“I used to think
that the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem
collapse, and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science, we
could address these problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems
are selfishness, apathy, and greed, and to deal with these, we need a spiritual
and cultural transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”
-Gus Speth, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 2013
Start at time 1:06:40 to hear Peter Harris, co-founder of A Rocha International, explain
Almost every day, I take walks in
the neighborhood to intentionally meet neighbors and be present. Walking alone
can sometimes be difficult, so I seek to enjoy it by bird watching and inviting
others to walk with me. As we go along, I often hear the chatter of a bird or
see the flash of a wing and look up into the sky. This has the potential to
interrupt conversations, but has led to greater interest in Urban Ecology. The
relationships of creatures in an urban environment fascinate me. Wild things
remain at the edge of human experience, even in a human environment.
Several weeks ago, I saw a Wild
Turkey in the yard across the street from the Frank Lloyd Wright House. That
was the second time I have seen it there. The South Hill Neighborhood
Association Facebook page has plenty of pictures of turkeys that wander our
area. There was mourning when a car hit one several years ago. Despite the dangers and lack of habitat,
turkeys make a living in this urban neighborhood.
Natural, undeveloped, or wild
spaces are thought about and studied ecologically, but our back yards, our
churches, and our businesses are not. A fallacy behind ecology is when we see
it solely as study of wild things separate from ourselves. We don’t always
think about ourselves as living things in relationship with other living things
and our environment. But we participate in ecology.
Last week, my friend Shikuru and I
went walking to meet neighbors
and hear stories. We met a couple
on their porch who had laid cardboard, horse manure, and mulch over their lawn
and planted all sorts of vegetables and trees. In front of their house, they
planted several bushes of bright orange flowers. The flowers—poetically named
Cosmos—attract hummingbirds. The couple gave us some seeds.
By planting these flowers, the
couple committed an ecologically creative act. The flowers harness energy from
the sun and nutrients from the soil to produce nectar, seeds, and beauty. Hummingbirds
and souls are fed. Seeds are given to neighbors. And as the man said, he doesn’t
have to mow his lawn any more.
We participate in ecology. In the
South Hills area ecology, one living thing leads to another.We have lots of squirrels, house sparrows,
and European starlings. We also have skunks, raccoons, turkeys, wasps, flies,
and bedbugs. We have these creatures in particular, because we have created a
landscape in which these creatures thrive.
When someone lets their property
turn into a jungle, woodchucks find a habitat. Sparrows find their homes in our
gutters and chimney swifts in our chimneys. I have some suspicions about
raccoons living under porches and know mice and bats take refuge in our walls.
Many creatures, like house flies, live off the debris of human life. With other
animals, the trees we plant, the gardens we create, and the bird feeders we
fill create ecological space for more biodiversity.
The plants and animals for which we
create space in turn shape the ecological space that we inhabit. The mulberry
trees create sweet delight in the summer and sticky purple sidewalks. We create
lawns that we have to mow and that our children can play on, and we plant
tomatoes, zucchini, and chard that we consume. Our trees cool our streets with
their shade and decrease the speed at which rain ends up in our storm drains. We
shape the place and the place shapes us.
If we create our landscape for the
animals that brighten our day and give us life by planting native species, we
can attract hummingbirds and monarch butterflies. But even if we don’t
intentionally give to create space for life, our waste is used. Life finds a
way to keep living, and each entity gives to the other and receives from the
other whether we are aware of it or not. We participate.We are a part of the web of living things,
connected to all of it.
The Last Wild Area in South Hills
As we seek to understand ecology,
we must acknowledge our own creative role as well as how we are shaped by it.
Such an admission quickly brings us to confront other words integrally
connected with ecology: economy, theology, and development. Because ecology seeks to understand the systems of
relationships between living things and with their environment, ecology is a discipline
that seeks to understand the totality.
These other words, though they have different starting points, similarly force
us to consider our role in the cosmos and our interconnectedness.As we continue along the path of seeking to
understand ecology fully (or the economy or development), more and more must be
included in the study. In this sense, ecology is a truth-seeking discipline,
and if we pursue it, we will be forced to encounter our place, each other, and
Christ.
