The Little Way

Peter Maurin Catholic Worker House

Candlemas 2015

1116 Iredell Street, Durham, NC 27705

http://cfw.dionc.org

Dr. Crystal hangs

out with the Guys

Leigh seeks the Welfare

of the City

Molly on the Feast

of St. John of
Damascus

Page 3

Page 7

Page 9

Moses

Allison Waters, MSW/MDiv Student, Durham

The world goes to great lengths to hide the poor and
needy. Laws ban people from loitering on the streets by
day and sleeping on sidewalks by night. Those deemed a
public nuisance can be immediately taken to the
hospital, local crisis center, or jail. Businesses faithfully
display signs banning loitering or the use of restrooms for
those who cannot pay. Prisons and state psychiatric
hospitals are often built far outside city limits, or if in the
city, placed in neighborhoods that are poor and rarely
patronized. Those who are disabled and unable to work
are placed in group homes within the city, but their
presence is usually unknown, even to their neighbors.
Local and national government entities use legislation to
limit the sights of poverty. Several cities in the United
States have passed laws banning camping, which can
include anything from tents under freeway overpasses to
sleeping bags in local parks. San Francisco recently
passed legislation banning sitting or lying down on any
city streets between 7:00am and 11:00pm. Some cities,
like Orlando and San Diego, have banned charitable
giving
of
food
outside
approved
non-profit
establishments. Many cities have passed laws making it
Candlemas 2015

increasingly difficult for people to ask for money in public

places, and especially the use of signs and panhandling.
Furthermore, poverty is usually considered shameful in a
competitive capitalist society such as the United States,
and when faced with someone panhandling on the street,
many individuals will intentionally look away, hoping to
avoid or ignore the often disheveled, unorderly, unclean
sight of the poor and needy.
Durham is a city like any other. Legislation and societal
habits have successfully hidden poverty in many ways.
Durham is a small, quiet city, made up of mostly college
students from Duke University. Durham passed an antipanhandling law several years ago. There are several
laws surrounding camping that allow police to move
people sleeping on the streets, and extensive permitting
regulations inhibit churches from opening shelters or
offering permanent housing to the homeless. For all
intents and purposes, West Durham has successfully
hidden poverty from the rich. However, the community
of Durham cannot ignore the cries of Moses.
(Continued on p. 2)

(Moses cont.)

ordering of ones sight and hearing is made possible

through prayer and reciting the Psalms. By the grace of
God, we are given Scripture and prayer so that God
might teach us to see properly. Similarly, by the grace of
God, we are given the cries of Moses, and people like
him, which serve as invitations to remind us of the face
of Jesus in the poor. The cries of Moses draw us to
prayer, and vice versa.

