“We try to be Jesus on the doorstep,” Rev. Dr. Spiwo Xapile told my team of students as he described the HIV/AIDS ministry carried out from his Church, JL Zwane Memorial, on the Cape Town township of Guguletu. The words, like so many of Spiwo’s, were minted in my mind. As people’s needs changed on the streets around them, so the staff at JL Zwane responded to those needs. The specific scenario that Spiwo was sharing with us was how that many children would be left on their own if their AIDS suffering only parent was rushed to hospital. As a result they were in the process of an immediate volunteer telephone line so that members of the Church could go and look after those children. It was their way to tangibly be the love of Jesus on the doorstep. When I became minister of Fitzroy, near Belfast city centre, Spiwo’s words were at the forefront of my mind. What was in our neighbourhood as a Church and how do we bring Jesus onto the doorsteps.
There was one immediate call for response. Fitzroy sits on the edge of an area of Belfast known as the Holy Lands because of the street names, Palestine Street, Jerusalem Street, Damascus Street etc. This area over the past twenty years has become a home for thousands of students, some from Queens University that our Church also edges on to and the other Ulster University situated just outside the city. Sadly, in a way that is very embarrassing to both Universities, these students have caused a lot of antisocial behaviour. St. Patrick’s Day has sadly become one of the worst days of such behaviour with students in the streets from very early morning, drinking, partying and in recent years rioting with the police trying to bring some order and noise reduction for the ordinary resident. It is not what St. Patrick would have liked his legacy to have become.
So, what should we in Fitzroy do about this unrest. Over a meal with Queen’s University Chaplains, old and new, we wondered what would happen if the main presence in the area on St. Patrick’s Day was not police keeping but pastoral. What if Jesus and not the law attempted to influence attitudes and atmosphere. Within a short time we were working with the University authorities, Students Unions, police and whoever in setting up a different presence. On the day we set up four refreshments stations at different strategic places. This allowed us to give out tea and coffee and some food to the students. As one young woman, a little shaky on her feet, said to me, “You’re trying to keep me sober!” Beyond food it gave us the opportunity too to be what Jesus called salt and light for the day.
Relationships were very positive with the students. They stopped and chatted and had a cup of tea and bacon buttie. Later in the day some of us walked around the partying streets and gave out biscuits and picked up litter. Though tensions with police were a little edgy on occasions, it never descended into the riotous behaviour of the previous year. For us that was a certain amount of success. The press would later give the story of the poor ordinary, and in most cases elderly, residents who still live in the Holy Lands. For them avoiding a riot was little consolation as they had to suffer the noise of drunk students and stereos blasting from early morning until early morning. There is still much more Kingdom to bring on our particular doorstep.
And that is what getting Jesus onto the doorstep does. It leads to more knowledge of the doorsteps and calls for more response in the name of Jesus. What are the needs? How can we involve ourselves more? How do people perceive their neighbourhood? Are they proud of it? Do they feel ownership? How does our Church, it’s buildings and what happens inside and outside of its buildings influence the area? What can we do to improve the attitude, atmosphere and ambience of the doorsteps? Our St. Patrick’s Day effort was not revolutionary or very grand but it got us in there and now we want to get in even deeper.
Got back to Vancouver on Monday, Steve. Spiwo says hello.
Posted by: Mike | 14/05/2010 at 02:52 AM