Have You Seen Joan?

Sugar Grove United Methodist Church September 26, 1999 Year A Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost "Have You Seen Joan?" Phillippians 2:1-13 Introduction of myself What I do My family History of my life My reason for ministry One very significant event in my life still stands out as very influential in my ministry. It has probably been about ten years ago now. I had taken off from college with one year to go. I was a senior at Northwestern majoring in journalism. Yet school was not fulfilling for me. During that time, as I questioned my life, I felt that if I had it to do all over again, that I would probably change my major to religion. Yet even tr and trembling. In all that Paul is saying, he is not talking about our individual salvation, yet the salvation of the church. As the church works out it's salvation it is redeeming the whole world. The way in which we treat other people as Christians is important because we are here today because we have already been transformed by the words of the gospel. As we relate to other people God is at work in their lives. Joan and I eventually moved out of our apartment and parted ways. I went back to þ'N ° T› Ð ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ‹0 B3 €2 Š2 š2 š2 š2 š2 à=Ð/ Ð 8 d š2 ÿÿÿÿ Ð ¬2 – ‰0 Rev. Harriette Cross Sugar Grove United Methodist Church September 26, 1999 Year A Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost "Have You Seen Joan?" Phillippians 2:1-13 Introduction of myself What I do My family History of my life My reason for ministry One very significant event in my life still stands out as very influential in my ministry. It has probably been about ten years ago now. I had taken off from college with one year to go. I was a senior at Northwestern majoring in journalism. Yet school was not fulfilling for me. During that time, as I questioned my life, I felt that if I had it to do all over again, that I would probably change my major to religion. Yet even though I had taken the time off, I was still not happy. I had one quarter left before I would graduate. And looking into the darkness of the future, I had no idea of where I would go. And more importantly, I did not have the energy to find out. I was tired of working to pay tuition, tired of writing papers, and just plain tired of what I felt to be the red tape of life. So, on the day that I had to move of my rented room for the summer, instead of registering for that last quarter, I put my things in storage and went to a homeless shelter. I did not feel that I could return to home. The shelter in Evanston has room for 30 people. 25 men and 5 women. Usually there are about 4 women who stay. We were allowed to stay for three months as long as you followed the rules. In by 10 p.m., no drinking, smoking or fighting with other guest. And you had to be ready to leave by seven in the morning. Joan was my roommate. She had come from Milwaukee. she was 34 and worked as a journalist to support her two children. As we got to know each other, I discovered that she was addicted to cocaine and alcohol and had been diagnosed as mentally ill. As we got to know each other in the shelter, every knew that there was always a very sad story about why each of us were there. I actually never asked Joan how she got to Chicago from /Milwaukee, but with that combination of problems I didn't feel that I had to. After three months, Joan and I were given a transitional apartment, where we could stay free and save up money to make a deposit on an apartment. the experience had a profound effect on my because it taught me a lot about how we relate to each other as people. And how driven people are to treat you according to stereotypes. Today homelessness has become an obsession in our society. Social services and the media have created this image of who homeless people are and how society should deal with them. We treat situations as if they were problems to be solved. During this time, as I went on with my daily activities, sometimes I felt that I was able to listen to common conversations with a whole new perspective. I listened to many conversations on homelessness. People seemed to see it as a situation with easy solutions. Perhaps if we had enough affordable housing, or enough jobs, or enough people to help then everyone would have a place to go. Or perhaps if we could just raise the self esteem of the people and teach them a better way of life, then things would be okay. I remember listening to a speech given by a man in agony as he spoke about a lady that he had saw sitting on a park bench. He was literally in tears as he told our group of how he should have taken her to a shelter, and how her whole life was ruined because he had failed to stop and told her that he cared and that he could help her. I remember being so frustrated because I could not help but to wonder why he was placing judgment on a woman he had never even met. why would he assume that just because she was sitting on a park bench that she was homeless. Why didn't he just speak to the woman to see what was wrong. Like many people he was willing to do what was considered his good Christian deed for the day, but he wasn't willing to actually relate to the woman. I feel that it is so important of me to give this sermon, because we all tend to depend so much on our impressions and understandings as we relate to people. Yet we dont go any further. To be charitable looks good on our Christian resume. So we give to causes in hopes they are making a difference. Yet what are we really giving to people? and why? But anyway, to continue my story. As Joan and I lived together, in the early days when she was still coherent. One of the first things that she did was write an article about her experience for the chicago Tribune. One night before she turned in her story, we talked about it. Her words that night have stuck with me all of this time. In her interviewing other people in the shelter for the story, she realized that if they were to shut the shelter down and to tell us all to go home. Not one person would have been at a lost for where to go. Yet everyone had a relevant reason for not being there. She went on to say that the search for a homeless shelter is not really a search for a physical bed, or food or clothing. People who chose the tramp trail ( as living in shelters was affectionately called) are really on a spiritual