Moses is a native of Raleigh and Durham. He grew up

and went to Durham High School. He is now in his 30s.
He is often unhoused, and spends a lot of his time near
Ninth Street, Duke University, and the surrounding
neighborhoods. Moses is a slender man of average
height, but explodes in size and stature when you see
him on the street. You see, Moses has an un-ignorable
bodily presence. On any given day, one can observe
While Moses voice and body that are un-ignorable in
Moses tearing through the city, stomping his feet and
Durham, it is the guidance of God, through prayer and
waving his arms violently. He screams at the top of his
Eucharist, that shapes us for a fitting response. While
lungs, lunging out in front of him as if yelling at
the world tries to hide the poor, it is the call of Christians
someone. He aggressively walks and jumps down the
to see, to hear, and to respond to
street; with each stride, he bounds
Mosess cry.
forward with pressured and difficult
Not Allison Waters
strain, moving quickly down each
In seeking friendship with
street, weaving in and out of traffic,
Moses, we have learned several
screaming at cars parked along the
important things. First, that
road. He bounds down crowded
when you call Moses by name,
streets like Ninth Street, not
the chaotic violence ceases for a
approaching or yelling toward
moment. Calling out Moses,
anyone around him, just carrying on,
Moses elicits attention and
screaming and yelling at something
presence. Hell turn toward you,
invisible to the untrained eye. He
look you in the eyes, remember
even stops in local restaurants and
you, and ask about your family.
coffee shops from time to time,
When he speaks to you in
violently yelling and screaming,
conversation, his voice is horse
setting his things down for a second,
and quiet from the strain of his
only to bounce up again and walk
screaming, but his attention is
out, yelling all the way.
unmistakable. Second, we have
learned the gift of Moses
Although the words he yells are
presence in the community of
strained and unintelligible, his
Durham. So many people ask,
message is that of anger, dissent,
What is it that you do? Moses teaches us that one of
brokenness, and anguish. His body tells a story of
the most important ways that we exist in this
chaos, throwing his arms in the air as if fighting against
community is that we see. We notice people like Moses,
something or someone. His message is loud. His poverty
and those that are not so loud, and in seeing the faces of
is clear. And Moses cannot be overlooked.
the poor we are seeing the face of Jesus. And third,
Moses teaches us to pray. Friendship with Moses is a
Moses body tells the story of the many bodies suffering
complex and beautiful gift, but it is unintelligible
from hunger, thirst, sickness, disease, trauma, and
without the practices of praying the Daily Office and
brokenness. Moses is the vibrant portrait illuminating
receiving the Eucharist. Without these communal
the existence of those that are hidden by law, money,
practices, we cannot respond to Moses cry, and the cries
and society. Moses is a prophet, and reminds us of
of so many others, with love and wisdom. Moses is a
people that are oppressed and held captive by the
gift of remembrance -- remembrance of the poor that the
unrelenting greed of the world; his violent screams and
world tries to hide, and therefore a remembrance of
chaotic swinging of arms proclaims Let my people go.
Jesus Christ in the midst of us. +
Possible responses to the cries of Moses are numerable.
First, though, one must see, one must listen. Proper

Candlemas 2015

Hangin' with the Guys

Crystal Hambley, DNP, NP-C, and Catholic Worker, Durham
I wasn't sure what to expect in the beginning, living
in the Peter Maurin House as a female with several
formerly homeless guys. This was something
parents and, well, other folks who weren't so
familiar with our community got a little nervous
about. And yet, it wasn't like I was moving in with
a bunch of strangers. My husband and I had been
regular participants in prayer and mealtime at the
house for two years prior to moving in, so I had a
pretty good relationship with the guys beforehand.
Still, I wondered what it would look like once we
were all housemates sharing the same space each
day. How would my presence be received? What
new bonds of friendship would grow? What
challenges would we all face together? Needless to
say, I was in for quite a treat!

elsewhere, using large hand gestures, and dropping

some colorful expletives with his booming voice.
Throughout the rest of the week, this gentle giant of
a man went around checking all the doors every
couple hours, reporting back to people when they
did not lock them. Even today, whenever I go to
walk or drive somewhere by myself, he'll say, "Let
me ride with you, I know everyone and no one will
mess with you." A quick trip to the store turns into
several stops with him yelling, "Hi", to everyone
out the window, calling each person by name. (If he
ran for mayor, I'm convinced he'd have a shot). I
always enjoy the company. Sometimes he even
buys me ice cream Snickers bars at one of our stops,
always reassuring me, The baby needs it." Like I
said, I enjoy the company.

Currently, the house consists of two married

couples, one baby, one baby on the way (I'm 7
months pregnant), 4 formerly homeless men
affectionately called "the guys", two Golden
Retrievers, a Pomeranian, and an outdoor cat
named Gray. Soon after moving in, it quickly
became apparent that this wasn't going to be just a
bunch of people doing their own thing with no
connection to one another. Rather, this was going to
be the beginning of a very odd yet endearing set of
relationships -- something like a cross between the
Adams' Family and Full House (really!). Families,
as we all know, are both challenging and lifesustaining no matter how quirky they are.

