“Which of these … was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’” (Luke 10:36)
As many of you may notice, we have fire damage in the pass-through from parking lot to the courtyard. On Monday morning, a fire was started in front of the air-intake vent. The intake vent sucked air from the fire into the Sanctuary, filling it with smoke, and setting of the alarms. Mother Maria was texted by a parishioner at 8am and arrived soon after, and spoke with the fire department, the police, the cleaning crew (who were unable to get into the Sanctuary for their scheduled cleanup). We do not know who set the fires, but we are almost certain it is not our regular neighbors who seek shelter with us. Unfortunately, this is one of a number of recent incidents that have involved fire, defecation, and excessive trash. This is not an issue unique to Christ Church. Many local organizations have seen an uptick in incidents.
I am very grateful to Ronn, Van, Len, and Linda who treated our neighbors with kindness by offering hand warmers and compassionate words, and who cleaned up our grounds.
These incidents have reinvigorated a conversation about Increased Security, Increased Compassion the Vestry began last year, which got put on hold due to the pressing financial situation. It is time to pick up that conversation, and align it with our participation in the College of Congregational Development and the Faith Land Discernment Cohort, both mentioned in my report at the Annual Meeting.
In the short term:
- No sleeping is permitted on campus for two weeks (March 10-24). While we do not have the capacity to enforce this, removing permission may deter folks, and reminds our regulars that sleeping here is contingent on respecting our grounds.
- The Vestry will be discussing specific options to reduce the impact on our property. Unfortunately, most of those options incur costs that our outside of our budget.
- In two weeks, we will likely return to the policy of permitting sleeping from 9pm – 8am.
- Fires are always grounds for immediate removal and calling civil authorities if any difficulty is encountered.
In the long term:
The greatest gift we have to offer as a Christian community in this place is relationship and loving care. It is the center of our call to be neighbors. Please read Increased Security, Increased Compassion and discern if you would like to be a constructive contributor to this conversation.
Constructive contribution means being willing to visit and ask neighboring organizations and ministries how they care for unhoused neighbors. It means being willing to learn how to talk to our unhoused neighbors, how to welcome them, how to set boundaries with them, and how we might need to change our perception and challenge our fears. It means being willing to recognize what we have the capacity to do, and what we cannot do, and then develop practices and rules that we can live by as a community. Deacon Donna and I are already reaching to local organizations who can come and teach us about the reality of houselessness around us, and ways we can constructively engage our neighbors.
Participation in College of Congregational Development, the Faith Land Discernment Cohort and in creasing our security and compassion align because ultimately, we are discerning what it means to live as disciples of Christ at the corner of Division and K Street. If you would like to be a part of these teams, please contact Mother Maria directly.
