Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods
By Jonathan Brooks (InterVarsity Press, 2018) | Selections from pages 202-205
“We have to remember that God has a long-term view and doesn’t see things the way we see them. The only way we can begin to see from this perspective is to believe that there is no place, person, or practice that God is unable to turn around for his glory. We often find ourselves, based on our own personalities and desires, categorizing certain people and places. If they remind us of something we value or have been told to value by societal standards, we connect their attributes to the glory of God - what I like to call “putting on our glory-of-God glasses.”
As a young person this played out in how I saw living in the suburbs versus living in the inner city. In just about every television show, movie, or book, the wide expanse of suburban sprawl was lifted up as the better way to live. Whenever I would visit friends or family who lived outside the city, I would see how everything was seemingly beautiful and quiet... I would think to myself that this must be what the glory of God looks like. However, I was unable to see the same glory in my inner-city community. I would miss all the ways we were resiliently thriving despite the struggles we faced. I missed all the amazing community relationships created and the many ways I had been prepared to deal with the hardships of life because I had a mother who kept going no matter what life seemed to throw at us.
…Society's narrative had instructed me to wear my brokenness-of-humanity glasses in my neighborhood in stark contrast with my glorious perspective of suburban living. I would see trash on the ground and be frustrated that we were unable to pick up our own trash. I would see abandoned houses and vacant lots and understood why people did not want to live in my community. Although I personally never experienced any violence in high school, the narrative was that I was not safe… This was the dominant narrative that was perpetuated and so it was the narrative I believed. I did not have the understanding that while some of these experiences were real, they were also magnified because my chosen way of viewing my community was through the lens of brokenness. Conversely, I was unable to see the brokenness in the suburbs when I would visit out there. It seems they were good at hiding their brokenness. It was masked well with manicured lawns and hidden behind those beautiful, valanced windows.
…The issue with my perspective wasn’t an inability to see the glory of God or the brokenness of humanity for I could clearly see both. The problem was that I chose my lens based on the situation. I realized what I needed to do, and this is the request I have been making of people all over the world the last few years: Take both pairs of lenses, crack them in half, and pull a Benjamin Franklin by putting the lenses together and making bifocals. If we want to see the world the way God does, then we have to realize that every person and every place displays both the glory of God and the brokenness of humanity at all times. If we are unable to see either, there is something wrong with our vision, not with the place or the person. When we can see the glory of God in a person or place, then we know what to thank God for. When we see the brokenness in a person or place, then we know what to ask God for. Whenever we enter a place or meet a new person, we must check to see if we have put on our bifocals.”
Day by Day - from Stephen Schwartz’s “Godspell”
Day by day
Day by day
Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day
Here I Belong - Julie Miragliotta
Julie started a garden called ‘The One Where We Remember’
Brooklyn Centre, always forgotten.
It's a national historic district.
Some people don’t abide by building codes
and the city doesn’t enforce them.
I wish renters took more pride
People just don’t seem to care.
Chorus
But I always felt like I belonged there.
I love my house.
I can’t imagine living somewhere else.
The amount of crime here has increased.
There are constant gunshots going on.
A carjacking on Saturday at noon
A drive-by on Sunday morning.
I was outside, heard the shots.
Then I heard somebody scream.
Chorus
I live next door to drug dealers.
The smell of weed seeps out of their house.
I’ve been here 19 years. They’ve been here 8.
And the neighbors on the other side
had a pot farm in the basement.
The drug use is horrendous.
Chorus
The garden space is important.
There is no other green space.
My garden is “The One Where We Remember,”
A space to go unwind.
It is very calming there.
Even though it’s still the city
Chorus
It's a gathering space for friends
We have bonfires and make s’mores
The garden’s also needed for the kids
It’s a place they can go and be
Play tag, and just have fun
Play tag, have fun and be kids
Chorus
Beyond the Negative - Yomarie Gonzalez
Yomarie is the Education Enrichment & Community Development coordinator for Building Hope in the City
My dad was killed in ‘95.
We had to bury him and come here
It was April and ugly outside.
New language, new everything.
I was afraid to speak
I sound like a straight Puerto Rican
Before the pandemic came
My husband started knocking on doors
meeting neighbors, listening to their stories.
People just want to be heard.
God was moving in me
To embrace the community
Chorus
I was always seeing the negative
Guns, drugs, and violence
But you can still see the beauty
in the midst of the darkness
I started walking the streets
Looking beyond the negative
What is the beauty I see?
There are flowers by those houses.
There are forgotten people
That took my blindfold away.
Chorus
Now we give kids a safe space
Cleaning up the alleys
The garden brings people together
We serve our neighbors in love
Being who God calls us to be
It changes the people around you.
Chorus
Love Through Food - Peggi Cruz
Peggi is the chef and owner of Cha’firo, an award-winning Puerto Rican restaurant
My whole life my mother was a caterer.
Food helped our family come out of the projects.
That's where my love for food came from.
I wanna show love through food
Just like my mother taught me
I had a friend. She didn’t speak my language
We made mud pies, and she would eat them.
I brought her food, her eyes lit up.
I wanna show love through food
Just like my mother taught me
I went to Tri-C to be an accountant
But saw the cooking class walking with their suits and knives
I knew that’s what I'm s’pposed to be.
I wanna show love through food
Just like my mother taught me
Cha’firo, my brother, died in 1970
I named the restaurant after him
I know he still looks out for me
I wanna show love through food
Just like my mother taught me
I don’t really do anything God does it.
