​Last February, while we were in Florida, our pipes burst, leaving our house uninhabitable.  For the next 6 months we were displaced, and still over a year later, our house isn’t back to “normal”.  This long process has been extremely stressful on everyone in the family.  Fortunately, though, we had homeowners insurance and the damage was covered.  We also have family living on the Cape.  And, we were able to live with my mother.  Folks have said to me, “I don’t know how you are dealing with this.” Well, as stressful as this experience has been, a day doesn’t go by when I don’t think about the “what ifs” of not having insurance or friends and family who graciously offered their homes to us.  In short, we’d be homeless.  It can happen.  Just like that.  We, as a society, like to think that in large part there is something more subversive at work leaving folks living on the streets, namely drugs and alcohol.  And yes, sometimes that is the case.  But really there are a litany of unfortunate events, like ours, that could potentially derail any of us into homelessness.
 
On Good Friday, March 25th, 19 youth (6th-10th graders) camped out in a “Cardboard City" on the front lawn of our church.  The Cardboard City is an event that has been taking place in numerous locations all over the world.  Participants are invited to spend the night in a cardboard box in an effort to experience homelessness.  We also work to raise money to help combat this complex problem.  This was our second annual Cardboard City.  The effort was initiated by our confirmands, 9th graders, Perry Comeau, Jan Lapinski, Jamie Rushnak, Lucy Ryan and Anna Terrenzi.  They were so impacted by last year's event, that they invited their friends from the Cape and beyond to participate once again.  95% of last year’s participants returned again this year to brave the elements in an effort to get a deeper understanding of what it is like to be someone who no longer has a home.  We had students representing a number of schools: Monomoy Regional High and Middle Schools, Nauset High and Middle Schools, St. Francis Xavier Prep, Duxbury Middle School, Chatham Elementary School, Sturgis Charter School and Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School.
 
Our evening included time with homeless advocates, Jeff Howell and Alan Burt of Homeless Not Hopeless in Hyannis and Beth Wade of Champ Homes.  We had a great roundtable discussion which included the children breaking up in pairs to explore the cycle of homelessness.  Jeff, Alan and Beth helped us get a better understanding of homelessness on Cape Cod and its direct correlation to the housing problem that exists here.  We talked a lot about the role our faith plays in looking at this situation.  Central to all three advocates, is the verse from Matthew 25:36-40, "I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
 
This year, our scope was broadened as we heard about a different homeless population, refugees.  Jennifer Smith and Laura Gill, Outer Cape residents, came and spoke with the group about their recent experience working with Syrian refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos (a tourist and fishing community not dissimilar to the Cape).  For two weeks, the two gave medical care to children and adults coming off flimsy rafts after crossing the Aegean from Turkey.  They showed lots of pictures and gave us a clear sense of the urgency and enormity of this situation.  We also watched the documentary, God Grew Tired of Us.  A 2006 film that tells the story of some of the Lost Boys of Sudan, some 25,000 young men, refugees forced to flee the wars in Sudan since the 1980s.  The film explores their horrific journey as well as their experiences moving to the United States.  The next morning, the participants said that it gave them a “reality check” of how much they take for granted.
 
At one point, the group set out panhandling Main Street.  Their experiences varied from folks who greeted them with warmth and generosity, like a man who had spent 10 years living on the streets of Boston who gave them $25, to less generous folks who “only had hundreds” and thought “it must be nice being poor having other people working for you.”  It gave them a realistic glimpse of the day in the life of a homeless person, as did our experience spending the night in the cold.  The following morning participants swapped “war stories” of their restless night.
 
In the morning, we walked down to Claflin Landing to take in the sunrise.  We came home to a warm breakfast prepared by some of our congregation.  We then went upstairs and had a closing ceremony, ending with a passing of a peace candle, where we urged one another to “go out and be a light in the world."
 
These teens are articulate, civic minded, compassionate young people who truly embody the great commandment of “loving your neighbor”.  They are a light in our world and working with them is a great privilege.  We raised $1037 through our morning program - Good Friday VBS, participation fees and sponsorships for the Cardboard City and by panhandling on Chatham’s Main Street. The youth will be presenting a check to Homeless Not Hopeless and Champ Homes in the coming weeks.  
 
I’d like to thank all who participated and donated to this great event.  I would encourage all generations to become acquainted with these bright shining stars of our community.  They are a gift.
 

While at Harvard Divinity School I took a course on spirituality taught by Henri Nouwen, Dutch priest, psychiatrist and spiritual leader to many through his writing, teaching, and life of deep faith.   In the lecture hall filled to capacity, there was total silence as those in attendance focused on this teacher, as though sitting at the feet of Jesus.
  
My first thought when asked to summarize the course at the time was that it couldn’t be described in terms of content--it was how one was transformed as a person through this experience that was significant.    And indeed this was Nouwen’s preface to the course, that it was to be one which would focus on“forming the heart—not informing the mind.”    He noted that his challenge was to teach spirituality in a spiritual way, rather than through an academic approach.  And he succeeded.    As the course progressed, I realized that its value was in affirming one’s spiritual insights and in recognizing that, according to Nouwen, “what is most personal is universal.”   For as he suggests, “the purpose of teaching is to reveal to you what you already know—not what you don’t know.”

But to explore the course content a bit—the text was the mystical Gospel of John, as inspiration rather than exegesis; and while the course carried the somewhat bland title of “Introduction to Spirituality”, it encompassed everything from sexuality to world peace.  Using the prologue as an introduction to the course, “In the beginning was the Word”, Nouwen infused all aspects of the Word—listening,  speaking, reading, writing—with their spiritual meaning.    For example, he said writing is not having an idea first and then putting it down on paper, but rather a process through which ideas emerge and you become aware of what you are thinking: “You write that you will come to know yourself and God.”   In this sense all of us are natural writers.

The main body of the course was based on three themes Nouwen sees running through the Gospel of John: 
intimacy, with God and in interpersonal relationships.    Fear, not hate, is the opposite of love and its obstacle he said.   When we accept God’s unconditional love, we can find joy in the limited expression of this love in our intimate relationships, without feeling that we have to be God for each other.  “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”  (I John 4:18)

Fecundity--fruitfulness, as opposed to productivity.    Our fruits come to us when we’re not looking for them, when we don’t make them our first concern but live fully in the moment.    Our task is simply to trust and to accept our fruits in gratitude and celebration.    “Whoever remains in me, with me in him or her, bears fruit in plenty.”  (John 15:5)

Ecstacy—complete joy which transcends both sadness and gladness, a place from which to look objectively at moods wherein “anxiety becomes destructive and happiness seductive.”   We all have a right to live ecstatic lives, to move out of the static places to a place of freedom, where security is not our prime concern.    This has implications for world peace as well.    “I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.”  (John 15:11)

The final lecture dealt with leaving.    Jesus said, “. . . it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor (Spirit) will not come to you . . .  “ (John 16:7)—I want to leave you so that you can find what is uniquely yours.    A “good leaving”, said Nouwen (I’m with you now, but it’s good for you that I leave), enriches relationships in life—we get in the way; absences and remembering can bring about a greater sense of intimacy—and ultimately in death.    Grieving is a way of bringing about a new sense of presence, a new spirit which grows when someone dies, if we have dared to love fully.    This theme of presence in absence was a recurring one throughout the course. 
​   
In his absence, Henri’s spirit continues to guide our spiritual growth.