A week ago Friday, 17 UCG youth and adults loaded into three vehicles and headed out on the annual “Mystery Trip.” That means that only the adults knew anything about the weekend plans, the youth were heading out on trust alone. After a quick overnight in Orlando, and four more hours of driving, we pulled up to the Community Center and Headquarters of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Immokalee, Florida. I am not going to go into too much detail about this visit, as we will be blessed with the Coalition’s presence with us in worship next month as part of their upcoming “Truth Tour,” continuing their work for justice and human rights in the agricultural fields of Florida. Throughout the afternoon, we heard firsthand from the farmworkers about conditions in the fields, wage theft, human rights abuses, and how far they have come in their incredible fight for fairness and dignity in their work. Our youth were able to experience what lifting a full bucket of tomatoes is like; feeling the weight of the work while being astonished that a farmworker has to pick two and a half tons of tomatoes per day in order to make minimum wage. We were also given a tour of the Community Center, including the food co-op that helps keep prevent price gouging in the town, the radio station that provides both cultural connection and vital information, protest art hung with reverence, and prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts in Combatting Modern-Day Slavery (from the last administration), simply hung on the wall. It was explained that awards were not what they wanted, they wanted awards like this one to have no reason to exist at all. We experienced hospitality, interns opening up their own homes as well as the Coalition’s safe house for us so that we might have an opportunity to shower that weekend. We were also served an incredible traditional meal, which we all enjoyed together on one long table. I know that may sound like a lot of details, when I said that I wasn’t going to share much, but that really was just a snapshot of the day. You will hear more perspectives and ways that we can be involved next month, but this morning, I want to emphasize the reason that we were there. The answer is simple: we were asked for help, and so we went.
In 2001, the United Church of Christ was the first denomination to sign on in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Taco Bell boycott. Many churches, individuals, and student groups joined the cause and, with the victory of Taco Bell signing onto the Fair Food Program, came a domino effect of successful campaigns. The Fair Food Program ensures that major corporations will not purchase produce from farms who do not abide by the Fair Food Code of Conduct which has zero tolerance for abuse, wage theft, unsafe working conditions, child labor, slavery, sexual harassment and assault, and guarantees a penny more per pound of tomatoes paid directly to the farmworkers. It was reported last weekend, that 80% of women reported sexual abuse in the fields before the Fair Food Program, and that it is now 0% in those farms that participate in the program. Unfortunately, there is still work to be done. One of the major corporations that still refuses to sign on to the Fair Food Program is Wendy’s and it just so happens that a large agricultural school nearby has two Wendy’s on campus. The reason the Coalition of Immokalee Workers will be with us in worship next month is because there is a major action planned on the University of Florida campus in March. Don’t worry, we will keep you informed!
So, why not just wait until they got here for the youth to be informed and involved? Why drive six hours south to meet with folks who are coming to you in a month? The answer again is simple: we were asked for help, and so we showed up. Those who ask for our help, those who are oppressed, those who are disenfranchised, those who are not having their needs met, or those who need a touch of care and compassion should not be expected to come to you. We showed up so that we could learn, we showed up so that we could understand, we showed up so that we could listen, and we showed up because we believe in building community and building relationships. I believe that you can do charity without building relationships, but I do not believe you can do justice without them. The people who met with us gave of their time on a Saturday to connect with us, to teach us, and to ask us to partner with them in bringing justice to those who do sacred work on our behalf, and they thanked us over and over again for coming. They serve us every day, it is our turn to partner with them as servants of justice and peace.
We returned by way of Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson’s church, the First United Church of Tampa. You may remember her visit to us almost exactly a year ago. The scripture for the morning was the one that you heard Shelly read earlier about Jesus turning water into wine, and, as it turns out, it has a lot to say about servant work.
However much we appreciate hospitality today, the people of Jesus’ time and culture practiced it as a survival skill, a way of looking after one another in a hostile and perilous environment, and an assurance of being looked after in turn. No wonder it became a matter of honor, as well. It’s a skill that some of us in our western culture need to hone. And in this story, Mary notices that there is trouble brewing for her friends, and steps in to help, by nudging her son in the right direction.
Mary doesn’t often appear in the Gospels, but Chung Hyun Kyung and other Asian women theologians suggest that Mary is more important to this story than we usually think, and we shouldn’t hurry past this “Mary factor” in the story. According to Chung, Mary’s actions express a “compassionate sensitiveness to other people’s needs” that is often found in women, perhaps because women have an acute sense of need and vulnerability that can nurture a compassionate approach to life. Raised by a woman like Mary to practice “compassionate justice,” Jesus, Chung notes, “did not grow up in a vacuum” and was probably accustomed to her nudging him along. Jesus may have first replied, “not now, Mom…” but Mary is there to remind him that we are not usually called to service in an hour of triumph, but in a moment of need – and here, it was nothing flashy, something that only a few people even knew he did, but that made a profound difference for his friends.
