This past week, nine people accepted
the challenge to become the hands and feet of Jesus – as well as your hands and
feet – by representing our church family on a mission trip to Maine Seacoast
Mission in Cherryfield, Maine.
Cherryfield and the surrounding small rural towns are in Washington
County, one of the most impoverished counties in all of the United States. Based in Bar Harbor, the Mission provides
spiritual, health, and youth development programs in such coastal and island
communities from mid-coast to Downeast Maine.
Through food pantries, emergency
financial assistance, home repairs, in school, out of school and summer youth
leadership and development programs for children in grades 4- 12, the mission
brings support, compassion, and hope to the people it serves.
Our team (myself, Joe Foran, Caryl
Gilman, Marie Guerin, Martha Morrison, Lois and Chuck Waldron, Sue Dexter, and
Tom Wiley) was based on the Mission’s Downeast Campus. In addition to a staff and office building,
there is the Edge Community Center, which houses the youth programs in addition
to the Table of Plenty, a weekly community-wide supper which has managed to
bring what, in many places would be disparate factions unable to see eye to
eye, into a cohesive community committed to bettering the lives of one another.
There is also a building called the
Weald Bethel Chapel which became our “elegantly appointed” home away from home
for the week – lots of space upstairs for cots and mattresses, a downstairs
kitchen and eating area, bathroom, and outdoor showers. It is no longer used as
a chapel per se, but Martha discovered that its name means “a forest sanctified
by the presence of God” – and I do think that a Holy Presence graced us both in
the chapel and on the jobsite this week.
We began each day after breakfast with
a centering time. Every morning, someone
read the poem you just heard as well as a different translation of the reading
from James. The Message Translation was
the one WE found most meaningful. Then
we headed off for a full day at our assigned jobsite.
On
Thursday, the day it rained, we completed some work instead around the chapel
on the handicapped ramp and outdoor showers before knocking off early to visit
the Downeast Salmon Federation in East Machias, a non-profit facility raising
over 135,000 salmon fry to introduce into the local river in an effort to
repopulate these fish that are now on the federal endangered species list.
After work each day, we returned to the
chapel for a well-deserved shower and then all pitched in to prepare delicious
meals ranging from stir-fry to burgers to turkey with all the fixins’. We ended
our days with an evening reflection, prepared each night by one of the
team.
In the quiet candlelight of our
reflection time, we wrote haiku and 6 word sentences. We listened to a sung version of the Prayer
of St. Francis and reflected on important questions about Christian mission and
our expectations and attitudes toward those we serve. Then we would always end our time together
with the reading of a psalm, the singing of a song that Caryl had chosen, and a
sort of benediction lifted and paraphrased from John Irving’s novel, The
Ciderhouse Rules: “Good night you queens of New England and Princes of
Maine.”
Each one of us kept a journal during
our time away. I hope I can give you a
flavor of our experience by reading excerpts from all of our journals – and by
showing you what the week was like through the visual presentation Joe put
together from the many photos he and I took.
One evening as l lit our candles for
our reflection time, one candle for each day that had passed, I spoke a single
word, which I intended to summarize each of our days. The words were travel, overwhelming,
opinionated, breakthrough, and, I would add now, community.
The following journal excerpts are both
a day-to-day recounting as well as a musing on those five daily words.
Here we go again. Three and a half hours driving with a stop
for lunch. What does this journey hold
for us? I am leaning toward a great moving
experience. As I said – faith,
fellowship, and fun. Let’s hope that
frustration does not rear its ugly head!
The scripture at worship today was just
right – get out with the people in person.
Here is a sign that our team will work
closely together. We each brought our
own individual lunches, but when we stopped, those lunches were arrayed up and
down the picnic table – an open invitation and never spoken assumption that all
was to be shared – egg salad, vegies, chips, blueberries, home made chocolate
chip cookies. Perhaps in that simple
gesture we were like the earliest Christian congregations where everything was
held in common. Is sharing the basis of
true community?
What will I experience this week, and
what will I see differently that can help me make sense of my life and start to
ask myself different questions before I make decisions?
I hope to be coaxed out of my comfort
zone. There’s no room for “can’t” or
“not sure” when there are certain things to be done in a certain order to get
the overall job done.
I expect to work very hard this
week. The jobs will be much more
physical than the normal workday, but I am ready for it. Perhaps I am like the awestruck youth on
Christmas morning in anticipation of what lies ahead for us.
My thoughts turn to all the things we
didn’t bring – all the things we will need to take to the jobsite. But I need to let go and let God. Things will work out fine. They always do. Besides, we can only handle what God expects
from us – nothing more. God gives us
what we can handle and the desires and knowledge to overcome all
obstacles.