As the "medical professional" in the community

(I'm a Nurse Practitioner), I often get asked by folks
for my opinion on this or that ailment they're
facing. One of the guys always has unusual
inquiries like, "Hey, what's this rash they put all
over my body? I've got rhinoceros skin!" During
one particularly painful stretch for this fellow, he
refused to let anyone else take him to the hospital,
but waited until I had a day off work, saying, "You
speak their language, ain't nobody else around here
know what's goin' on." So Fr. Colin and I spent
seven hours with this gentlemen in the ER.
Unfortunately, the three of us were seen as truly
strange company together and my housemate only
received a script for an over the counter
medication. Reeeeaal helpful! Once, when I was
away at a conference, I got a call from Mac Stewart
that went something like this, "Well...so...I got
pecked in the eyeball today by one of the chickens
and I'm not sure what to do. I can still see, but it's
red and hurts. Call me back." The urgent care
report got posted on our fridge for several months
afterwards: "Patient reports he got pecked in the
eyeball by a chicken." Not sure if they believed him
fully, but yeah, you can't make this stuff up.

Our first weekly house meeting with the guys,

which only lasted five minutes, consisted of
dividing up house chores, discussing the pile of
dirty dishes that generally appeared sometime
between 2-6am, and a three minute lecture from the
tallest member of our house to make sure the doors
were locked at all times since "we now have a
woman living in the house!" Of course, he
rephrased this about ten different ways, telling
horror stories about things that have happened
Candlemas 2015

(Continued on p. 8)

"3

Easy Essays
By Peter Maurin

Social Workers and Workers

1. The training of social workers
enables them to help people
to adjust themselves
to the existing environment.
2. The training of social workers
does not enable them
to help people
to change the environment.
3. Social workers
must become social minded
before they can be
critics of the existing environment
and free creative agents
of the new environment.
4. In the Houses of Hospitality
social workers can acquire
the art of human contacts
and the social-mindedness
or understanding of social forces
which will make them
critical of the existing environment
and free creative agents
of a new environment.
Fritz Eichenberg

By Kelly Steel

They And We
1. People say:
"They don't do this,
they don't do that,
they ought to do this,
this ought to do that."
2. Always "They"
and never "I".
3. People should say:
"They are crazy
for doing this
and not doing that
but I don't need
to be crazy
the way they are crazy."
4. The Communitarian Revolution
is basically
a personal revolution.
5. It starts with I
not with They.
6. One I plus one I
makes two I
and two I makes We.
7. "We" is a community
while "they" is a crowd.

"
4

Candlemas2015

Seek the Welfare of the City: Be the Church

Leigh Edwards Miller
Build your houses and live in them; plant gardens
and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons
and daughtersseek the welfare of the city where I
have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its
behalf, for in its welfare you will find welfare. For
thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not
let the prophets and the diviners who are among you
deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they
dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you
in my name (Jer 29:1-9).
How do the Israelites find
themselves in exile? In what city
is it that they find themselves?
Why must the LORD exhort the
Israelites to seek its welfare?
And, relevantly, why would the
diviners and prophets say
anything contrary?
Lets rewind a bit in Israels
history. Israel has taken the long
Exodus out of Egypt. It has
settled in the promised land, the
land of milk and honey, the land
they have long, long awaited.
The land where Israel may
prosper and freely worship the
LORD.
Much happens in between the
settling of Israel and the
prophesy of Jeremiah, but at
least this is important: Israel has broken her covenant.
The kingdom has split, the kingdom of Israel has
already fallen and all that is left are the two tribes in
the kingdom of Judah, where Jerusalem is still
protected. But Judah, too, has broken her covenant,
over and over again. She has listened to the lies of the
nations that other gods can be worshipped, too, that
idol worship is just as good (or better!) than the
worship of Yahweh. She has turned to the gods
surrounding her and has taken to false oaths in the
LORDs name, adultery, prostitution, murder,
neglecting the poor, the widow, the orphan, and
disregarding the alien. Even worse, they do not think
that the LORD would punish them for these their
misdoings.
Candlemas 2015

