Tonight during our church debrief time, our city hosts (Tara, Amy & Mikayla) asked each person to come up with one word to describe all that they had experienced. These are some of the words from our team that described today: overwhelmed, heart-wrenching, awestruck, speechless,
humbling.
I chose inundated.
That's how I felt by the time our day drew to a close. Our team had experienced so much. Here's how things went on this Monday, July 7:
Breakfast at 7:15am consisted of cereal, toast, jam, coffee & juice. Devotions followed closely thereafter. With those two elements giving us energy (physical + spiritual), we were off for the day ahead.
Team 1 (led by Barb Basalone & Karin Hust) headed to the San Francisco Food Bank for their morning session. There they sorted food that would be packed and distributed to those in need. Just before noon, they returned to the housing site for their next assignment. Given bus fare for each person, $2/person for lunch, and some basic directions & instructions, they were off on an activity called "City Search". The goal was to experience parts of San Francisco from the perspective of a homeless person. They were tasked with interviewing people about life here in the city of San Francisco, and trying to find out what it's like to be a part of that "population." This was probably one of the hardest things each team member experienced because they were forced to go beyond their comfort zones, eating a meal on reduced income, and striking up conversations with people that are so easily ignored. In essence, they were forced to see the city through the eyes of Jesus.
Team 2 (led by Brenton & Rachel Fessler) started the day at St. Vincent de Paul Dining Room, which serves upwards of 900 meals each day to the poor and homeless. After helping with some food preparation, they had the opportunity of serving the food to men, women, children & families. A humbling and eye-opening experience, to say the least. After eating lunch their at the St. Vincent's, Team 2 moved onto their own "City Search" experience. Given bus fare for each person and some initial instructions and directions, half the group went to the City Hall and Tenderloin areas of the city, and the other half went to the Haight-Ashbury area (renowned for the start of the Hippie movement). There, they had the chance to interact with many different people from all walks of life and background. Again, they were seeing the city from a different perspective--from the eyes of Jesus.
Team 3 (led by Steve Swodeck) began their day at the Salvation Army Service Center, helping to sort and organize clothing that would be distributed to those in need.
According to Lindsey Breeding, an avid connoisseur of apparel, she's "never seen so many clothes." They, too, had an eye opening experience. After lunch, Team 2 headed over to the St. Vincent's Day Home, spending much of their time interacting with children that are a part of the program. Many on the team mentioned that this was their favorite part of the day because of the interaction with kids in a meaningful way.
Dinner tonight was at a Thai restaurant. And once again, much like the Indian place from last night, I impressed at how our students ate it up. A dinner tradition with CSM is to box up our "leftovers" and to immediately try to find someone that needs food for the night on the street. Our city hosts are giving our students wonderful opportunities to see kindness at its best.
Our day ended tonight with a Prayer Tour throughout San Francisco. As each of our vans drove through different areas and neighborhoods, our city hosts would read some facts about particular places and then give us opportunities to to pray for those specific areas. It was amazing to see the contrast from the glitzy places like Nob Hill and the Financial District to the Tenderloin District and Chinatown. This is where the feeling of being "inundated" came in. It was so much to take in.
We went to Coit Tower which overlooks the entire city and had a chance to pray through many of the needs that exist -- like the fact that around 10,000 people will sleep homeless tonight in the city of San Francisco alone, that the City government is willing to spend upwards of $300 million to improve and beautify City Hall but leave little money for helping the homeless and those in need.
Today's devotional referenced the passage in Matthew 25 where Jesus is saying that "whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done unto me." That verse has guided our day. More than anything, we have wanted to be able to see with the eyes of Jesus, to be able to recognize the "least of these."
It's only Day 2, and our hearts have been broken.
We are falling in love with this City.
But more importantly, we believe that Jesus is alive, and therefore we live with the hope that we can make his kingdom a reality.
May the Holy Spirit give us power to continue to see with his eyes...
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