May we grow stronger in
compassion. May we encounter God’s
spirit in each other as we get down into the mud together to serve
humanity. Guide me as I strive to be
present in loving kindness in the midst of pain and suffering, joy and peace. Help me to embrace it all as I have the
privilege to serve this week and to be in fellowship with such a warm and
generous group.
OVERWHELMING
We will be adding insulated skirting to
a 60+ year old trailer that houses a family of four – in addition to Muffin, an
elderly dog, and a variety of cats.
Laurie appears to be a stay-at-home/unemployed Mom. Danny is employed seasonally when he can get
work. He was on a lobster boat most of
the time we were working on his home. I
understand that their annual income as listed on their application to the
Mission for this work was $15,000. Sky is their15 year old daughter who is
recovering from a compound leg fracture and getting used to a new set of
braces. Derek is their quiet middle
school-aged son.
Earlier this spring, the trailer was
condemned because part of the roof had caved in, and the children were removed
temporarily from their home. Since then,
volunteers from Maine Seacoast Mission have put on a new roof, which seemed to
satisfy DHHS on the livability issue, so the family has been reunited.
As is often the case with rural
poverty, the signs are more hidden than overt:
a cracked septic line that had never been fixed and leaked sewage, a
gerry-rigged series of ancient propane tanks in need of repair, no contract
with a propane company for lack of upfront money, obesity and the tendency
toward it most likely the result of food insecurity – not lack of food but lack
of the ability to shop for much other than processed foods with all that high
fructose corn syrup – a sense of hopelessness, a feeling that this is the way
life is, and a loss of energy perhaps best exemplified in the old tires and
rusted tools lying around, the complete lack of landscaping, and the nasty wasp
and hornet nests left to multiply in the walls.
The only thing that seemed precious to Laurie was a poorly maintained
lilac bush that her father had given her and that she asked us not to remove.
We arrive at the job site, and it feels
somewhat overwhelming – lots of stuff around that has to be moved, lots of
digging, sawing, building to be done – WOW!
We will have a lot of cleaning up to do
before we can actually begin work on the skirting – hauling, digging, clearing
brush.
No decent plumbing, rotted wood, and
lots of stuff all over the yard. I have
seen such places many times, but the impact of discovering people actually live
there is humbling.
I’m thankful for the energy to bend,
lift, throw, kneel, give something of myself to others.
Lois went right to the digging and
leveling. I think she worked on it
almost across the whole front of the trailer.
I liked working with her and with Martha on measuring and cutting. She is very calm and right there with tools
you might need.
The team is working well. People see a job that needs to be done and
just “get their hands dirty.” And oh,
also their face, shirt, pants, and places in between.
Joe and Chuck are the problem
solvers. Chuck said one evening that he
had not done that sort of thing in a long time and did not know if he was still
capable of it (Believe me, Chuck, you are!).
Each segment of insulating foam board and plywood needs to be attached
to a wooden frame. Those frames need to
be appropriately reinforced and fitted plumb under the trailer. Since the trailer is so old, there are rusted
structural flanges to be taken into account as well in getting a proper
fit. The two of them spent a good part
of their day on hands and knees or prone:
measuring, digging, shoving, digging some more.
Building and installing the frames in
picky work and slow going – doesn’t feel very productive. Each frame has to be custom-built, and the
next one can’t really be customized until the first one is installed.
Like the tortoise – slow and steady
wins the race. Building the frames takes
time, but just like all we do. If we are
in a hurry we don’t enjoy it. Also we do
not build a strong basis as we are taught each and every day of our lives.
We all know something that needs to be
done but not always how to do it.
There was a lot more progress made than
most people had expected – in spite of things like wasp and hornet nests and structural
pieces of the trailer which became working obstacles.
Marie is the Chop Saw Queen.
It’s part of my make up to think we are
supposed to stretch and take on hard work and not expect God to carry us
through. But what if the whole point is
that God is like Tom and Joe and Caryl and creates thoughts in us that we then
examine? God starts us; we choose what to dare, and God keep us going. Yesterday, Joe said, “Come on – it needs to
get done and you can do it.” I said,
“Not sure, but I’ll try – and don’t let me hurt you.” Joe arranged the task so I could do it. It was not about him, and now I can dare more
next time. And so in that recognition, I
cry out “Abba”, which a teacher three years ago told me means “daddy” in
Aramaic: my daddy on this trip as well
as my Heavenly Father.
Where two or more are gathered in my
name – there is love. St. Francis’
prayer always grounds me and nourishes my soul and my heart. I want to begin each day reflection on this
with intention.
I love painting.
Faith into action.
The teams shift depending on what needs
there are. There is no animosity for
folks taking breaks as we each are pushing ourselves at different paces.
“Being useful”: my Mom’s voice echoes to me.
