CrossRoads United Methodist Church filed a complaint in court…going through the process to right a wrong.

The weekend services were great.

Saturday worship was over before the rain began.  A first time volunteer, young woman, looked over the whole thing and teared up.  A regular volunteer is figuring out what to do with our flower garden. Steve brought his trash can art (see photos). Ralph is back outdoors again and hoping to find a spot to stay dry today.  The sermon was fantastic (thanks Tom!).

Sunday worship also great.  Worshippers gathering together to focus on the Stations of the Cross and to go deep with God. Margarita, our young artist, put up pictures of the first three stations and we walked those stations during communion (great art work, Margarita!).  Looked at what to do “When You are Unjustly Accused.”

The thing I love about weekends is that people gather and focus our thoughts on God and on God’s people…moving beyond our narrow views to see the wider view of life.  Refreshing…  Ready for the week now.

Last Thursday we lost the appeal to the Board of Adjustment of the City of Phoenix.  What that means is we are still defined as a “charity dining hall” when we have a worship service with breakfast for the poor and homeless of our neighborhood.  How audacious to have the City redefine a church based on their understanding (or not) of who we are!  It really blows my heart!

But, no worry.  We go on.  We take the next step.  Conferring with our attorneys will make that clear soon. Step by step.  Inch by inch.  Move the mountain by standing, walking, continuing, pushing, plodding….and especially hoping…hoping for a new day where the words of Isaiah 58 are lived out by all:

No, the kind of fasting I want calls you to free those who are wrongly imprisoned and to stop                     oppressing those who work for you.  Treat them fairly and give them what they earn.  I want you to               share your food with the hungry and to welcome poor wanderers into your homes.  Give clothes to those     who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.  If you do these things, your                 salvation will come like the dawn.  Yes, your healing will come quickly.  Your godliness will lead you             forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.  Then when you call, the Lord will                 answer, ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

Sounds like “church” to me!

Saturday Breakfast Worship

The decision has been made that we are operating as a charity dining hall, and therefore are breaking zoning ordinance. So, to feed the hungry and poor on church property, according to this ruling, is not an allowed function of the church.

But the process is not over. We can appeal to the Board of Adjustment, and will be able to continue our ministry during this time.

However, there’s still a lot of questions to be answered. Questions like, How hungry? What about our potlucks? What about our Christmas dinner or Easter Sunrise breakfast? When I eat that, I am pretty hungry…is that allowed? What about the coffee and donuts we serve on Sunday mornings? Can we eat that if we are hungry? And then there is the other question, “How poor?” How poor do we have to be to be considered a “charity?” Federal-poverty-guidelines-poor? Not-able-to-make-the-house-payment-poor? Or, how about not-able-to-pay-off-the-credit-card-poor?

Or, are we just discriminating against people who are poor and who don’t have homes, because we don’t like what we feel when we see them? The real issue, is not that there are hungry people out there, or that we serve food in church, the real issue is that we are afraid. Afraid to reach out a helping hand; afraid to see what the economy could do to us; afraid to face our worst fears…

We can minister to the poor…that’s a given. We can hold a worship service for them out on the front lawn. We just can’t feed them. We can’t fill their bellies with warm food. …We might as well just go to the street corners and start handing out money, in hopes they will make their way to some food, because you are not allowed to do it at church!

And since, when we give food to the hungry and poor, that somehow redefines us as a “charity dining hall”…who among us can eat at church? Can we put a donut or a sip of coffee in our mouths when we can’t do the same for the poor? In good conscience, can we eat anything on church property if we can only give food to the well-off and wealthy?

And I haven’t even asked the other questions about our freedom of religion…our country’s decision to let religious folk be free to act out our faith…

Too many questions bog down my heart….

Oh, but one more question that was pointed out to me a few weeks ago…I wonder if Jesus had a permit to feed the 5000, or to break bread at the Upper Room, or to turn the water into wine at the wedding in Cana?

My, my, my! What have we come to? Where’s the love? Will you pray with me?

Rev. Dottie Escobedo-Frank

Pastor

CrossRoads United Methodist Church

I’ve been reading statistics about our neighborhood…and seeing the amazing diversity and rich fabric of all God’s creation that surrounds CrossRoads.  And I’ve been talking with pastors nearby and people in the neighborhood, and have been so awed by our shared difference.  I say “shared difference” because we are each other’s neighbors, and what happens to one happens to all.  We sometimes forget that, but today I am remembering…

So when a young girl asks for help, I remember what it was like to be young, while at the same time feeling my age…

And when an elderly gentleman explains his viewpoint, I hear his cry for the past, while continuing to seek out our common future.

And when an immigrant says, “I just want to work, Pastor,” I lift my head up and cry out to God for change so that he can work and feed his family…all the while I am humbled to be able to feed those I love.

We are so different.  But we belong to each other.  We are all neighbors, no matter our diverse-ness.  So when Jesus said “Love thy neighbor” I’m thinking he probably meant all of us.

well just got home from a beautiful and restful trip to Idaho.  Enjoyed visiting with family and being out of cell phone access.  I missed the phone for..oh…about a day.  Then I celebrated life without interruption!  The beauty of Idaho hills, the quiet sounds of nature, a real (non-commercialized) hot springs, and getting back on a horse again…all did wonders for this city-used-to-be-country girl!  Rest is good for the soul.

and so is work.  Landed back in Phoenix to see off our Seminary Intern, Brian Schlemmer.  He preached a powerful and challenging sermon.  What a godsend he has been as we faced a summer of challenge.  He’s off to finish his last year of seminary, and I’d say, he’s already ready to be a pastor.

this week will be another series of meetings as we continue to sit down with our neighbors and work towards resolution.  We are continuing to feed the homeless and stepping up in our attempt to be neighborly to all.  We have added a trash patrol, and alley-way checks on Saturday mornings.  We have added a 24-hour cell phone for assistance for the neighborhood.  The city, the neighbors, and the church are at the table doing the work of being a community.  Even though it’s not easy, it feels good and right.  Isn’t this what life is really about?

thank you everyone for your ongoing support.  We will keep you updated as time goes on, but for now, we continue to care for “the least of these”…and as our intern, Brian, reminded us this morning:  We need them as much (or more) as they need us.  In fact, if you think about it, who’s to say that “the least of these” isn’t just us?  (not good English, but you get the point).

what a summer!  God is good.  All the time.

A neighbor complained because we were feeding the homeless on church property.

So, two weeks ago, we were told by the City of Phoenix that we cannot feed the homeless on our property. It was said that we were in violation of our zoning ordinance.  As explained to us, feeding the homeless can only occur in a commercial or industrial zones, and we are residential.  But I believe the officials are redefining us as a “Charity Dining Hall”…or a “Religious Mission.”  Both of those entities have these zoning restrictions.  Our appeal to the city is that we are a “Church” and as such, the zoning ordinance does not restrict us from feeding the homeless.

More than that, we are a church who has a core belief in the action of faith.  Faith, for us, is not just something we talk about…it is something we do. 

In a city where homelessness is on the rise, where new first-time homeless families are showing up, and where even children and teens are being raised without roofs over their heads, this church, CrossRoads United Methodist, is stepping up to address a problem.  It does not make sense to ask us to stop for any reason!

We want to be good neighbors.  And for us, we see the “neighbor” as defined in the story of The Good Samaritan.  We will not pass by the neighbors with houses, nor the neighbors with out houses.  For it is our charge to live out our faith in the world, so that the one left broken, beaten down, and hungry is cared for, loved, and given hope.