Jesus was asked to help, and he responded to the need at hand, even though it was an ordinary task, not all that special at all. Even for Jesus, it wasn’t always public healings of the desperately ill or raising the dead – sometimes it was just about saving a friend from embarrassment when his party planning was not perfect.
The worship service last Sunday was an interactive one and the question was asked to the group: “What is this story about?” First came the predictable answers from the adults: “To show us Jesus was human, he had friends and he partied.” “That even though he was Jesus, he listened to his Mama and did what she told him, even after a bit of sassing-back.” Then our youth began to respond (and I checked with them to make sure that I am quoting them correctly):
When the question was asked why Mary would ask Jesus to turn water into wine when he hadn’t even performed any miracles yet, the answer came from the Gospel of Nate Stapleton: “It means that it’s OK to believe in someone, because they just might surprise you.”
When it was pointed out that Jesus didn’t just turn the water into any old wine, he turned it into the best wine, and how is that like justice work? The answer came from the Gospel of Lucy Stein:
“It’s like that saying – ‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach a man to fish, you’ve fed him for a lifetime,’ but you also have to give him the fishing pole and access to water with lots of good fish.”
When the question was asked about why it was important that Mary nudged Jesus, the answer came from the Gospel of Jillian Provost:
“I think that nudging others is what we need to be doing because if we nudge a few people then they will nudge other people and they’ll nudge other people then there will be more people jumping on the train to change. One person might not be able to do much but if we can work together and nudge others into action, we might be able to make a difference.”
When we were asked how we were nudged in Immokalee, the answer came from the Gospel of Xander Kiker:
“Visiting the Immokalee Workers made me realize that so many of the things we own are taken for granted. So many objects in this room right now may have had so much hard work put into it, sometimes even slavery to make them.”
…and when it was mentioned that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a nudger, and that we need nudgers or else we fall into complacency, Eden referenced Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and added these verses from the Gospel according to Eden Ivines:
“Dr. King said that indifference is even worse than outright hatred. Ultimately, a radically negative idea is much easier to combat than indifference. In hatred it is clear what the injustice is. In complacency there is a majority that fills the space where activism and change could be. The people at the wedding expected cheap wine and would have taken it as it was. Even Jesus did not at first ponder what change he could make. They were complacent and would not have done anything to change the situation. But Jesus was there and made good wine, (only with a nudge from his mother). Dr. King stated in his letter that injustice is like a boil. You can cover it with a band-aid and try to put it out of your mind. But until an action is taken to start to heal that boil, it will fester. We can act like the situation or the lack of wine isn’t bothering us. We can turn our back to the prejudice that is right in front of us. However, it will still infect us and the people we hold dear. Until someone begins to make a change, or even just gives us a reason to change, everyone will suffer.”
I have some remarkable travel companions in our youth, who truly understand what service and justice means, and we have our biggest adventure ahead of us this summer when we head to Puerto Rico. My previous church made 3 service trips or “Work Tours” in UCG lingo to Puerto Rico, and we thought that my last one with them, just weeks before I arrived in Gainesville would be the last. But, after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, I rushed (along with my counter-part in Winter Park), to make contact with the General Minister of the United Evangelical Church of Puerto Rico, Rev. Edward Rivera Santiago, wanting to know how they were doing. It was a while before we heard back, but finally got the word that they were mostly OK, and looking forward to seeing us, we were coming back, right? We knew that there was only one answer- of course we were. Why? Because we were asked for help, and we needed to show up.
We made our first trip to Puerto Rico in 2013, after making contact with and being invited by Rev. Rivera Santiago. The churches were apprehensive about welcoming us, but Rev. Rivera Santiago said that they could really use our help.
For those who may not know, the Puerto Rico Conference of the UCC severed its ties with the denomination in 2006, following the 2005 General Synod where the supportive marriage equality resolution was passed. It was widely assumed that the passage of this resolution was the primary reason for the split. However, it has now been documented and we understand that ”While there were disagreements as well as misunderstandings around the resolution, the IEUPR communicated to the UCC that the longing for autonomy was central to its decision to leave the UCC. The relationship between the UCC and IEUPR was formed in a colonial model that perpetuated patriarchy.” No wonder the churches there were suspicious of our intentions upon arrival.
