I awoke last night to the sound of jack hammers and road crew equipment. It was about 2AM. I sat for almost 30 minutes wondering-I wanted to call and complain to someone and say seriously, who does that kind of roadwork on a residential street in the middle of the night?
For the past two weeks-and seemingly the next few months the District will be repairing the sewage system in this area of town to fix long standing water pressure issues. But I had a difficult time deciding to make the call. Was I just a light sleeper? Would/could they even stop the construction?
This week of our urban program our theme has been relocation. For those of you who know me, you know Christy Sherman, my co-worker and I moved into Anacostia, a low-income area of Washington DC almost a year ago. My boss once called it a process of re-neighboring. By changing who are our literal neighbors, suddenly Christ's command to "love your neighbors" takes on new meaning. Our students in this program have voluntarily relocated to this area of the city for five weeks this summer.
So there I was, wide awake, knowing my walls were very thin and the chances of falling back asleep were slim. Suddenly I thought of the bible study we used this week to frame our study of relocation-Jeremiah 29. There God challenges the Jewish exiles in Babylon to put down roots in a new community and "seek the welfare of the city." In some very odd and small way-would calling the water and sewer authority at 2:30am be a way to seek the welfare of my neighbors? Maybe more than just me were thinking they'd lost another-usually the jack hammers start at 7am even on weekends-- good chance at sleep?
Issues like this-and with much more importance confront us regularly when we place our daily lives alongside situations of need. I often step back and have to wonder if my own sense of indignation at any given situation-whether the recycling truck not coming on time or the constant stream of trash in our front yard-is just another case of a privileged girl who grew up in the suburbs needing to get used to life in the city. I wrestle with the question of whether my own standards are too high? How do you decide what's a battle worth fighting for?
However, at other times, this same sense of indignation fuels a passion inside of me and others to be able to speak out when a situation is simply wrong. We ought not have to just "deal" with a night of little sleep, sub-par school systems, a dirty environment, literally thousands of district residents waiting for affordable subsidized housing, or lack of access to basic goods and services. I didn't need to think twice about whether the residents of the Georgetown neighborhood of the city would've tolerated the same noise in the middle of the night. There are many broken systems and relationships in the world that God did not intend to be the way they are-but will we stand by and let it be? When does a situation become an issue of justice and worthy of seeking to set right?
God promises the exiles that when they become a part of seeing the city prosper-they too will prosper. As we tie our lives in with the residents of this neighborhood, sometimes what affects our next door neighbor affects us as well. When I finally got the courage to call the sewer authority, within 15 minutes, most of the noise subsided. Was it my doing? I don't know. But hopefully some of my neighbors were able to sleep a little easier last night as well.
At the end of this summer we're challenging students to consider making a long-term commitment-each focusing on one of our three theme weeks. One of these commitments would challenge students to consider "relocating to a place of need" for two years or more. I accepted a similar commitment through an InterVarsity summer program to Bangkok, Thailand that has led me to where I am today.
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