Yet, Jeremiah tells us, the time has come for

punishment. The LORD will take Israel into exile, as
He must, so that they will see that their ways were
not good and loathe their actions.
So it has happened. Judah has already become a
vassal state of Babylon. That precious city, where the
LORD promises to reside with Israel will be put
under siege for years and ultimately reduced to ruins.
All of Israel will be forced to flee. Jeremiah already
knows as much and has told Israel about this loss
which
we
can
hardly
overestimate.
Jeremiah knows all of this; he
will mourn the most heavily for
the loss of the city of Jerusalem.
Babylon is the hated, intolerable
enemy. And yet, Jeremiah here
tells the first round of exiles to
that city of Babylon that city
that will threaten to destroy the
Israelites
and
everything
precious to them seek the
welfare of the city where I have sent
you. This is where the LORD has
sent them, to reside amidst their
enemies. Babylon the great,
Babylon the destroyer, Babylon
the greedy, the powerful
hungry, murderous idolatrous
Babylon. Seek the welfare of the
city where I have sent you. Seek
their peace and their welfare of your most loathed
enemies.
If there are any questions as to Babylons meaning for
Christians, we have only look to the book of
Revelation: Babylon, the great, mother of whores
and of earths abominations (17:5).
And lest we think this imagery is only symbolic of all
evil, and not indicative of the evil of Babylon where
the exiles find themselves, we need only to return to
Jeremiah. Babylon is full of diviners, warriors, idols
(50:36-38). She is a horror among the
nations (50:23), she is a golden cup in the LORDs
hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank
of her wine, and so the nations went mad (51:7).
(Continued on p. 6)
"5

(Welfare cont.)

the LORD is clear: to throw off the yoke of wood, as

Hannaniah challenged Jeremiah to do, is only to put on
a heavier yoke of iron. It is only to return back to their
own ways in Jerusalem, where they were yoked to
their sins. The Israelites must accept the exile, and to
find their home their in a place that is not their
homeland. Exile is a place for repentance.