I tell God, ‘I'll do the work, just put it in front of me.’
Stay hopeful and believe
God is who brings you through everything
Cha’firo began when I saw the cooking class.
I started selling from home and corner stores
Then catered ‘til a building came
I wanna show love through food
Just like my mother taught me
Known and Loved and Safe - Danielle Piscura
Danielle is the co-founder of the Garden Christian Academy
They moved in across the street.
The kids came over to play
Teen mom, Dad went to prison
The kids followed Dad’s path
Kids need to be known and loved and safe
Known, and loved, and safe.
What if they had a better chance?
Lord, what do you want us to do?
These kids need something better.
We need to start a school.
Kids need to be known and loved and safe
Known, and loved, and safe.
Why can’t we have nice things here?
The best learning for the best
Is the best learning for all
So we made a school for our neighbors
Kids need to be known and loved and safe
Known, and loved, and safe.
Jesus it's hard, why are we doing this?
Obey the Lord, we know He’s called us.
Unless our orders change
We’ll keep marching on.
A tight knit group of people.
Imago Dei academics
Are for Clark-Fulton, too
For kids down the street
The kids here are known and loved and safe
Known, and loved, and safe.
Light up the Park - Betty Jo Palmer
Betty Jo started the restoration of a park in Stockyards and named it ‘Light up the Park’
I used to sit on the swings and get on the slide
And see an empty space.
Mold and mildew, the slide was rusted,
The paint was chipped.
They put a yellow tape around them
And took it all away.
The kids don’t have anywhere to go and play.
I see girls on the street.
They used to fight dogs back there.
One day I saw
Someone jump out of their car
And shoot a neighbor
Chorus
But I have a vision.
Light up the park,
Bring it alive.
They said, “You can’t put things in that empty park,
It belongs to the city.”
But the city didn’t do a thing
For thirty years.
People pass it and don’t know it’s there.
It's always dark, no lights
Chorus
I have a plan to put this park on the map
Show people what could be.
I brought attention by having events
I pushed for it.
I called lots about getting lights.
We’ve power to make change.
Chorus
The Councilwoman called, said, “I got great news.
There are funds for the park
To put in benches, slides, swings, and lights.”
A legacy.
You won’t have to walk past the park
and see it empty no more.
Chorus
Shalom - Ebonie Randle-Joiner
Ebonie started the garden/community space ‘Shalom and Tranquility’
I met a lady she loved urban farming
She asked me to farm farm alongside
She said, “You gotta look, look, for a plot.”
That's when I noticed, I noticed the alley full of
trash, couches, tires.
I finally, finally started to see.
Together we cleared out all that trash
Bridging the gap in community.
Building “Shalom and Tranquility”.
Walking by faith and not by sight.
I finally, finally started to see.
Husband calls me, says, “There's a lady here,
I think she’s dead.” So I go running.
She had no shoes on, the needle by her side
I know that face, Linda is her name.
I finally, finally started to see.
I call 911 and got the interrogation.
We wasting time, so I ran to the neighbors.
I knew they would have what I needed.
They said, “It’s her third overdose this week.”
I finally, finally started to see.
So much fear and helplessness
Everyday I see the effects of heroine
But “Shalom” is breaking the authority
of the chaos of these streets
I asked her, “Why did you come here?”
She said “It’s quiet, it’s peaceful here.”
I gave her the shoes off my feet,
I said, “You cannot come here to die.”
As we walked down the alley.
I finally, finally started to see.
Colors - Jean Paul Hernandez
JP started the garden/community space ‘Barrio Boy’
I grew up in a diverse neighborhood.
So many cultures in Clark-Fulton.
Soccer and baseball, kids playing together
All connected by food, music, and art.
A lot of colors, good people
My diverse city.
Most of this city is segregated.
I realized I have to help
To be an example for all of the kids
If I want change then I have to do it.
A lot of colors, good people
My diverse city.
I met a wildlife officer.
He said “We’re looking to create
a monarch garden. What do you want to do?”
The rest is history
A lot of colors, good people
My diverse city.
People forget the power of wildlife,
Hearing the birds and smelling flowers.
I wanted to bring an oasis to the city.
Being outside is healing.
A lot of colors, good people
My diverse city.
At the end of the day we’re all the same.
A lot of colors, good people.
I love Clark-Fulton, my diverse city.
Be proud of your neighborhood
A lot of colors, good people
It is beautiful to me.
Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods
By Jonathan Brooks (InterVarsity Press, 2018) | Selections from pages 214-215
“My desire for each of us is that we would wake up every day and put on our bifocals, for that is the only way to overcome our natural bias even as Jesus followers… We have been called to be present in the places that most people do not want to go because we know our welfare is not tied up in our comfort but in our love for God and each other. For that reason, wherever we are, we bring with us the hope of Christ. There are no God-forsaken places. And when God’s people practice presence in the neglected neighborhoods all around us, we can say with confidence that there are no church-forsaken places either.”
Learn more about the people who we collaborated with to write these songs and their respective endeavors using the links below:
Julie’s Garden - The One Where We Remember
Yomarie’s workplace - Building Hope in the City
Peggi’s Restaurant - Cha’firo
The school Danielle co-founded - Garden Christian Academy
Betty Jo’s park restoration - Light up the Park
Ebonie’s Garden - Shalom and Tranquility
JP’s Garden - Barrio Boy