Watching the Days Go By

What a strange week in DC. More than once I’ve had an old Talking Heads lyric running through my mind: “this ain’t no party; this ain’t no disco; this ain’t no foolin’ around” from Life During Wartime. 

We are living in a sad, scary, and stupid time, and our challenge remains as always: love God, love our neighbors; do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with our God. And, discern just what that demands of us day by day.

As you likely know at this point, federalized security forces have swept encampments close to church directly affecting Miriam’s Kitchen guests. Last night, per a colleague who was on site outside of New York Avenue Presbyterian, ICE, FBI, and unidentified masked agents arrested and harassed unhoused people who gather there. 

If you park in the garage on Sunday morning, you will probably notice a couple of parking spaces have been devoted to safe storage of personal belongings for people who were living in the encampments. NY Ave. is also providing such space. We will be storing belongings until their owners are able to reclaim them. 

We had an outsized show of security theater in the neighborhood Wednesday when the president went to the Kennedy Center. Part of that was clearly preparation for clearing encampments.

I did an interview for Presbyterian Outlook Wednesday afternoon and shared with the journalist what I hold to be foundational for us right now: “Jesus Christ is our lord and savior, not the president. Our allegiance is to Christ, not the White House, and we will continue to serve the most vulnerable in our community.”