So, seek the welfare of the city, Jeremiah must exhort the
Israelites, and pray for it. For, as the verses right after
this say, there are false diviners and prophets rising up
amongst the exiles, telling them something different.
The LORD has appointed 70 years of exile under
Babylon, yet false prophets have risen up amongst the
exiles telling them that the LORD has told them to Again, the LORD is clear that the Israelites, in seeking
reject the rule of Babylon! To rise up and throw off its Babylons temporal welfare, are not to take on
yoke!
Babylons sinful practices. Jeremiah tells us what the
LORD has in store for Babylon after those 70 years:
Understandably so. To tell the
exiles to seek the peace of their
Flee from Babylon, and go out
place of captivity seems only to
of the land of the Chaldeans,
acquiesce. Jeremiah seems lazy,
and be like male goats leading
unwilling to see the contrariness
the flock. For I am going to stir
of Babylon, wanting to just
up and bring against Babylon a
condone Babylons actions. To
company of great nations from
tell the exiles to seek the peace of
the norththough you rejoice,
the city seems to be telling them
though you exult, O plunderers
to give in to their captivity. To
of my heritage, though you frisk
accept defeat at the hands of
about like a heifer on the grass,
those who they hate.
and neigh like stallions, your
mother shall be utterly shamed,
Think about what this may
and she who bore you shall be
mean in a much smaller, but
disgraced. Lo, she shall be the
modern context. Jeremiah may
last of the nations, a wilderness,
say to a Democrat: Seek the
dry land and a desert. Because
welfare of the Tea Party state
of the wrath of the LORD she
where I have placed you. Or the
shall not be inhabited, but shall
Republicans seek the welfare
be an utter desolation; everyone
of New York, that democratic
who passes by Babylon shall be
stronghold. Seek the peace of
appalled and hiss because of all
Kosovo, you Albanians who
her wounds (50:8-13).
were forced out of Serbia in
1999. Seek the welfare of Siberia,
So Babylon certainly needs
you Soviets forced by Stalin out
Israels prayers to the LORD on
of your homeland. Seek the
its behalf, for its temporal
welfare of the Palestinians, if
welfare is simply that, temporary.
youre a Jew, or of Israel, if
Israel is not to rebel and try to
youre a Palestinian. Seek the
overthrow Babylon that would
welfare of western America, you
simply be another tower of Babel.
Choctaw, whom the States government forcibly moved They are not to try to get out of Babylon on their own.
from their ancient homelands. Seek the peace of the city, They are to live quietly and peacefully as they are able.
do not listen to the diviners and prophets who have risen up. Most importantly, Israel is not to continue in her
sinfulness. The Babylonian exile is a time of
But this is not a call to give up, for the Israelites. It is
repentance, a time of getting away from the pride,
not a call to imitate to the sinful ways of the
vainglory and distractions that lead her away from the
Babylonians, to accept their defeat. Oh, no, it is a call to
LORD. She is not to continue in the indulgences and
Israel to finally repent of their own loathsome ways
excesses that represent the materialistic, ambitious
and to learn to call upon the LORD for their
Babylon. For we know what is coming to Babylon for
deliverance not to trust in their own power to escape
her sins, and Israels lot is not with her.
the 70 years of exile that the LORD has given. Because
(Continued on p. 7)
"
6

Candlemas 2015

(Welfare cont.)
So, seek the welfare the true welfare of this vicious city. But do not make it your permanent home, and do not
consider it to be heaven. For, of course, the story of the Israelites in exile is our story. Christians know that this
world is an exile from our home. We are pilgrims awaiting the new Jerusalem. All of the pain, the sorrow, the
heartbreak, the crying and the weeping that we know on this earth will come to an end for it is not the world for
which we are made. There is so much to lament in this world, so much to reject: rampant materialism, selfish
ambition, war, gluttony, drunkenness, lies between brothers, murders, adultery. Yet this is the consequence of
Babylon, and in our own 70 years, we will die, and we will be given deliverance from this world if we have lived
in love of the Lord and His plan.
But in the mean time, we are not to be surprised that we are in Babylon. We are not to be surprised, nor to try to
overthrow the world, nor to seek its temporal destruction. Do not listen to the false prophets and diviners that tell
you that Babylon can be destroyed and a return to Jerusalem is imminent by our own devices. Look at the fine line
we have to walk: the earthly city can never be the heavenly one; yet we are not complacent; we do not commit the
sins of Babylon; nor are we reformers of Babylon.
For we live in a world, a Babylon, where we are told over and over again that comfort, security, linens and scarlet,
ambition and prestige, are the goods worth having. Flee from this! Flee from the sins of Babylon! But do not forget
your call from the LORD, to seek its welfare, and to give thanks for the blessings the LORD gives to all of the
world. Pray for this world, and have patience in the exile. Build houses, plant gardens, eat what they produce. Be
where the LORD has put you, and do not rebel against that place.
Yet do not forget that the LORD has exiled you here for your own repentance, for your own preparation. One day,
the LORD will overthrow Babylon, the whore, who brings sadness, greed, gluttony and pride on the world but
that is his job, not ours. For it is in Christ alone that God has promised us a return home, to the New Jerusalem.
We may live here in an exile, in a desolation, in a valley of dry bones, but take heart! We know the resurrection,
the LORD waits for us to ask, so that, for His Sons sake, This land that was desolate [will] become like the
garden of Eden.
Seek the welfare of the city, and prepare for that 70 years, when in front of the judgment seat we can say we trusted
neither in the mammon, the riches and entertainment Babylon, nor in our own devices, in our will to save
ourselves, but in Jesus Christ who delivers us from all sin. Seek the welfare of Babylon in this life so that we may
enjoy in the life to come the city that the Lord promises:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new
earth; for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and the sea was no
more. And I saw the holy city, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And I heard a loud voice
from the throne saying, See, the home of
God is among mortals. He will dwell with
them; they will be his peoples, and God
himself will be with them. He will wipe
every tear from their eyes. Death will be
no more; mourning and crying and pain
will be no more, for the first things have
passed away (Rev 21:1-4). +

