Street Level: Days 7 and 8 (Toronto, ON)

First off, I apologize for missing a few days of posting…Toronto has been crazy fun.  I’m going to recap this weekend as best as I can without going into too much unnecessary detail.  Our last morning in London was spent waking up and eating a quick breakfast and packing a lunch before we packed up and left for Toronto.  We had to be in Toronto by 11am to meet with our contact.  After meeting up with him after about a 2 hour drive, he spent time talking with us about working in Somalia with refugees and learning all about Islam.  It was interesting to hear how this Christian scholar explains another religion in extreme depth.  Once he talked to us about his experiences, he told us that we would be visiting a mosque with him.  He explained some of the rules and guidelines that we should expect to follow once we got there.  The women of our group needed to wear head coverings.  This was not to respect the others there but to respect themselves.  For Muslims, a woman to be without a head covering is the equivalent for a woman to be without a shirt.

Once we got to the mosque, we were met by a man there who gave us a brief tour of the facility then invited us into the library there to tell us more about the procession we would get to witness.  He was very educated and also incredibly humorous!  He answered a few basic questions that we had about the building and any observations we’d made on the way in, along with allowing us to ask any general questions about Islamics.  After he answered a few of our questions, we were able to sit in on the Friday 3pm prayer at the building and we heard a short sermon from one of the head members of the establishment.  I was mostly fascinated by the message itself more than anything.  There was no “sugar coating” when trying to get his point across.  One thing I did notice about everyone there was it didn’t seem that many people were meeting and conversing with each other before and after the procession.  Considering church to me has always had a large focus on community and  bringing everyone together as a unified body, this seemed rather individualistic despite the fact that most everyone was dressed rather similarly.

After our visit to the mosque, we went to a Somali diner for lunch.  I was brave enough to try the goat instead of ordering chicken.  It was surprisingly delicious, although I don’t think I’d go about ordering another one again in the near future…  One of the nice parts of our Toronto stop was the fact that we got to stay in a Days Inn hotel!  It was great to have beds available to us again.

Our next day in Toronto was spent at a Kids Church in downtown Toronto.  When we got there, we met up with another group of volunteers that were from the surrounding area, mostly high school students.  They had prepared a skit to perform for the kids that was very well done and very funny involving dance battles and silly rapping!  Half of our group left to go pick up the children from the surrounding low-income housing developments while the rest of us prepared the room for the kids.  We setup tables and chairs and get a snack ready for them.  The kids arrived and we had snack time, followed by some music for the kids, some performed by a few of our very own students!  After the music, we sat to listen to a short Bible story.  It was hard to hear because some of the children were so ill-behaved.  Part of me felt so bad for these children because some of them come from broken homes and don’t always have good role models.  Part of me could help but be overcome with contempt and frustration at the behavior of these kids, too.  There was one girl who seemed to be the constant victim of harassment from the other kids.  It was hard to watch, especially when after attempting to intervene, my attempts were mostly futile.  After our story time was the skit performed by the other volunteers, followed by one last song from our students again.  After the church time, the other half of the group went to drop the kids back off at home.

Once we were done with the kids church, we were free to explore downtown Toronto for a few hours.  The sights of big cities are always something that amaze me.  There was shopping and sightseeing done, but nothing of real educational value.

Messages from London, ON

Gil, the head of a ministry called Sanctuary here in London, was the guide for my group as we walked around the area looking for what messages the city might hold for people like the friends of Sanctuary. As we walked Gil asked us various questions designed to make us think deeply, intentionally and honestly about what we have and still are experiencing and learning about impoverished people. At the beginning of the walk we talked about the role and message of the church today.

Gil highlighted the fact that several times when his friends came to a drop-in early so that they could have a safe place to stay, etc. they had been rudely asked what they were doing there, often resulting in complaints at least once a month directed to Gil from the church allowing Sanctuary to rent their basement… and this is the Church! This blew my mind!!! How can we, the body of believers, honestly justify saying or doing something so blatantly unscriptural?

