Reconciliation and Reentry Ministry Reflection
The faith teams are an interesting experiment where two separate worlds collide. Nothing could have prepared the Refuge for its encounter with its partner. The Refuge is made up of mainly white middle-class educated Americans. Our partner, along with her mother, were two people who had been cast aside and deemed worthless by society. Before they were even born, their lives were shaped by the evils of racism and generational poverty. Bringing these two worlds together is not something that is supposed to happen in our society that would rather keep everyone separate.
After attending our partner’s court hearing and covenanting to be present in her life, the members of Refuge entered a new world that they did not have the eyes to see previously. Immediately it became clear that there was much to do. Our partner was no longer attending school and needed to be tutored to continue her education. She was a pregnant teenager who needed support and supplies. Involvement in their lives soon revealed other problems such as addictions and patterns of irresponsibility. The Refuge quickly become overwhelmed in realizing the effort it would take to make this family more like us.
The year of relationship was filled with many highs and lows, joys and sorrows. A baby shower was thrown to celebrate and prepare for the new life. One member of Refuge stayed right by our partner’s side throughout the many hours of labor and provided for her every need. On the other hand, new difficulties and problems seemed to pop up almost weekly. Differences in age and culture quickly revealed that the relationship would not come naturally or easily.
After a year, the experiment ended in failure, at least from one perspective. On the surface, not much has changed. The Refuge is still middle class, educated and white. Our partner and her mother are still struggling to survive, trapped in the same patterns. And yet, maybe the point of the whole experiment was not that it would end in success. Maybe there is something incredible and profound in simply knowing one another; that the two worlds did collide. At the very least, the Refuge learned that the answers to the problems in our world will not be solved by simply remaking others into our own image. The experience taught us the importance of seeing the image of God in everyone. The seeds for transformation have been planted, and in time those seeds may bear fruit. But the meantime, this failure became a new kind of success, a kind of success that can only understood by those who have encountered God in the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized.
-- Todd Maberry. August 2010.
After attending our partner’s court hearing and covenanting to be present in her life, the members of Refuge entered a new world that they did not have the eyes to see previously. Immediately it became clear that there was much to do. Our partner was no longer attending school and needed to be tutored to continue her education. She was a pregnant teenager who needed support and supplies. Involvement in their lives soon revealed other problems such as addictions and patterns of irresponsibility. The Refuge quickly become overwhelmed in realizing the effort it would take to make this family more like us.
The year of relationship was filled with many highs and lows, joys and sorrows. A baby shower was thrown to celebrate and prepare for the new life. One member of Refuge stayed right by our partner’s side throughout the many hours of labor and provided for her every need. On the other hand, new difficulties and problems seemed to pop up almost weekly. Differences in age and culture quickly revealed that the relationship would not come naturally or easily.
After a year, the experiment ended in failure, at least from one perspective. On the surface, not much has changed. The Refuge is still middle class, educated and white. Our partner and her mother are still struggling to survive, trapped in the same patterns. And yet, maybe the point of the whole experiment was not that it would end in success. Maybe there is something incredible and profound in simply knowing one another; that the two worlds did collide. At the very least, the Refuge learned that the answers to the problems in our world will not be solved by simply remaking others into our own image. The experience taught us the importance of seeing the image of God in everyone. The seeds for transformation have been planted, and in time those seeds may bear fruit. But the meantime, this failure became a new kind of success, a kind of success that can only understood by those who have encountered God in the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized.
-- Todd Maberry. August 2010.