Candlemas 2015

"7

Candlemas 2015

(Hangin cont.)

money by one of the guys because, of course,

Chance and Reese, the two resident golden
Another guy in the house rides a scooter around the
retrievers, get into anything that has any residual
neighborhood. We joke that he's the local bishop
food smell. Like clockwork at 3am they are trying to
because he visits everyone. I often catch him
expel it from their bellies. Keep in mind I'm
packing up food from our fridge and taking it to
pregnant and don't sleep well these days so
other homeless folks on the street. Blankets
someone usually gets an earful the next morning.
disappear some nights which I can only assume he
Still, the bonds between us all are strong, and while
is taking to other guys. Even so, he always
this odd little family brings something (or someone)
remembers me in his gift-giving: homemade
new to our house everyday, I can always expect a
bracelets, hats, socks, slippers, whatever he comes
thrilling adventure (or at least a good laugh). Yes, I
across that he thinks I might like or that he thinks
cherish the one-on-one company I find in the
looks like me. Every morning he asks where I'm
kitchen, the friendly reflections in nearby waiting
going and when I'll return. He
rooms,
and
even
the
gets worried if I'm not home
By Fritz Echenberg (not a Maurin House Dinner)
challenges of working through
on time. He also gets
disagreements together. Of
concerned about me carrying
course, the Snickers Bar trips
anything around the house,
go a long way, too. All told,
especially the laundry. Often
we're a household of quirky,
my laundry gets folded by a
but unique, people -- different,
"mysterious
person"
who
broken, gifted, and giving -won't own up to it. I'm quite
yes, a loving family!
positive it's him. One day I
saw him sweeping the front
Growing
up,
I
always
porch and sidewalk. Later I
imagined my life as an adulttold him it looked really good
mom-wife
would
be
to which he said, "Man, don't
something like living in a
tell no one I did it, I told them
small town with 2-3 kids, a
you did it, ha!" One particular
husband, and maybe a cat at
day, I spent 5 hours with him
home. We'd live comfortably,
at
a
scheduled
doctor's
perhaps worrying about what
appointment. By the end of the
we'd watch next on TV, or
day, I had to giggle at all the
making sure our kids had
questions we got: "So how do you know him?" "You
enough activities to keep them occupied. Now, I
live with him and other people? Now, help us
can't imagine my life any different. I have a much
understand...." As the day progressed, he and I
bigger "family" than I'd ever imagined, and though
complained together about all the different waiting
my worries are actually more like figuring out
rooms we had to endure. Later, we enjoyed lunch at
whether or not we should cook for 5 or 30 people
KFC while his prescriptions were being filled. We
on a community meal night, I know I've always got
both swore we'd never go back to that place when
a "sibling" close by willing to say, "Don't you worry,
we finally were able to leave around 3pm.
sister, we got your back."
Not every day is a walk in the park, though. We all
can get frustrated with one another sometimes, just
like siblings. I can't stand when aluminum cans,
foil, and trays get left outside to be turned in for
8

Yeah, I'd say life with "the guys" is pretty great!+

Candlemas 2015

A Word from St. Clare Chapel

Molly Short, Seminarian and Candidate for Holy Orders, Diocese of North Carolina
For the Feast of St. John of Damascus (04 December):