Another thing Gil talked about regarding the Church was how in the Jewish religion there was a section that broke off and decided that they would make their own society; their own law, scriptures, and through the process became a culture within a culture. This section, called the Essenes, were Gil’s example to us on what the church shouldn’t do, but for the most part is doing and it’s so saddening. We have our own lingo, clothing brands… you name it and we probably have a “christian” version of it. I think this is one way for us to feel secure in our faith but really only separates us from those that God calls and has marked us to minister to according to Ephesians 4:1-3 and 1:13b. However, us being set apart doesn’t mean that we should think of ourselves as better; creating a hierarchy and acting superior in thinking that we will somehow “help”, we usually end up hurting instead. Rather, we should get on the same level, have relationships and through that unify our faith with our actions. Our role and message, by our actions and faith, of the Church (past, present, and future), has always and should always be centered on Christ. His example and his ministry was relational and intentional! I have to believe that if the way that church reacted to the homeless coming one hour early as the response the impoverished get from the Church, then we have outlived our usefulness because we’ve lost our way somewhere along the line.

Later, Gil tied this in with asking us what sin meant/was and none of us knew really what to say. Sin, he said, in Greek was the word hamartia meaning “to miss the mark” and as he spoke he kind of convicted us on how there are two different ways we respond to the world: overindulgence or running so far away from the world that we put ourselves into a bubble. If we are honest, then we recognize that our responses to the world around us and the sin we engage in are characterized in one of these ways, whether we like it or not or whether we mean to or not; to go either too far left or too far right is still to have missed the mark, in the process missing the message of what Christ came here and died for.

As we went on we came to a peaceful area where the hustle and bustle of the city completely fell away and that is where the friends of Sanctuary gathered often. You could see why they liked to come there. The water from the river rushed on it’s path and the trees created a shelter from unfriendly eyes where they were able to just… be. I mean, honestly, who really would choose to be surrounded by the stress of the city when you could be surrounded by creation like that?! From there we traveled under several bridges with our guide pointing out the various places there that the homeless would sleep in tentative communities. But the most ironic thing to happen so far on this trip was when Gil showed us where homeless people slept under one of the most expensive restaurants in London.

As we walked from the river back into the streets of London there was a quaint but beautiful park decorated with garden areas, a modern art piece, and multiple benches placed between two buildings. Those buildings were where the wealthier people would go to have smoke and coffee breaks. This park, Gil explained, tells the friends of Sanctuary how that because they don’t have money they aren’t welcome there and the city doesn’t value them; that their value in this life is based on the size of their pocket books instead of on how they treat others, who they are, etc. We then traveled less than half a block away and in view of those two buildings was an area meant for potted plants/trees. Around the cement edge of that there were semi-decorative metal spikes as well as there being metal cages around the tree bases further down the street so no one could sit on or lean against them comfortably (i.e. homeless people couldn’t rest or beg there).

What message do you think this speaks to them?

What is the Church doing to counter messages of these kinds?

What is God calling us to do regarding this?

We need to answer these questions, soon, through the leading of the Holy Spirit and Scripture so that we act in a relevant manner. In this way, the Church, the royal priesthood, will hopefully be moved to fulfill all that our Savior is calling and marking us to do…

Street Level: Day 6 (Last Day in London)

Today marked the last day we would spend in London, ON.  The day was, in a way, bittersweet.  We’ve made some really amazing friends here in London and it breaks my heart to have to leave them as we move on.  In one way, this trip has gone on forever…in another, this is only our first stop of the trip.  London was our longest stop of the journey but we still have a ways to travel. Our day began with a hearty breakfast at the YFC center.  We got the morning off to hang out.  In the second floor of the YFC building is a radio studio, specifically a Christian radio station here in London called Inspire FM.  One of the personalities asked Carol to come say a few words about our trip on-air for the listeners.  Trisha and myself accompanied Carol into the studio to also share a few words.  It was an awesome experience and I’m so thankful they took the time to invite us up.

After our hangout time, we all headed back to downtown London to meet with a man named Norm at an employment assistance agency called Pathways.  Pathways is a skill development and placement center geared towards taking those unemployed and needing help finding work and teaching them valuable skills that will open their employment opportunities.  It was nice to understand another way that Canada helps those in need.  Once that was finished, we had a few hours to kill downtown until we had to meet for another “drop-in” dinner/cook-out at the bus in the park.

