by Drew Rindfleisch
In September of 2012, I began serving as the chaplain in the Community Kitchen for staff, volunteers, and guests joining A Just Harvest for daily dinners. Through the Urban Clinical Pastoral Education program, chaplains are placed in Chicago outside of the standard hospital to face issues of life and death in community and neighborhood settings. In the Community Kitchen, I provide spiritual care for our sisters and brothers in times of joy and stress; many who struggle to find adequate and affordable housing, jobs that pay living wages, and healthy food to sustain their lives.
During my first month at the kitchen, I sat with a woman who had been quietly and patiently waiting to speak with me. Though the kitchen was closing, we ended up speaking with one another for an hour. She had held a job for over twenty years, but then hit several hardships during the Great Recession. She was recently homeless, and felt more alone than ever. At one point she broke down and said, “I am so tired of hearing everyone say that they will pray for me. What good will that do? Prayers won’t help. At this point, prayers won’t give me money or work. Prayers won’t help pay my bills, or put food on the table. Prayers won’t provide me a warm, safe place to sleep at night. I need something more than prayers right now.” I struggled to find any words to respond. But there were no words—my sister was hurting; mentally, physically, spiritually, and economically. Hearing her story and the raw, human pain stirred my soul.
(Drew Rindfleisch speaks at a public action calling on Senator Durbin to preserves Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other economic safety net programs in “fiscal cliff” budget negotations in December 2012.)
While we hadn’t known each other until that day, she taught me something no seminary education could sell. Her words, which at first glance seemed to be dismissing the power of prayer, in fact invoked the longest prayer tradition we know as People of God. She prayed through her tears: lamenting for she had once helped those in her exact spot, and now feels no one will help her in her time of need. Lament is healthy and good. Her lament is holy, even if it pains us to hear. But that is also why A Just Harvest is here—to hear the laments of those struggling on the streets and in our communities, and move people to collectively cry out and organize for justice.
Through organizing with Northside P.O.W.E.R. staff, volunteers, and community members remind us that laments are not in vain. God calls us to be actors who not only hear the cries and laments of sisters and brothers by serving a meal to feed those left hungry, but to demand changes to the structures that make people poor and prevent communities from flourishing. By working on issues that address the causes of hunger and poverty, Northside P.O.W.E.R. has provided a prophetic voice with the most vulnerable among us.
Working in coalition with other groups from across Chicago, we privately met with and publicly pressured Senator Dick Durbin to take Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid off the chopping block this December. The budget deal made back in 2011 between Congress and the President could have made devastating cuts to our schools, nutrition and Head Start programs, and other critical public services.
We also went to the state legislature to lobby for a corporate transparency bill which passed in the State Senate but stalled in the State House Revenue Committee. This bill would require corporations to disclose how much they pay in tax to the State of Illinois so that we can better determine who pays their fair share of taxes. Northside P.O.W.E.R. will continue to follow this bill into the next legislative session as we fight locally, state-wide, and across the nation to make sure Wall Street and other corporations pay their fair share, so that we all can get a fair shake in life.
Editor’s note: We invite you to learn more about Northside P.O.W.E.R. by attending it’s next public meeting on Sunday, March 10 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Willye White Field House, 1610 W. Howard St. To volunteer in our Community Kitchen, contact Mary Frohna, volunteer coordinator, at 773-262-2297 x24.