journey. They are in search for a spiritual bed, spiritual covering and spiritual food. I was not born a Methodist. The seeds of my decision to devote my life to the Methodist church began in the help that I received. Because that was the church that provided for me all of those things when I needed them. The mystery of God was not in the physical help that I had received. It was in the grace that I felt that for the first time in my life I did not have to behave in a particular way in order to get what I needed to survive. I didn't have to worry about what was going to happen to me, I didn't have to earn my keep or answer any questions. I was just taken care of. One day, a Methodist minister brought his campus ministry group to the shelter to worship with us. Afterwards, he came up to me and told me that I appeared to be such a happy person, with such a glow on my face. I think it was just the reflection of my bright purple sweatshirt, yet it was something that I needed to hear. After he said that to me, I didn't need to be there anymore. I could finally take the next step forward into a new life. I often wondered if the people who volunteered to help us realized that people go to homeless shelters in search of the same things that people who haven't lost their patience with society would go to church. As members of the shelter grew together and we developed a sense of community, each person would open up and tell their story of how they ended up in the situation. They were not stories of houses burning down, or robbers taking everything. They were stories of significant relationships in their lives breaking down. They were stories of marriages falling apart, or of alienation from parents, or of dealing with the death of someone close. Every single one of us was on a journey in search of something that they lacked either spiritually or emotionally as a result of that loss. Some people can get that spiritual fulfillment from going to work every day, or going to church or spending time with family and friends. We can get that fulfillment by having normal relationships. But when something in those relationships go wrong and it affects not only your mind but your spirit that when people seek the tramp trail. It is called a trail, because most people go from one shelter to another. Once they have stayed the maximum days at one place, then they go to another. They tell their sad story to one person after another, and after awhile they get good at getting over on the system. And once you get to the point where you have been in the system for awhile and you learn that you can be taken care of for free, most people get accustomed to that lifestyle. They get accustomed to making others do what they are capable of doing themselves. Which is why even though I have been in that situation, I dont have a whole lot of sympathy for homeless people. My experience is not common, I am one of the few people who got into the system and chose to get out. Most of the people that I stayed with in the shelter are still in the system 10 years later. And I am not comfortable with the agencies that serve them because I don't understand why they spend so much time addressing the physical symptoms of a deeper issue. Joan was typical of many people shelters. They have many dysfunctional habits that have alienated them from home. Living in the shelter actually supports those addictions and dysfunction's. As you can probably guess, my passion was for the church that saved me. My passion was to go back to all of those nice church people who saved me with one request. That in the midst of all of your giving to help people, to please give them Christ. As you address the physical issues of life, to also address the spiritual issues also. In the Phillippians scripture, Paul tells the church that Christ emptied himself in order to become a servant for a of humankind. As the son of God, Christ is divine. But he knew that in order to bring salvation to our experience, he had to come off of his divine pedestal and share in the human experience. He felt what we felt, he lived as we all lived in order to understand what needed to be done so that we would follow him to salvation. As he became a servant for us, he became humble, obedient and sacrificing. What does that mean for us as we follow Christ? What it mean to serve other people? What does it mean to bring others to salvation? It means that we bring love and compassion and encouragement to all that we do. That as we serve others, as we address the physical needs of people that we also give them spiritual needs. People all over the world are attracted to Christ because of the overwhelming sense of love that he was able to pass on. In this hymn commemorating the love of Christ, Paul also encourages us to have the mind of Christ. That does not mean to copy Christ. There is no need to do that. Yet it means that we are to live our lives the way Christ lived his. We are to invest ourselves in the well-being of other people. Christ should be obvious in everything that we do. The love and compassion and encouragement that we get from others must be passed on. When I say that I want to tell the church to give Christ in the midst of all of all of their other giving. I dont meant giving Bible verses, or telling others about how they should go to church. I mean letting the love of God show through in all that you do. In the way that you relate to people, in the way that you give. That is what people need in order to be truly spiritually freed and saved. Everything that we do is the work of Christ. Paul's final word of advice in giving Christ as we give ourselves is to work out your own salvation with your fea finish my last quarter at Northwestern and Joan went back to Milwaukee. We did not part on good terms. As time went on, Joan became completely immersed with her addiction, which caused a lot of tension between us. At one point we had five other men living in our apartment with us. Occasionally as I would see those men on the streets, we would always ask. Have you seen Joan? No one has seen Joan since she left Evanston. But what about you? Have you seen Joan? or someone like Joan? And when you see her, how would you react? What would you have to say or do ? Remember to have the mind of Christ in all that you say and do. Amen. istering for that last quarter, I put my things in storage and went to a homeless shelter. I did not feel that I cou