Updated: Justice, Arts & Faithful Fools

While waiting recently for a flight to California, I tweeted: “Is there a bookstore in San Fran with a great poetry section?”  A response: “u do know that the city is The City of Poets? Whaddabout “City Lights?” 

My heart had skipped a beat, literally.

How could I forget the beatniks? How could I forget the famous poetry room at City Lights bookstore? 

A few tweets later:                                     

"I’m here &

headed for verse                                                      

#

Up the stairs to poetry                                 

I climb.

#                                         

My humble behind                                                                      

slides …………………into

a rock-----ing chair                                                                      

once graced by derrieres

of famous poets.

#

Tweet out."

Later, I decided to walk the seven stations of the beat (just kidding); off to the Haight-Ashbury I went.  Didn’t get there.  I landed in The Tenderloin. A couple of homeless old men drew my attention. I left them with whatever cash I had.

And then, I got lost. 

But then, “I was found.”

I stumbled upon a purple building.

Faithful Fools! 

Dear Fellow Members of My Church, the UU of Arlington, VA: Do those words ring a bell?  “Faithful Fools?”

We had one of the fools with us for nearly five years: Rev. Mary McKinnon Ganz.  She talked about this UU-founded community ministry for the homeless many times. Her relationship with the fools was one she repeatedly returned to for spiritual guidance.

A few members of our church, including me, encouraged her to give the subject a loving rest. (I think I'm sugar coating my account of the exchange.) 

I regret it.

She’s a bigger fool than I, and I hope someday to size up. 

The colorful facade of Faithful Fools is a beacon of life on a street that otherwise reeks of rot and despair: spent needles piled in a gutter; strung out addicts flaying around; eyes that look wild and empty search for nothing; the sermons born of alcohol find an audience in those who've passed out.

I walked into the purple building and stepped toward the hum of meditation.  The first floor felt a little like a jack-in-the box. Hemmed in, low ceiling, nothing to sit on. Rumblings going on but not clear from where. The walls were white, the doors were lavender. Everything seemed shut tight.

And then, out popped, two fools, Gina Carson-King, and Marsha Campbell. They showed me the newly painted box that Fool's poet Ed Bowers, would pop out of at a reading.  I learned a little about Gina who turned her life around with the help of the fools. And now, she spends most of her time doing the same for others.

Then, Marsha showed me around.

Mary had described the interior of the building in her sermons. She spoke of the creative space where poetry is read and music played many a night. She recalled the living quarters. The sleeping space, common lounge, kitchen, and bathroom. All of it feels like home. It’s comfy, cozy, and a meaningful space for restoring one’s humanity.

The photos running alongside the text here show some of the large loft space on the second floor where foolish life unfolds.

A banner on one wall is inscribed with the Faithful Fool mission:

“We are called to a ministry of presence that acknowledges each human’s incredible worth. Aware of our judgments, we seek to meet people where they are through the arts, education, advocacy, and accompaniment. We participate in shattering myths about those living in poverty, seeing the light, courage, intelligence, strength, and creativity of the people we encounter. We discover on the streets our common humanity, through which celebration, community, and healing occur.”

The Faithful Fools intentionally practice a profound witnessing.

The Fools have helped or reached hundreds, if not 1,000s of people, in so many ways, which include getting people off the street, but also through the good works of all those who have passed through their ministry to begin or continue their own religious practices.  

Some examples of what the Fools do immediately to help: They find jobs and apartments. They accompany individuals to find long lost family, such as a successful effort to reconnect a former drug addict to the son she lost decades ago.

They regularly have poetry readings, retreats, educational travel, meditations, and musical events. Look at some of these activities.

Some UUs talk about the late Rev. Forrest Church as a “saint.” We should consider in the same light the 14-year-work of Faithful Fools founders UU Rev. Kay Jorgensen and Sr. Carmen Barsody, a Franciscan Sister.  If ever there was a “congregation beyond” and a religion “beyond belief,” it’s here. They’ve trained and inspired scores of UU interns and lay leaders by introducing them to life on the streets by encouraging them to sleep and live there for a few days. 

In Faithful Fools, social justice and creative arts join forces to feed the spirit of life. This is one of the messages, I believe, from Mary’s repeated references to the fools. She hoped to show us how to combine our passions for justice and beauty into something greater than the sum of their good works.

As we celebrate Mardi Gras this weekend, lets take a foolish pause from our conversations about a vision and strategy; about our budget concerns.

Let’s imagine how our social justice and creative arts passions could pop out of a box together, bringing creativity, beauty, and joy to the recipients of our combined ministries.

Please consider donating to this very creative ministry that has much to teach us about ourselves and how we minister to our communities.