To heal a landscape in which we are
connected from ecological destruction, we can begin with our own property. With
that alone, we are forced to reckon with the local climate, soils, and species
already present and available and with our own habits and energy levels. But if
we want to think about the health of the whole, we need to get to know one
another and understand our habits and energy levels as a people. Community listening
and Asset Based Community Development can play a role here.
But our ecological crisis is a
moral issue requiring a spiritual and cultural transformation away from greed,
apathy, and selfishness. Who can bring about such a transformation? And how would
such a transformation affect our network of living things? Next week, I will
share a Christian response to the first question. The second question can only
be answered in the living of it.
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 toput
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
The church decided its call was to be good neighbors. And that we should listen and see people as the children of God --De'amon Harges, the original Roving Listener from Broadway United Methodist Church
This past spring, my friends Jon and Sunshine and I took a trip down to Chattanooga for spring break to see family and friends and spread the word about my internship as a Community Connector in the South Hills area of Grand Rapids.
On the way down South, we realized we would be passing right through Indianapolis. Several people had told me that if I got a chance, I should go visit Broadway United Methodist Church in Indianapolis to meet De'amon Harges, the original Roving Listener. They told me that this guy was good at his job, and could teach me a thing or two.
We rolled into Indianapolis and pulled up next to the massive, stone Methodist Church. It was a Saturday around lunch time and their parking lot was almost full. People were coming in and out of the doors. We had not written them that we were coming, but we decided to walk in and see what we could see.
The doors were unlocked. The folks on the steps said hello, but did not take much notice of us. It didn't seem too unusual that we were there. We stepped into a stairwell of wood and stone, the walls covered in art. A sign to the left listed what to find on different floors: dance classes, music classes, art classes, small business start ups, and more. Sunshine is an artist and wanted to find the ceramic studio, so we went to look for it. We found a children's orchestra and talked to a dad about it and about the church. He told us we should go and find the building manager, Cathy Pilarski, to get our questions answered.
We wandered past a few dance classes and into the sanctuary, almost always with people around who did not seem troubled at all to see three strangers wandering the church. We walked out past their commercial kitchen--where they allow people to start up small restaurants--before we ran into Cathy.
Cathy was full of energy, and immediately sat us down in the office lobby and began sharing stories about the church, how she got involved, and Asset Based Community Development. Some of the young roving listeners they had hired came through the office, and she asked them to share a bit about their experiences. All this time, we were regularly interrupted as she answered questions about a funeral that was happening in just a few minutes. We didn't deserve it or demand it, but they gave us their full attention.
De'amon Harges was in a meeting with a group from the east coast who had come to learn about Asset Based Community Development, but he stepped out, saw us talking to Cathy, and invited us in to join them. He showed us a room covered with lists of names of people who had certain gifts: everyone in the neighborhood who was a healer, who liked to garden, who was passionate about social justice, who loved to cook, etc. He took us on a tour around the building and showed Sunshine the ceramic studio. He showed us pictures of neighbors posted throughout the hallways, taken at dinner parties organized around their shared interests.
Here are some of my favorite things he told us, quoted as I remember them:
"We try to live church throughout the week, and then come back to the building on Sundays to celebrate."
"Whenever we give someone money or a grant to try out a new idea, we tell them, 'We expect you to fail at least three times.'"
"We try to live as if the gospel story is real today."
Sunshine, Jon, and I came as strangers, were welcomed as friends, and left with an invitation to come back anytime. Before we finished our drive, we had a picnic at a playground outside the church to process all that had just happened.
A church that had almost been empty had come back to life. We had seen a place full of energy and hope, energized by a willingness to change and do things differently. By hiring De'amon and continuing to hire local youth as Roving Listeners to value the gifts of local people, they participated in a cultural shift towards creating an economy of image-bearers.
We left with the question, how can we be good neighbors? How can we listen and see people as the children of God?
Two months into this internship in South Hills, these questions remain. The internship consists of spending several hours each day walking the streets, talking to neighbors, and getting to know people. We are practicing seeing one another as De'amon says is so important in his Ted talk. We are hearing each other's experience of the neighborhood and hearing one another's ideas. People have big dreams of community meals, events, gardens, and centers. As we learn to see one another, who knows what we could do together?
If you want to learn more about the story behind the transformation of Broadway United Methodist Church, check out this article below:
