Last Sunday, I encountered an unusual blessing; human excrement adorning the cold morning pavement. I did not, however, receive it initially as the great blessing that it was.
As I arrived to church early Sunday morning, I noticed that our dumpster had been disturbed. This is not unusual for those of us engaged in ministry in urban contexts. I assumed that a homeless person had come and searched our dumpster for food overnight.
As I approached the dumpster in order that it might be re-secured, I noticed a single stained white sock resting on the ground. The sock was surrounded by several translucent, dial-shaped entities. A closer look revealed them to be pieces of dead skin likely peeled from a human foot. I suddenly recalled reading that homeless people walk upwards to thirteen miles a day. Undoubtedly, their feet are covered with calluses, bruises, and blisters.
Then I saw them, in the upper left-hand corner of our gated waste disposal area -- two pieces of human waste lying conspicuously upon the ground.
This unexpected encounter ushered me through a range of varied emotions. My first emotion was disgust! While well acquainted with such excrement, most notably my own, and that encountered through diaper-changing, I am not accustomed to encountering items, such as these, outside my home, lest in such a public space.
Secondly, I was frustrated! The feces could not be ignored. Though silent, its presence screamed at me! It had to be addressed. And it would have been irresponsible for me to wait for others to tend to it. I had to address this matter myself.
Thirdly, I was insulted! Who would dare defecate on someone else's property, let alone church property? Have they no respect for themselves? Have they no respect for the House of God?
With these emotions bubbling over, I entered the church. After retrieving some plastic bags, I returned and knelt down to remove the excrement. My now close encounter with the matter at hand provided me with greater insight into its former carrier. While I am no medical expert, some truths were immediately discernible through my brief observation.
On account of its discoloration, it appeared sickly and diseased. Something was obviously awry with the carrier's digestive system. It also appeared painful. Streaks of blood painted its exterior. At the risk of assigning anthropomorphic qualities to human waste, it appeared lonely and rejected. It might have gone unnoticed except for our chance encounter. I disposed of the matter, and returned to the church to prepare for worship.
That Sunday, we had a powerful day of worship in both the morning and afternoon. Confessions of faith were made, new members united with our worship community, and many left empowered to serve! After the day's services, I returned to my study to reflect on the events of the day. While there, I recalled the feces vividly from my memory. And as I did, I was first convicted, and then blessed.
Too often the church, as I did, first encounters human suffering, or the evidence of human suffering, with the wrong set of emotions. Too often the church, as I was, is quick to meet human suffering with disgust and frustration rather than compassion and service. And far too often, the church receives certain activity as an insult as opposed to what it truly is; a cry for help.
The church should never turn away from those seeking relief from the pains of life, no matter how undesirable the causation of their pain may be. When Jesus encountered ten men suffering from leprosy, he did not turn away. When Jesus encountered a woman suffering from continuous vaginal bleeding, he did not turn away. Jesus always has time for the sick, the hurting, the hungry, the poor, and the dying. Jesus desires the undesirable, the rejected, those who find themselves lying upon life's cold pavement in silence, but whose presence and suffering yet screams to be noticed.
Even in the midst of our urban setting, where we are surrounded daily by human suffering, and despite our young church's commitment to community empowerment, it was a needed and powerful reminder, at least for me, that human suffering is ever present, and that as a church, we should be ever-seeking to eliminate human suffering whenever, wherever, and however possible.
While I am not rushing towards another public encounter with human waste, on this occasion, I did ultimately find hope in this experience It became an odd consolation for me that the carrier found relief, albeit temporary, from what obviously had pained them along an undoubtedly uncomfortable journey. And I was gifted by God with the blessed opportunity to receive and dispose of it. Thus, while the person may have gone unseen, his or her suffering did not go unnoticed.
While in my study, I offered a prayer for a still unknown visitor that Sunday. I also offered a prayer for myself. I prayed to never turn away from human need and to never become detached from human suffering.
No matter how it is expressed, no matter in what form it is encountered.
I invite your prayers as well!
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I would say this ( for we both have the same goal) that #1place in this world to ease human suffering is in the home. It is in the home where human suffering begins and is sustained. It all starts with the father and his attitude towards his wife and this then directly effects his children. Virtually every mental disorder can be traced to a child's relationship with his/ hers father and stresses that child has been exposed to. I am saying that churches need to focus on young men and men and REMIND them of the enormous responsibility of being a responsible and godly man in this world. Not only should men be a loving, supportive, protecting and provider for his family, the godly man should be his brother's keeper. He should be looking out for another's man child ; ready to correct that child when s/he is doing wrong or be in a position to educate.
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I have to ask: Do you actually talk like this at home? Is this your real voice? Who ever uses the word LEST in our modern vernacular (just to give one example)?
