Philadelphia was excellent. Thirty people went, about two thirds from UNC and one third from State. There were nine men and twenty-one women. We arrived on Saturday and returned home on Friday.
Saturday: All the State folks loaded into an 18-passenger van and headed up to Henderson, where we were to meet the Carolina contingent. We arrived at 8 but had to wait a little while before we left for Philly for reasons that will not be named :o) It took us about 9 hours to get there, with potty stops. Erin and I had neglected to inform the rest of the group of the status of our relationship, so they were understandably surprised at how well we were getting along in the van. As part of the skit team, we worked with a few others on the skits we were to perform, and settled on two we thought were suitable. We arrived in Philly around 5 p.m. We lodged in the Germantown district of the city, in the dorms of what used to be a small college but is now a church. The dorms were nice; comparable to those here in Syme.
That night we ate dinner with a group called Teen Challenge, a drug and alcohol abuse rehabilitation program. It was a house in another part of Germantown, a little old, but nicely kept up by the tenants. The group is called Teen Challenge, but there were a lot of men there in their 30’s and 40’s, all races, many different walks of life. A man shared his testimony before dinner. He had only been a believer for a few years, but exuded such a maturity, optimism, and depth of understanding about the things he spoke of that I think all of our eyes were opened to the irrepressible nature of God’s grace, no matter what anyone has done. From his account, this man had truly experienced the depths to which one can sink, and he found the grace of God waiting for him there, to redeem his life and wash him clean.
For dinner, I had lasagna and some borderline-toxic Gatorade drink. Afterward we put on a short chapel service for the dozen or so men at the house. Erin and I performed our skits, and we had worship, testimonies, and a short talk. I got the feeling none of the men knew the songs we were singing, but they worshipped with abandon and belted the verses out louder than any of us. In our life we pile together so many commitments, obligations, pursuits, interests–these men had nothing but their relationship with Jesus and each other, and He held them, gave them strength, and made them joyful.
Sunday: We had matresses to sleep on, so waking up Sunday morning wasn’t the great dramatic performance it could have been. We had a little extra time to prepare, then headed off to a church in north Philly (the worst part of town) called Spirit and Truth. The congregation was quite diverse, and worship was good. The percussion section of the worship band was notably oversized, and their presence was felt during praise. It was amazingly reassuring to venture to another part of the world and worship the same God, to hear a congregation around you lifting their voices and calling on Jesus.
We ate lunch downstairs in the church (we had bag lunches every day), then loaded up the vans and went on a prayer drive around north Philly. What this constitued was simply driving around the inner city, looking out the windows, and lifting up whatever God put on your heart right then and there.
There was an enormous amount of trash scattered on the sidewalks and streets. Children played outside under makeshift basketball hoops and played chicken running in front of cars (and our van). Two-story apartments lined the streets and alleys. They all had bars on the windows, and many had the porch completely barred-in as well. Most of the cars had “the Club” or some form of protection installed. It was a foreign world, with few attempts at embellishment of the squalid tenements. It was tempting to see the groups of people before you and collect them into a group labeled “residents of north Philly,” the clumps of humanity… but each soul is an individual soul, a soul God loves and sent His Son to save. Each is unique… this just blows my mind.
After we returned we visited Wawa, a sort of gas station quik-e-mart without the gas and with a deli. I wish they had them down here on college campuses, if only for the fact that name of the store is fun to say.
Monday: Adjusting to a “normal” sleep schedule was difficult. We got up and had cereal and fruit for breakfast (well, some of us had fruit, at least). We heard a talk by Bob Emberger, director of Whosoever Gospel Mission, a facility for homeless men in downtown Philadelphia. He spoke on urban theology and offered not a few very practical guidelines concerning ministry to those who are down and out.
They divided our group of 30 up into 3 small groups for the week; Erin and I were both placed in small group 3 (don’t ask me how that worked out). For three of the afternoons, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, each small group would be assigned to a particular work site, and we would rotate one each successive work day. As small group no.3, assigned to Whosoever Gospel Mission the first day, we had a particular task. We were not only to help out in the thrift store and around the rest of the mission, we were to put on a chapel service for the homeless guys that evening. I think most of the members of our small group (myself included) were somewhat daunted by this assignment. The idea of planning something that would be relevant and uplifting for men whose lives were so different from our own weighed on everyone’s mind that afternoon.
This entry will lengthen shortly.