Many hands make light work they say –
it’s often times like that one can accept the difference they’ve made but it
also makes me think that another saying “it takes a village” might be more
appropriate. We contributed in keeping
this family together.
Hot sun, misty rain, bee stings, dirt,
mud, bandaids, power tools, measuring, cutting, hauling, lifting, fitting,
refitting, refitting again, laughing, eating, praying, reflecting, asking more
difficult questions than perhaps we have asked before. No mission trip is the same.
OPINIONATED
What is the purpose of mission? Why are some people so easy to serve – and
others not?
It continues to puzzle me why people
would throw trash in their yards. This
worksite reminds me of India. It puzzles
me how careless some can be of their surroundings. I need education on this.
Despite the pigpen around the mobile
home, there are some beautiful trees.
Nancy helped me liberate a small one from undergrowth. I would like to know the skill/secret to
liberating people from patterns of living that are not positive and lead to
poor decision-making.
I understand diversity and varied
levels of motivation, but I wonder why.
Will the answer be revealed in the afterlife – or will we not need to
know?
How can a family with an annual income
of $15,000 afford a satellite TV dish and a separate internet dish? Is TV really that much of a necessity?
Trying to keep positive and smile -
this puts me at peace. I truly am here to contribute and re-assess.
Yesterday Dad raised an interesting
question – why do you go? Is it for the
people you help? Or is it for what you
gain in your heart and soul?
I said the
former, and Dad pretty much insisted it must be the latter, but that our goal
must be about the changes we know our work will bring – in us, in our faith,
our sense of helping and being a part of the world – and in one sense of doing
what God would do – and does – through us and our energy. I don’t know how to answer the question but
maybe I will understand a bit better by Friday.
Why is the family indoors watching TV
all day? Why does Maine Seacoast Mission
not have an expectation that the family will help out in some way – sweat
equity? Sometimes I feel like I’m a
hired hand, a nameless contractor here to do business.
This family is so different from last
year’s client we served. Their level of
poverty was so easily traced to uncontrollable medical issues that brought them
down and left them in a financial bind they could not escape. This year’s family is so different. I suspect
this is second or third generation poverty. We have all sensed their lack of
communication with us. Why? Is there a
sense of entitlement here? Are they
embarrassed?
For the family, there seems to be
little knowledge of public health.
Reminds me of the novel by Ken Follett (Pillars of the Earth)
about medieval living.
We are all trying to make sense of
this. Maybe we were spoiled last
year. If this year’s work had been our
first year’s work, would we have been so eager to return?
What is mission? What should our relationship with this family
be? Is what we are doing just a bandaid
– eliminating a symptom of poverty but not touching the cause? Or is a bandaid enough? Who decides who is deserving?
BREAKTHROUGH
Who are we to jump to conclusions? But it can be second nature to do so.
Thank you, God, for your guidance and
compassion. What would you do and in
what spirit would you do this – our work with this family?
Just read of the passing of Robin
Williams. That makes you stop and think
about how vulnerable we all are in this little world. We may never know all the details but as I
have learned very often dealing with my demons….sometimes the inside doesn’t
match the outside.
I was new to the endeavor and knew not
what to expect other than the tales of prior days and pictures to date.
Though I often note the failings of my own aging home, or the upkeep that needs
tending... I realize I live in a very modest home but it's much more than
several have in this far northeast corner of our own state of Maine.
First observations are not good, and I don't even realize how judgmental
and prejudice my thoughts are until hours later.
As I sit back later and hear a few
others share their dismay at the living conditions, surmising what has brought
the family to this situation, and I realize my thoughts were not alone. I
reach a bit deeper to think of my own living conditions. I realize that
this group is trying to make a difference and feeling challenged with the tasks
at hand but it's a step. Who am I to judge? I certainly don't have
the cleanest house, I don't have the most kempt yard in the neighborhood, and I
don't strive to 'have it all'. We each prioritize and either fight for
more or accept what we have - thus the phrase "to each his own" but
I'm struggling with how bad things must be to just 'accept'.
Maurice (our at-the-site contact from
the Mission) asked me what I thought of the people we worked with in Washington
County. After hearing his own story, I
will say: “Maurice, when I think of
Washington County, I’ll think of peo0ple like you who care, help,
participate. Learning his story has
taken away the argh of what appeared to be a family in opposite mind-set. I do not know their circumstances totally, so
no more judgment!
Dad was right, you know….Yes, it’s
about giving and doing as God would do, but it’s also and probably most about
what can change within our hearts and perspectives. It’s about not just doing and execution and
getting it done but also about listening and empathy and communicating –
with each
other, but also with the family we serve.