Today at the dinner meal, I sat and talked with a great man named Sonny for a long while.  He shared with me his many stories and wonderful facts about life and history.  He told me that on this day almost 50 years ago The Rolling Stones recorded their hit (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.  Love it.  We sat and talked for a good hour or two.  It’s sad knowing that I might never get to see him again.  We did at least exchange email information but it’s never the same as face time.

After the dinner, we all headed to a place called Crabby Joe’s for some food, drinks and hockey.  Seeing as how 99% of our class is from Michigan, we of course couldn’t miss game 7 of the series.  Our friends Gil, Darryl, Mike and Asef from the drop-in dinner came with us to the bar to hang out.  It was a good parting event.  I’m really going to miss everyone we met here.  We have to pack up and be out of here around 8:15am.  New and exciting times are still to come.

-Matty

Street Level: Day 5

Today was another chill day.  We all woke up in the “game room” of the YFC building around 9am for a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, toast, and fruit.  We spent the morning just hanging out in the building having fun, swapping stories, singing songs…the usual college thing.  We were allowed to go take showers at the London YMCA today at 11am which was amazing after two solid days of touring the downtown of London in its entirety by foot.

In the afternoon, we headed over to Middlesex Presbyterian Church to meet up with Gil.  His group opens the doors from 3 until 6:30 for people to just come hang out with each other.  At 5:30, they do another “drop-in” dinner at the church for all who want to participate.  We spent the time playing Old Maid first then moved onto another card game called Up and Down the River.  That game was hilarious and way too nerve-wracking for me to play again any time soon.  Our dinner was a delicious ravioli, beef and cheese, along with a Caesar salad and buttered rolls.  It was way better than I expected it to be!

After our dinner, we headed back to the YFC building for our class devotionals.  After our devos, we all piled into another room at the center with a stage and screen and projector and all of that fun stuff.  After some technical sleuthing around the room, we managed to get my laptop hooked up to the projector and sound system so we could watch a movie.  We watched “The Human Experience“, a documentary of two brothers who packed up and left home to live among the homeless in New York City for the experience.  They went on a few other adventures throughout the movie, all the while trying to find out how and why so many people in the world who seem to be in hopeless situations continue to get up and live every day.  It was a very powerful movie that I suggest every single person watch.

Time to crawl back onto that pleather couch that’s become so comforting to me and sleep until breakfast.  I hear tomorrow we have breakfast burritos.  Yum.  😀

-Matty

crack addicts and the kingdom of heaven.

this week, as you know, weve been spending alot of time in the inner city. through that god has been teaching me alot about the kingdom. ive always understood that jesus ate with sinners, homeless, widows and outcasts. but ive never been able to picture it in our culture, and doing it myself. this week i have experienced it. and through this experience i have met jesus in many different ways. what its like to act as jesus did, meeting others who love these people as jesus did, and meeting these people who through their unconditional love and acceptance, have been jesus to me. this is what the kingdom is meant to be like. its hard for me not to be critical of our traditional understanding of church… or maybe its not that we misunderstand what jesus meant for us, rather we are to caught up in our own lives to be able to experience the kingdom, the way jesus described it, by investing in and loving those who are difficult to talk to, bc they are strung out on some drug. christ ate with sinners. crack addicts, sex offenders, alchoholics, schizophrenics (sp?). through doing this myself god has shown me a completely different side of the kingdom, the one that jesus wanted us to build, and unforetuneately, i still feel like it will be easy for me to go back to my old way of participating in the kingdom  by working in my small reformed church in middleville. I don’t think its wrong and slacking what i do, im just not sure its exactly what christ had in mind when he described the kingdom of heaven. god continue to mold my heart into that of christs. help me to build the kingdom that you preached about, not the kingdom that our north american church is comfortable with. help me to have the courage to find the crack addicts in my area and to share a meal with them.

 

-aj

My group’s tour through London

Yesterday, we took a tour of the city with a couple of tour guides (Mel and Beth). The tour guides showed us from the outside of the city to the inner city. I could tell when we were moving from outer city to inner city. On the outer part of the city, it is green, with flowers,and nice places to sit. I could tell when we were moving into the inner city. We started walking down the river banks. We stopped and talked about different places to hide from the cops and to hide from the world. We also talked about the graffiti.  Many people use graffiti to leave their mark on the wall so people know that place is being used by someone. Melissa and Beth told us about a place where homeless people would stay in the water under the sidewalk. A couple of their friends were staying under the water and one of the guys (Jeremy) actually drown in his sleep because he fell off the bank that he was sleeping on and fell into the water and drown.  The city has now put up a gate in front of there so homeless people do not stay in there anymore. We traveled farther into the city and went down “crack shack alley”. “Crack Shack Alley” is where people deal drugs and use drugs. One of the guys we met, Mike, actually used to live in one of the doorways in the alley. There used to be a youth shelter in the alley but the Government shut it down and gave all the funding to the London Orchestra. In my mind, this is a useless investment. When we were walking out of the alley, our guides told us to watch out for needles. As we walked father into the city, I started to feel like I was trapped by all the buildings and people.  Our guides brought us into the library. The security guards will kick you out of the library if you are sleeping. Even if you are reading a book and you fall asleep. They WILL kick you out. They do this because to many homeless people were going into the library to sleep. I am really frustrated by how the government treats the people who are less fortunate than them. I never realized how much hurt there really is in the city of London. God needs to be brought into this city. It hurts me to just sit and watch and not be able to help at all. The one thing i need to do is to just pray for the city and try to build relationships with the people i have met now.  I have made some great friends while I have been here in London. I know that God has placed us in this city for a reason and He is going to do great things in the lives of the people we are working with, but also in the lives of us students. I am already seeing a change in our group. We are getting closer and building deeper relationships with each other. God has blessed us with great weather while we have been here as well. This has given us a chance to have two days out on the streets in the middle of everything that is happening. We appreciate all of your prayers…

-Trisha

Street Level: Day 4

Wow, another day come and gone. This trip is continuously breaking my original expectations in the best way possible. When we first started, my thought was that we’d be sitting down with some guy under a street bridge in rags and boxes and talking about life. This trip is so much more than that. I’ll admit that I was incredibly naive when it came to homelessness but I’ve learned so much already.  We’ve been spending a ton of time here in London just hanging out with a group called Sanctuary London.  Our day today was spent breaking into small groups of about 4-5 and being led around the city by friends of Sanctuary London.  The group leaders gave us a new perspective as they were all homeless in London at one time or another, utilizing the resources as they needed.  They were able to point out all of the places they could go for food, places they could sleep, places they could just hang out and let time go by.  It was really hard to believe in a way.  One of the earth shattering things I noticed was a 5-star restaurant on the Thames River in London that hung over the river bank.  Little do most of the customers know, under this over hang there could be 5-10 people spending their night in the best shelter they can find.  So many people are completely oblivious to the homeless right around them.

Photo courtesy of Carol Hochhalter

After our tour in the city, we joined Sanctuary London in their drop-in dinner on the street at Victoria Park in London.  They roll in a big bus and invite people to come in, hang out and get some food for free.  Most of the people who showed up were regular visitors of the drop-in meal; some out of necessity, others out of compassion to build relationships with those who may need them.  I met a few of the people who came in today and listened to the wise and entertaining stories each of them had to share.  I didn’t get the names of some of them, but it was still a pleasure just to hear what they wanted to share.

Once the dinner was over, half of us piled back into a van and came back to the YFC center for bed.  The other van of students stayed at a pub downtown to watch the rest of the Red Wings game.  Tonight we can’t use the pleather couches because that room is being occupied by another group in the morning.  We were forced to set up camp in the adjoining “game room” on the floor.  Not as comfortable, but hey, we didn’t sign up for a street level class to be comfortable.

Peace in Christ.

-Matty

Street Level: Day 3

…It’s only day three? It feels like day seven already. There has been so much going on since we left Kuyper College. We woke up this morning at the Youth for Christ center in London, ON. We had a delicious breakfast of bagels, cereal and fruit. The entire breakfast for all 18 of us cost a grand total of $51. We’re living as cheap as possible this trip. After our breakfast, we locked our stuff away and headed into the conference room for our daily devotions. Once we finished, we were all assigned numbers to split into groups in charge of meals for the rest of our London stay. I was in group one, in charge of dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. We decided grilled cheese and soup was a good, cheap meal for everyone tonight.

Once we finished our dinner plans, our entire class headed to a “drop-in” lunch at Middlesex Presbyterian Church here in London. This is a lunch that is offered by Gil’s ministry, Sanctuary, open to the public and very community driven. Instead of a soup kitchen style where people come in and are served, this lunch was an opportunity where everyone is invited to come help cook and get everything ready then eat together. It levels the field of heirarchy and removes any “God complex” people sometimes get. When you work together as a unified body, there is no “better-than-you” attitude. That’s the same way this lunch operated and it was a great time. I heard the testemony of a man named Joe who was 29 and homeless. By his very image, you would never have guessed his situation.

After lunch, our entire group was given a scenario. We were 17 years old. We had come from a broken home. Dad was out of the picture, we lived with mom. Mom lived with her boyfriend. He didn’t get along with us. We left home and took shelter at a youth rescue home. At the home we felt threatened by other kids and didn’t feel safe. Our current status was we were broke, without ID, without shelter, without food and the police are trying to bring us back to the youth home. We were dropped off in front of the train station in London and had to figure out how to solve these problems ourselves. We did this in groups of two or three.

Immediately, Tyler, Rebecca and myself grouped up and headed west toward the river.  Once we hit the river, we turned more north and followed along the river bank. We had been told that this was a common area for the homeless population to congregate and hang out, sometimes even sleep. Short of a few really cool bridges and some really nice people, we didn’t see much else.

Once we hit the top of the park along the river, we turned east and headed into Victoria Park where we met a man named David who was more than willing to sing us a song of our choice in place of a monetary donation. Unfortunately, because of our situation we had no money to help the man out, but we did have a good chat about his experience with the Men’s Mission in London. In case you don’t know, the Men’s Mission is a shelter that men can stay in for the night, provided they abide by the rules of the shelter. During our tour of Victoria Park, we met a rather eclectic bunch who were practicing an activity called “slacklining“. That was pretty fun to watch. Tyler even tried it out! He soon realized there is no beginners luck when it comes to slacklining. Once we had some fun in the park, we decided to head south to the Salvation Army building, which includes a shelter for both men and women to stay at overnight. We found out that one can stay there up to 42 consecutive nights, complete with three meals a day so long as they abide by all of the rules of the shelter. That’s amazing. We had to meet back up with our group at the Central Library at 4:30p. It was then we headed back to the Middlesex Presbyterian Church to pick up our vans and head back to the YFC center.

The rest of our night consisted of fellowship, fun, and free-time. Lucky for us, we managed to get a wi-fi connection here at the center. I still can’t believe it’s only day 3.

Tomorrow we don’t head out until 1:45p so we’ll have some more time to hang out and catch up on our assigned class reading. For now, I’ll be sleeping the night away on a pleather couch.

-Matty

Day 2 in London, Ontario

Late this morning, we headed to Sanctuary of London and joined the community there for a “drop-in lunch.”  The idea here was that we don’t come in and stand on one side of the counter, serving the “street level” people on the other side of the counter; rather, we are called to recognize our equality with them and call them friends.  Then, we join them in serving one another, eating together, sharing stories together, and cleaning up after one another.  This seems to be a much more loving way to provide for our friends that find themselves living on and off of the streets…doesn’t it?  Instead of portraying some sort of hierarchy that communicates that we are better than them, we join them in a very common, very necessary part of the human experience, eating.  
A few of us spent our time eating with and listening to Joe tell his life story.  I quickly came to see not only myself in Joe, but Jesus in Joe, and then because of this amazing revelation I was able to see Jesus in myself!

After sharing a meal with our friends at the Sanctuary drop-in, we were dropped off downtown without money, identification, or an agenda (other than to experience as much of the streets as we could, and to obtain directions to the public library for our rendezvous).  We split into groups of two or three and set out into the city of London, Ontario.  Our (Rebecca, Matty, and me) experience included a walk through Ivey Park, where we met Karen and her poodle Winston.  From there we walked up a giant set of stairs and into the heart of downtown.  Immediately we were stopped by a man named Dave, who wanted to sing for us in exchange for some money, but since we had all left our possessions behind we couldn’t give him anything; however, he accepted a piece of gum as payment for giving us directions to the library.  We decided to cut through Victoria park on our way to the library where we ran into a few twenty-somethings who were playing around on a Slack Line.  Slack lining is essentially walking a tight rope that is tied between two trees and is only a few feet off of the ground.  I tried…I failed.

The weather was amazing today, and people were scattered all over Victoria Park.  We wanted to stay longer, but we had to find the library so off we went.  It only took us about 5 minutes to get to the library, so we decided to continue on in the opposite direction from the park towards the Salvation Army building.  “The Sal,” or “Sally,” as it is affectionately called by its familiars, is the largest shelter in London.  After speaking with the receptionist for a few minutes about curfews, requirements, and restrictions we headed back to Victoria Park.  We spent as much time as possible there, but when the time came for us to meet our rendezvous we had to leave.  So we met everyone back at the library and  shared stories, learned truths about poverty and homelessness from one of our “guides” from Sanctuary, and then walked back to Sanctuary’s homebase, which was about 2o minutes by foot.

Today was just the start of something powerful that God is moving in and through our group.  For me personally, I am learning that behind the thin mask that we see and describe as “poor and homeless” stand real people, many of whom have been through nearly the same exact life experiences that I have; that aren’t monsters or lowlives or lazy scum bags that would rather beg than work…

These are real people.  (Please read that again and take a second to think about what those two words, real people, really mean.)

Just like you and I are real people, so are they.  So next time you see someone and think something mean or even pitiful about them, I would urge you to consider their humanity.  Then, consider the way that Jesus was looked at (esp. while on the road to Calvary), remembering that he was fully human, and try to see Jesus in them.  Pray that God would reveal himself to you in them.  I promise that when your eyes are opened as mine have been thus far you will look at everything (and i mean everything) under the sun differently.  It will bring you to tears of sorrow and tears of inexplicable joy.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Tyler

Street Level: Day 2

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Veenstra

After spending the night at the Ezikian household, we packed up and headed out to Detroit, Michigan to meet up with the Worship Arts Director of the Citadel of Faith Covenant Church. He took us on a tour of the church and told us all about their mission and what they were trying to accomplish in the community surrounding the church. After his tour, we attended their Sunday service at noon. That was definitely an amazing experience. The service went about 2.5 hours long and was fantastic the whole way through.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Veenstra

After the service, we stopped for lunch at a Mexican buffet in Detroit. The food was to die for! Also, there was a live mariachi band performing for us that day inside. Since they were celebrating Mother’s Day, they had the owner of the establishment come out and sing for us, along with the band. She was too cool. As we drove there, we could see Ambassador Bridge, which was going to be our gateway to Canada only a few hours from then.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Veenstra

After our lunch, we took some time with a woman named Donna who talked to our group about a ministry she started in Detroit called 70×7 (Seventy times Seven). She told us a brief summary of her life story leading up to her involvement with a group to reach out to abused women and women on the street. It was there she found she could not exercise any Christian practice and it was in that Donna decided to start her own ministry. Her story was interesting and rather heart-breaking to every one of us.

After our talk with Donna, we headed out to CANADA! It wasn’t until about now when everyone realized we wouldn’t have phone or texting service once we crossed the border which caused a great deal of panic in a short amount of time. By the time everyone called home to explain the situation, we had already crossed over. We were officially FOREIGN INVADERS! We drove to London, ON where we met up with a man named Gil and his ministry called Sanctuary. We had a bible study and shared communion with them. Afterwards, we headed back to Gil’s house for a time of fellowship and a chance to get to know better some of his friends that help out with Sanctuary. I played a great game of soccer with a few others on a field way too muddy to play soccer in. A few of us slipped and fell in the mud, getting a few of our clothes pretty messy. It was at that moment we realized the gravity of not having the option of doing laundry.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca Veenstra

After our time hanging out at Gil’s home, we headed to the London Youth for Christ building where we would be sleeping over the next four days.  This is going to be great.  😀

-Matty