I remember meeting Rev. Rivera Santiago for the first time in the cafeteria of Ryder Hospital, (a UCC founded hospital). He sat down for lunch with me and another female minister and thanked us for coming. He told us that his mission was to repair the breaches that had been made in the separation, to help restore the relationships between both the United churches in Puerto Rico, but also between the churches on the island and those on the mainland. I remember him saying that some were suspicious of our agenda, and no wonder if de-colonization was a priority for the conference. He also described his process to us and I will never forget it, he said: “When you want everyone to come together and work as a community, the first thing you do is put women in charge of everything, so all of the empty pulpits and empty positions, I filled them all with women.” It seems that he understood the Mary factor as well and I thought, ok, I can work with this guy! and we have for seven years, and it has been wonderful. During that first trip, we worshipped at La Mina United Church, at the foot of El Younque. If you stick around for the Congregational meeting, (and I know you will), you will see some pictures. Our youth had prepared a sacred dance to share with the congregation and we stayed for lunch, speaking to people about the work we were doing at the hospital in the chaplain’s office, the Alzheimer’s unit, and the children’s ward, we said that we were there to help-out with whatever was needed. We shook hands, received hugs, heard stories about the church and the community, and we began to make friends. By the end of the week, we had been to five worship services in five different churches, and our youth were very proficient at their dance. Prior to the next trip, we learned that the La Mina church had suffered from a mud slide, and we were able to get it cleaned out and build a protective wall to help keep out another should it come (and it did!). We were also asked to help renovate a soup kitchen at another church that served many in need and now, as you can imagine, is serving even more. On the third trip, we were asked to help-out at the Conference Center and Camp that was also United Church of Christ built facility. It had fallen into disrepair and they wanted to open it again as a summer camp and meeting place for the Conference churches. They showed us where the outdoor chapel had once stood, and they asked us to begin a new one. They also had a beautiful walking path of prayer stations that had become overgrown. We were happy to do as we were asked and delighted to hear that our structure was still standing after the storm and that the camp is now being used to house work teams coming to assist the island in rebuilding. You never know how the seeds you plant, by doing only what you are asked to do, will bloom.
This trip will be a bit different. We will once again be in the community where we have built relationships, where we have been invited and asked for help. We will once again do the work that is asked of us – and we will have twice the number of people and twice the number of FL UCC churches to get it done (at final count there will be 27 from Winter Park and 36 from UCG working in Puerto Rico this summer). The Disaster Response Ministries of the United Church of Christ sent down a Social Action Coordinator, Lydia Rosaly, who has been working directly with the communities in need and matching work teams with those who need help. Sometimes, it is true, that sending money is the best option. If your presence will place a strain on a fragile infrastructure or take work from local workers who desperately need it, yes, just send money through reputable sources. Sometimes, however, the amount of work is so massive and the labor available so short, that help is needed and asked for. In the case of the FL Keys last year and Puerto Rico this year, those who have the wealth, secure the labor, and those who were already on living in poverty or on fixed incomes are left waiting. The money we sent to the UCC, secured Lydia to help match teams with valuable and needed work and a warehouse of supplies waiting for us to go and use them. This trip, we will spend less time in the churches, and more time in the communities. We have joined Rev. Rivera Santiago in repairing the breech, now we will join in restoring the streets.
We join in the work because we have been asked to help. We join with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, with the people of Puerto Rico, and with so many others; and we will enter in to these relationships with intention, knowing, above all, that you enter in to another person’s life with a servant, not a savior mentality. That means that while our work may be fulfilling and even transformational for us, our purpose cannot be ego-driven. It also means that we will always place the needs of the community we are serving above the needs of the group. It means that we never assume that we know better than the community that we are serving and do only the work that is asked of us, no matter what we think they need. It means that we understand that sometimes the work needs to stop for the service to begin, that hearing stories and making compassionate connections can be just as healing and important as getting paint on a wall. It means that, whenever possible, we will show up where we are invited, and that we will bring something to share.
We, UCG, must continue to go where the help is needed and do the work we are asked to do. In other words, we are nudged forth to become nudgers ourselves, and we are called to do our very best to meet the needs of others when we can and when we are given the opportunity. Sometimes it is right next door, sometimes it is 300 miles south, sometimes it is 1,300 miles south, but no matter the distance, we will show up. Not because we believe that we are called to save anyone or anything, but because we are invited, because we have been asked to help, because we are called to learn, we are called to partner, and most of all, we are called to be servants of compassion, of justice, and of love, hope, and healing.