We talked about our reaction to the
trailer and the family and then realized that maybe we had a few prejudices
ourselves, some expectations, and some disappointments about our
experience. So Dad was right. We needed to be self-conscious about the
importance of OUR experience and pour in a few cups of “what’s it like for our
homeowners “and a few tablespoons of communication with a pinch of common
sense.
We got to a very good place together
and it took all of us to get there and it was very good, the way it happened.
I guess maybe we need to be less
concerned about the satellite dishes on the roof, the whys and wherefores of
the homeowner’s lack of financial resources or their relationship with us as a
mission team – and more concerned with what we were called to do – upgrade a
pretty dismal living space so that the family – Laurie, Danny, Sky, Derek,
Muffin, and the cats - can remain together under one roof and in one
trailer. It may not be the sort of life
we would want to be living, and we should never stop asking the bigger
questions, never stop trying to untangle the roots of poverty, never stop
walking in the footsteps of Jesus, but maybe for this week, we were called to
set aside our prejudices and expectations and be content knowing that we have
been that small church with a big heart in action, that we have made a
difference.
COMMUNITY
I look forward to pizza with the family
on Friday and getting to know them.
After our breakthrough reflection, I
think we are all feeling upbeat about the work we are doing.
We have made it to the top of the
mission roller coaster and are on the way down.
Powerful and meaningful reflection last night. My Lord, make me an instrument of your ways. Take my hand and guide me on this
mission. The work we are doing is your
work.
On our final day, we got to do some
stuff from the heart as well as from the hands.
I made a garden box for the front of the trailer.
We transplanted small evergreens and
golden rod and strawberry plants to the front and side of the trailer. The practical reason was for erosion control,
but the heart reason was to add a bit of beauty to this place. Maybe Laurie will try to keep the plants and
trees watered and maybe do some gardening of her own. Being outdoors working the soil is such a
calming thing to do. Maybe planting and
maintaining a garden could give her a bit of control in a life, which must so
often seem out-of-control.
I really loved adding a little extra to
both hold the dirt and make it more beautiful.
The front of the trailer now features a
transplanted garden, properly sloped drainage, and on the side a new dryer
vent. What seemed like a daunting task
at the beginning of the week is taking shape.
In addition to functional changes,
there have been aesthetic ones too. Very
satisfying week!
I have learned or used skills that I
don't use every day, I've stepped out of my box and gone on this trip, and I've
made a small difference. So, it's about me and feeling comfortable with
myself, but it's also the feeling that we were a team.
Lois works hard doing everything from
shoveling to putting in screws to cutting blue foam to painting to
landscaping. And, if you ask her if she
want’ me to “spell her”, the answer is no!
Chuck, in addition to being a retired
chief actuary, is a major problem solver.
He is also one with the puns, keeping us suitably entertained with his
crazy word plays.
Joe laughed more this year than last –
either because Chuck tells funny jokes or they just had a good time problem
solving together.
Martha is the perfect surgical or
building assistant, bringing just what you need when you need it – when she is
not picking up, shoveling, measuring, and more.
Tom is the chief boy scout – always
prepared, lots of energy, and a master at putting the plywood skirting on the
trailer.
Sue will do anything….dig, hold screws,
screw in screws, use a pick ax to dig out dirt, landscape, and more. She does it all quietly and patiently.
Nancy, our spiritual project manager,
made sure we had a reflective time in the morning and night. Her choice of the poem was inspired – really
had me ready to spread the love as I could each day.
Caryl (who wrote this) was in my
element as project manager on Wednesday when I knew what needed to get done and
could have two crews working on separate but related work.
Marie is the Chop Saw Queen (the
CSQ). She stood there for hours each day
cutting pieces for the boxes to hold the skirting – or cutting whatever else
was needed. She also did other things as
well – putting in screws, grading, and more.
This is quite a crew and just right to
do the work we did.
I remember the poem, and I see stardust
everywhere!
Working together, struggling together,
learning together, eating together, laughing together, sharing together,
praying together, singing together, accepting one another. So much gratitude – thank you, God.
It is time to go home. Eyes are squinting and very tired looking,
but we have made it through. Hopefully
we will help Laurie and her family stay together.
The trip is awesome and teaches us what
we should be as a fellow Christian. Yet
each and every day we get carried away with our personal needs and not those of
our fellows.
We all
need to practice being a better Christian each and every day. Be more for the men and women around us and
less for ourselves. What a concept!
This week was a lesson in realizing how
often we make assumptions, how near to the surface our prejudices really lie,
how the roots of rural poverty are tangled and many, how we are called to set
all this aside, to be in the moment for a while, and to be Christ-like in our
actions toward others.
I have gained more spiritually by being
a part of our group than I have ever imagined.
Thank you, God, for taking me out of my comfort zone and into the
mud. Amen.
by Rev. Nancy Foran, Raymond Village Community Church (U.C.C.)
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