The God Dance: Part 1

Let me tell you a relatively boring story, and then explain why I believe it represents the most beautiful and compelling truths about reality.

Two weeks ago, my friend James and I decided to put in two more garden boxes by First CRC, but we didn’t have any wood. We knew that our friend Shane is a skilled craftsman who might have some spare. When I asked him if he had any spare, he went almost immediately to buy some for us and offered to let us use his heavy-duty drill. With the materials and the tools, James and I set about to sawing and drilling.

Shane offered to buy us the wood and lent us his drill freely. To me, that sounds like charity. Was Shane causing dependence in James and I? Would it have been better for us to learn where to buy our own wood and to invest in our own drill?

James has played the role of mentor in my life the last few years. Was this a ministry opportunity for him, to spend more time with me and guide me along life’s dangerous path?

Or now that I am a Community Connector, was this an opportunity for me to bring James and Shane together to accomplish a neighborhood project? Was this part of a Community Development effort to increase the amount of local food production in an urban neighborhood?

Who was ministering to whom? Was Shane empowering James and I in construction? Was James providing us wisdom and life advice? Were we beautifying the neighborhood, creating a local food source, and taking another small step towards a healthier watershed? Of course, it was all of these things, and merely a personal project for ourselves. It wasn’t a ministry per se. It was more than that: we are friends. We all needed each other and we all provided for each other.  We participated.

If this is does not seem very profound to you, it isn’t. Participation is commonplace. It’s how we go through life whether we are aware of it or not, giving and receiving. 

Participation is the pattern of everything, from ecology to theology to economy. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at what this means for South Hills, for who God is, and for how we do charity, development, and justice work.  We’ll begin to think about what is most important to me about this blog, this reality that we are connected.

Racism is in the Eyes

Last Monday, my roommate Jared and I went to hear Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners magazine, speak at Calvin College about Racism as America's original sin. He explained that  we have never as a country repented of the valuing of the black person at 3/5s and justifying the crimes committed against African and indigenous people in the construction of this nation. We are still relationally divided. He quoted some statistics: 72% of whites believe that the police shootings of young black men are individual events. 82% of blacks believe that these shootings are part of a cultural pattern which affect their lived reality. Do whites just not trust African Americans? Wallis wondered if this means that 72% of white Christians do not have a single significant relationship with an African American.

You can watch a short video about this here: Sojourners article on WATCH survey

One of my neighbors--we'll call him Robert--used to be a member of the Wealthy St. Boys in the 1980s. I met him walking to the store. Robert is a Christian, who spent most of our conversations telling me Bible stories and preaching to me. He's clearly spent a lot of time in the book. This 40 year old man also spoke to me about the police, describing them as an invading force: "They are out to kill us." He told me a story about the police shooting a three year old, which I couldn't verify. He talked about having the right to defend himself and his family. 

A lot of parties happened in front of his family's house last summer--parties with gambling, fist fights, excessive drinking--and many of the neighbors were suspicious of them and a little bit afraid. We would often call the police when things got out of hand. When the police showed up, everyone would scatter--into cars, backyards, and dark porches. One night, I heard Robert's family on their porch have a shouting match with the police. The police had search lights on them and were questioning them. They were cussing the police out and shouting that they had nothing to do with it. 

Later that summer, I went to talk with them in the middle of a quiet afternoon to ask about what had been going on. Robert's mom explained to me that they had nothing to do with the parties. The parties were based in the lot next door. She was as frustrated as anyone because whenever the police came, the guys on the street would try to come up on her porch to hide.  She locked her gate and wouldn't let them. They cussed her out and threatened to burn her house down. We had suspected Robert's family--and even called the police on them--while we really shared a problem. 

These are the situations in which young black men are getting killed. Thank God that did not happen to us. How we see each other determines whether we talk through issues or call in armed men. Fear exists on both sides, but when we act out of fear, we hurt one another and disparage the hope we have in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Mika Edmondson, pastor of New City Fellowship OPC here in Grand Rapids, spoke after Jim Wallis about how segregation is a challenge to our baptism. If we are truly one in Christ, neither black nor white, living out the reconciliation of the Gospel is of the utmost importance in proclaiming the Gospel. 

Jim Wallis proclaimed that the Church could provide the social space in which racial divisions are overcome if we repent from the sin of racism. This means turning from the social narratives on which our nation was built towards the social narratives we are given by the Gospel: "So in Christ, you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26-28). 

Who do we have dinner with? Who enters our homes? Who do we worship with? Who do we speak with at social engagements or on the street? Who do we give leadership opportunities? Who do we seek out when we need help? All of these are important questions for living out the message of reconciliation in our lives and practical ways to learn to see each other differently. As Paul says, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6). 