I've never heard anyone speak in this stilted, forced way in my life - unless they were Christians praying piously and publicly to their God.
When Christians talk and pray in an unnatural voice like that, they just don't sound like real people expressing real concerns about life. I'm not accusing you of that at all...but I am saying that you really do need to change your communication style, especially if you want to communicate with people outside your church.
Yes, the voice here is intentional, and yes, it is my own, and yes, I have been known to speak like this, even at home, or in conversation with others. Also, given the fact that I am a member of the hip hop generation (see other articles), I have been known to speak as a member of that generation at home and in conversation with others, too. For me, it is not stilted or forced; it's just me. And I shun, yes, shun, being placed in a box of expression, for I speak, even write, as I feel.
I find it interesting that you think the voice to be unnatural. Unnatural to who? To you? What is natural? Who defines that? Your comment is replete with assumptions, even concerning the church I serve, which you would be surprised to know, from your comments, has persons aged 25-40 as its fastest-growing demographic. You might also be surprised to know that my present doctoral research is in the contextualization of hip hop for the church.
The article is about an experience with bowel movement, expressed herein as human excrement. My language was an attempt to lift the experience to a higher plain.
I think your comments, in fact, reveal more concerning your assumptions, and possible prejudices, of Christians, more than anything else. Nonetheless, once again, thank you for your comments! Cheers, or as I have also been wont to say, deuces!
Second, I do have a bias against the kind of public piety one can hear all the time in the public prayers of the religious. I'm very well acquainted with church culture, so this is not a hallucination on my part. In fact, it was just as much of an issue in Jesus' day (if you believe there is any truth to the gospels at all) and he shared my bias.
And yes, I think anyone with an interest in and knowledge of our language and how to communicate effectively would say that your writing voice makes you sound like you come from somewhere else, and learned to speak English by studying the King James Bible and (perhaps) a lot of Dickens.
I had to force myself not to stop reading the article - and I'm glad I did, because there was a payoff in the content. I'm always happy to hear about people - religious or not - who have a heart for those who lack life's basics. If it takes a couple of pieces of crap to give you an epiphany, and something to share with the rest of us, I'm all for
You dealt with a minor inconvenience and got a sermon and a column out of it.
And you didn't have to actually deal with a sick homeless person to fabricate enough of a sermon and a column to make you feel a lot better about yourself.
Nice work, if you can get it.
"Nice work, if you can get it" seems to have a hostile tone. Clearly discernible from your multiple comments is that you possess a certain hostility towards religion, most likely towards Christians, but quite possibly towards people of faith, in general. Let me apologize to you on behalf of whoever has hurt you so deeply that you respond to matters of faith in this way. I'm sorry.
Let me assure you that I got more than a column out of this experience (no sermon has come as of yet). I received an important reminder about the constant presence of human suffering in the world, a reminder both convicting and empowering, and I thought that I would share it with others, thinking they, too, might receive some empowerment from it.
As a general rule, conviction does not tend to make people "feel a lot better about themselves." Quite the opposite is true.
Our congregation did receive in worship a homeless person, as we often do, who was without his medication (for obvious reasons), and the wonderful generosity of the congregation ensured that he received his medication and was placed in a shelter. But even that act of Christian duty did not shield me from my earlier conviction.
This Sunday we will be faithful to offer prayers on your behalf. God bless!
Sheesh.
I did not mean any dis-respect to anyone else regarding my comment. I just made an assumption that the persons reading the article were followers of Christ. No malfeasance intended.
May we never turn away and become detached from human suffering.
My sentiments exactly! It was a beautiful and life-giving experience for me, and I am thankful to you for so readily receiving the lesson that I was taught.
I am always amazed at the levels of prejudice, hostility, stereotyping, and assumptions that people, like yourself, so easily and readily employ against the entire church and its leaders. A "penny in aid to the poor and a dollar for themselves to party and drive the newest Escalade"? Really?
I promise you, there is no Vegas-partying and Escalade driving going on around here. Ministry is not the occupation of choice for those seeking riches. Except for a few, a very few, noted exceptions, the sacrifices made for ministry, including the debt most ministers go into in pursuit of theological education, does not equal the compensation they receive. In fact, some ministers can be considered among the working poor. I know so many pastors who are working multiple jobs just to remain in ministry that your comment is insensitive, insulting, and representative of a possible Eurocentric bias unacquainted with the struggles of those who live with and serve the urban poor. The mega-church, prosperity Gospel ministries followed most closely by the media does not reflect the majority of Christian houses of worship were average membership is 200-300 and most pastors are bi-vocational. Taxing churches, many of which are struggling just to keep their doors open, will not provide the relief to the poor you are seeking, not where, in many cases, it is the poor that is assisting their fellow impoverished brothers and sisters in the first place.