trinity united church of christ

a friend of mine told me a story a few weeks ago, and it has stuck with me. it creeps into my mind unexpectedly and sits there.

my friend is camia. camia is this amazing, unassuming, open, talented woman. she carries many titles- poet, children's author, harvard graduate, and teacher. i had the pleasure of getting to know her through my work with KIPP (knowledge is power program). we basically lived and breathed that school together and through all that sweat and tears, i was gifted with really knowing her. not just the camia that she puts out there for people to know, but the real deal. you know, the depth that comes from being together way too much in those really difficult circumstances.

anyways, the story:
camia has kept in contact and relationship with many of our former students. to say that she is in contact with them is actually an understatement. she takes a huge risk, but remains involved in their lives intimately. they call her in the middle of the night when they experience crisis. they show her their report cards. they ask for advice in their friendships and relationships. and in all of these circumstances she hammers home the message to them that she cares about them, that she loves them, and that what they do with their lives matters.

we went out to dinner recently. i knew that she attended barak obama's church in the city and i wanted to get her opinion on the situation. i wanted to know more about the people that call that church home- i know her and know she is a friend of Jesus, and so i wanted to see the "scandal" through her eyes.

and while camia is deep, always. you can count on the fact that she will answer your questions in an unexpected way. sometimes, while she's getting right to the heart of your question, you sit back and wonder what question she's even answering. and then, boom! she hits you right between the eyes with some profound answer that took you down a very different road, but nails your question square on the head.

and so in this conversation, she told me this story. she went through a phase where she just wasn't getting her bones out of bed each sunday to make it to church. and then she started missing it. one saturday night she was on the phone with one of the KIPPsters. somehow, the girl (we'll call her s), said she wanted to go to church with camia. camia agreed to pick her up in the morning to take her to church. the next morning came, camia drug her bones out of bed and picked s up. the pair headed off to church. s liked it so much that she wanted to go back the next week. and now it is a routine. camia makes a drive by the dearborn housing development each sunday morning on her way to church. she picks up s and any of the other kids that want to join her. from what i understand, there are a few that go each week. s likes it so much so that she's dragging along her friends, and camia now has a new motivation for meeting with God every sunday morning.


a few weeks into this routine, camia and her little friends (all middle school/early high school age) are sitting in the sanctuary, worshiping Jesus. a lady taps s on the shoulder and gently points to a bug on her shoulder. s looks down and notices a giant cockroach climbing out of her collar. she takes care of the bug and then puts her head down in her hands and begins to weep. you see, this church experience is so much bigger than we thought for s. she was going each week, and in going, she was escaping from her world. she was away from the housing project, out of the poverty that is her life, turning from the chaos and being welcomed into the arms of camia and a congregation that accepted her. s thought they accepted her because they didn't know who she really was.


and in those moments, s learned that she will never truly escape from who she is, but that she is loved by camia, the woman who pointed out the bug, her friends and a Jesus who is bigger than any cockroach you could ever imagine.

and so in the retelling of this story, camia answered my question. rather than answering me in a political way and defending the left she gave me a very different answer. camia who is not much of a political activist, and very much a heart activist, tackled my question with the language she speaks best. she lives for the language of the heart. and in doing this, she showed me that this is simply a community of believers and that the clips shown in the media limit the heart of these people. and while we can't get into rev. wright's head and explain his provocative comments, the people that worship Jesus in the seats of wright's former church are just like the rest of us. maybe better. they get the concept of acceptance- even when you don't feel worthy, they embrace compassion. and evangelism, they hit this one right out of the park. just ask s.

oh- and the new song you here by nicole c. mullen, that's for s. i think of her everytime i hear it and smile because she really is a diamond.