And what is love? I was sitting with an elderly man on his porch one evening, a man who had lived through the times in this neighborhood when there were drug dealers on every corner. He explained to me that love is not what people say it is. It doesn't always make you feel good and is not about romance. He told me that to love someone is to be willing to die for them. I believe Jesus told us the same thing (John 15:13). Until we can learn to do that--be willing to suffer risk and loss for our brothers and sisters--we have not yet attained the full measure of Christ. 

Property Values

Take a look at the differences in these property prices, right here in our community.  This map shows where vacant properties are in census tracts 33 and 34, an area slight larger than where I am focusing as a Community Connector.  Notice the shift in the amount of vacant properties from the edges near Franklin and Eastern to the northern interior of the South Hills area, the southern edge of Heritage Hill.

In the South Hills area, we have significant wealth differences in the space of a few blocks. We may have the same mailman and the same garbage truck with the superman strapped to the front, but the disparity in incomes is quite large. 

We may have one geographical area--the same ecology, the same political system, the same economy--but the same area contains many lived experiences. We may live very near one another, even on the same street, but experience very different political systems, economic opportunities, and even ecologies (Whose house gets bed bugs? Where do the raccoons and opossums nest?). The market values our homes and land according to availability and demand, according to housing quality and to perception of the neighborhood. The narrative of the neighborhood--or the lived experience which is advertised--affects how much people are willing to pay and who is willing to buy. This narrative struggle is complicated and a major component of the contested identity of our place. 

For example, an African American business owner told me that Grand Rapids is the most racist city in America. He cited these two lists from Forbes as a starting point:

Forbes rates Grand Rapids as the #1 city in America to raise a family. 

Forbes also rates Grand Rapids as the city with the 2nd least amount of opportunity for African Americans in the nation.

Citizens of one geographic area are experiencing two separate worlds.

In fact, citizens of one geographic area are experiencing many different worlds. Take a look at this map of the Grand Rapids neighborhoods in the South Hills area according to according to the Community Research Institute.

Generally, everyone within the Heritage Hill neighborhood knows clearly where they are. Their boundaries are marked by signs and houses are held to standards of a historic district. Yet, on the corner of Union and Thomas, signs and plaques on homes welcome passers by into Heritage Hills where the maps say it is the South Hill or Madison Area neighborhoods. On this block, residents seem to live in three places at once, but when selling a house, I bet the Heritage Hill narrative will be emphasized. 

Residents name their neighborhood according to their experiences. The South Hill Neighborhood Association was started back in 2000 in an effort to remove a party store on Paris and Thomas. The empty lot is still there. However, many neighbors within the official South Hill boundaries--even neighbors who have lived there for decades--do not use that name.

Some tell me this neighborhood is the hood or the ghetto or does not have a name. I have heard it referred to as the U&T zone, after an old gang in the neighborhood, or more recently as Crenshaw in honor of an African American neighborhood in Los Angeles. Residents to the north of the official South Hill area, near Eastern Avenue, describe themselves as on the edge of the Baxter area, a well-defined neighborhood (i.e. it has signs and an active community center) on the other side of Eastern Ave. I have not yet heard anyone use the term Madison area. The most common and general name I have heard, which includes Baxter, the South East Community Association (SECA), Madison Area, and South East End (but debatably not Heritage Hills) is the South East Side.

The different names represent different experiences and identities. One neighbor expressed to me that a neighborhood with the word "Hills" in it seemed to denote wealth and not include her. She wants a different name.

Sounds on a Sunday Morning

Sounds on a Sunday Morning

- crickets

- robin chatter

- cars rushing down Franklin Street

- First CRC's choir practice

- the deep base of hip-hop through car windows

- a Blue Jay call

- crickets

9-09-16

Birds:

Chimney Swift
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow
Blue Jay

9-08-16

Birds: 

Blue Jay
House Sparrow
American Crow
European Starling

9-07-16

Birds:

Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow

9-06-16

Mammals:

Opossum

9-05-16

Birds:

Blue Jay

8-31-16

Birds:

House Sparrow
Rock Pigeon
American Crow
American Goldfinch
Blue Jay
Black Capped Chickadee

8-30-16

Birds:

American Robin
Blue Jay

8-29-16

Birds:

House Sparrow
American Goldfinch

8-26-16

Birds:

European Starling
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
American Goldfinch

8-25-16

Birds:

American Goldfinch
Redwinged Blackbird (large flock)
Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow

8-24-16

Birds:

House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Mourning Dove
Herring Gull
Blue Jay

8-23-16

Birds:

Mourning Dove
American Goldfinch

8-22-16

Birds:

American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Rock Pigeon
Northern Cardinal
Blue Jay
Common Nighthawk

8-19-16

Birds:

House Sparrow
Blue Jay
White Breasted Nuthatch
Mourning Dove

8-17-16

Birds:

American Goldfinch
Common Nighthawk
Rock Pigeon
American Robin