothing to do with me, has nothing to do with you, has nothing to do with the church.

And yet. And yet. I am haunted by the fence of Matthew Shepard.

As I reflect on my Christian walk I often ponder this question: If I had lived in Nazi Germany would I have stood up for the Jews?

Most Christians didn’t. And as I psychologist I’m familiar with studies like the Sanford Prison study and the Milgram Obedience study. I’m aware that normal, god-fearing people can do horrible things when pressure is put upon them.

So what makes me so special? Statistically speaking, odds are I would have made a good Nazi.

I also think a lot about the Civil Rights Movement in the US. I ask myself: If I had lived in the South would I have marched with Martin Luther King, Jr.? As Cone asks, would the cross in my church have made me think of the lynching trees in my nation? Would I have seen the connection?

Again, most Christians didn’t.

And I keep wondering. Am I any different? What makes me think I’d be a courageous agent of light in those circumstances? Odds are I’d be just like everyone else.

And then I think about the fence of Matthew Shepard.

Let me tell you what keeps me up at night. My deepest fear in life is that I’m going to end up on the wrong side of God’s history. Like so many Christians before me. My fear is that a moment will come when I am asked to stand up for those hanging on the trees, literally and symbolically, and I’ll respond with “That has nothing to do with me. That has nothing to do with the church.”

Where are the cursed scarecrows of this world? And does the sight of the cross bring them to mind?

I’ve read a lot of books and written a lot of words about Christian theology. But really, it’s all pretty simple.

Jesus hangs from crosses, from trees and fences.

And to see that, like Saul on the Road to Damascus, is the day of your conversion.

The day you become a Christian.

Compassion Vancouver in Hindsight

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The weeks leading up to Compassion Vancouver were chaos. Posting fliers, hanging posters, and printing those fliers and posters minutes prior to their needed delivery. In one afternoon we lost all of our one eye clinic partner in the morning only to gain a new one by afternoon and then another by the evening of that same day. In that last week volunteers flooded the online signup, social service agencies came out of the woodwork to join in, and last minute doctors volunteered. That last week was chaotic. Who’s buying the hotdog buns?! Who’s picking up the coffee? Do we have enough shuttle drivers? What about garbage cans!? Recycling for water bottles? Do we have enough water bottles? Even amidst the chaos, however, were reminders of what we’re all about. There was a unique request that I do not have permission to detail here regarding a family in need of emergency orthodontic work. While there were no orthodontists at Compassion Vancouver, when I heard the special request I was confident that our team of people would be able to find the resources necessary to bless this family. In 24 hours two emails were sent off requesting help, and one private clinic offered to do whatever work was necessary for this family for free. It was beautiful that amidst the chaos of planning and preparing, our dental team was able and willing to do extra work to provide a special service for a family. This story is a perfect way to capture what I loved so much about being a part of this event. Compassion, dignity, and love are central to the identity of the Compassion events. What a blessing!

Back to the chaos…so many questions, so much to do, and all that chaos culminated on Friday-the day before the event. As some of us showed up five hours prior to the volunteer training that would happen that evening we discovered that the tables and chairs were not delivered. Try hosting a health care event without 60 tables and 150 chairs. As the school district tried to figure out what to do and what happened, and as I started counting in my head how many tables I could gather from local churches, up drove the truck–only a few hours after we discovered its absence. As we began setting up the event, constant adjustments were made as each group (dental, medical, social service agencies, etc.) began to see the reality of their needs for space and materials. We setup bounce houses for the kids, carried in mobile dental chairs, wheelchairs, boxes of medical equipment, etc. Essentially what we were creating was a mix between a M.A.S.H. unit, a mess hall, and a preschool all in one! And whether we were ready or not, come 7pm in flooded hundreds of volunteers. I nearly teared up as I looked out from the stage at a gymnasium filled with individuals who gave up their whole summer weekend to serve at Compassion Vancouver. It was breathtaking. (skipping forward a bit…I remember in an one hour stretch of time on Saturday around 11am I had to start turning away additional volunteers because we were already overstaffed. What a problem to have!)

On Saturday my day started at 5am as I got up, showered, printed some last minute documents that we’d need, and headed out to the school at five ’till six. At 6:45 we had our first guests in line waiting to get dental treatment. By 7:00 a line had begun. By 7:30 the first wave of guests had been triaged and shuttled to an off site clinic for dental work. While the event did not technically open until 9am, by 8:00 the social service fair was filled with people (though all the social service were not there yet) and both haircuts and chair massages started. Our six stylists and our massage therapist worked with only a handful of short breaks from 8:00 until 3:00. I truly consider their manual labor one of the greatest gifts that was offered at Compassion Vancouver. And even though I tried to elicit it, I heard zero complaints about cramping hands, arms, or sore feet from any of these dedicated technicians!

The social service fair, which functioned as the central hub of the whole event, was filled with thirty different social service agencies from our neighborhoods. It was a beautiful blend of addiction recovery groups, Christian ministries, services for women and for children, gardening opportunities, mentoring programs, marriage enrichment opportunities, legal aid, and more. Not only do the social service that were present already do so much and offer so much to our neighborhoods but at Compassion Vancouver they were gracious, kind, and thorough in their presentation and conversation.

I will do my best to post and forward on the stories that begin to emerge from the event. I have been out of commission over the last week and have therefore not worked to solicit stories from participants. Because my work was with the social service fair I cannot speak to what happened with those who were working in the onsite dental clinics, the onsite medical clinics, the shuttling to off site dental clinics and optometrists, those working with the children, the team of wonderful hospitality people who brought trays and trays of food to volunteers, people waiting in lines, and doctors working. Let me close by giving some of the numbers. Some of these are estimates at this point while others are more solid. But they all help to give a picture of what happened on August 7th at our first Compassion Vancouver event:

  • 250 volunteers
  • 128 guests received dental work
  • 125 guests received medical treatment
  • 300 Danner boots were given away (via custom personal fittings)
  • 30 social service agencies present in the social service fair
  • 700 meals served
  • 100+ haircuts given away
  • 130 kids went through the children’s program
  • 50 custom fit prescription glasses were given away
  • Estimated 400 guests were a part of Compassion Vancouver

This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Good stuff. Thank you to everyone who dedicated time and energy at the event itself, before the event, and those who are currently serving in follow up services. You are an amazing bunch of people.

If you still need treatment there are additional Compassion events happening. Visit www.compassionconnect.com and get in line at 6:30 and get your work done!

peace.