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is

futile. In todays reading from first Corinthians,
Paul gives us a hard word: If Christ is not raised
from the dead, we are still lost in our sins. If Christ
has not been raised from the dead, our beloved
ones who have died before us in Christ are lost.
And in this worship space especially, Pauls
words ring out: If Jesus did not rise again from the
grave all this we are doing here our worship, with
incense, candles, singing and prayers, is
meaningless. Without the resurrection, our baptism
is just an awkward bath and our Eucharist is a very
unsatisfying snack.
If for this life only we have hoped in a
Messiah who did not defeat death, we are of all
people the most to be pitied. Without the
quickening of his body in the grave Jesus will only
ever be a good teacher, yet another victim of capital
punishment in the violent ambitions of the Roman
Empire.
Belief in Jesus resurrection, and our own
bodily resurrection, holds our faith together.
Today, we celebrate the witness of St John of
Damascus, a late eighth century theologian who
taught, wrote and preached about this central
truth. John teaches us that we can use material
things like incense, candles and icons to worship
God, because God has come to meet us in matter-in
the person of Jesus Christ. Word became flesh, and
divinity has been infused into the creation as never
before.
Beginning with firm belief in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, John creatively
defended embodied worship with icons and
incense. We do not worship the things themselves,
but the God to whom they testify. God reaches out
to us through the material world, so we can
worship and pray to God using Gods creation in

icons and incense. Matter matters because Jesus

was raised from the dead.
The resurrection holds our faith together.
Without it, the Christian religion will collapse
under the weight of evil and death that continue to
destroy and torment Gods creatures. Listen to this
word: religion. At its center you hear one of its
Latin roots: ligo, a verb meaning to bind or tie. The
same root is central to our word ligament, that
strong, flexible tissue holding your bones together.
At first, ligaments may not seem very
interesting. That is, until yours dont work
anymore. I realized this last year when my mother
tore her ACL. After tearing her knee ligament, she
was unable to walk for weeks, and even sitting up
was difficult. When she did begin to walk again she
had a limp until she recovered full flexibility and
range of motion in her repaired ligament.
Like a ligament, belief in the resurrection
holds our faith together. Although it does limit
what you can say, just like your knee can only bend
one way, it gives you a freedom of movement and
strength as never before. Without ligaments, your
joints are useless, unable to stand or move.
Similarly without the resurrection, our faith is
useless in the face of sin, evil and death.
By the light of the resurrection, your eyes are
opened to behold the beauty of creation as never
before. The simple bread and wine you see on the
altar become the precious body and blood of our
Lord. The waters of baptism become the womb of
birth into new life in Christ, cleansing us from sin.
Ligaments need to be used so they dont get
stiff. Especially after its repaired, the ligament must
be stretched and strengthened to walk again.
Similarly, your belief in the resurrection must be
stretched and strengthened: in prayer, fellowship,
and participating in the Eucharist. Your faith will
be painfully stretched and even torn in your life,
when you encounter unexplainable pain,
(Continued on p. 10)

Candlemas 2015

"9

(Word cont.)
and untimely deathand when you are pressed upon by despair. But even there, in the dark painful places,
Jesus is with you because Jesus has already been there; he has wept at the tomb of Lazarus. He suffered on
the cross.
Our belief in Jesus resurrection, and our own bodily resurrection, is the central ligament in the faith.
Without it, the whole thing collapses. Without it, our religion cant bear the weight the terrible weight of
suffering and death. As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians: if Christ has not been raised, our faith
is futile.
Belief in the resurrection is not a rigid, inflexible thing, a simplistic litmus test to decide who is in and
who is out of the church. Its a living thing, a mysterious participation in the eternal life that Jesus promises
to us. But the only way to know it, to understand it, is to enter into it. You have to accept Gods invitation to
eternal life. Standing outside and peering in the windows wont cut it. You must enter into the resurrected
life to begin to understand and believe it with all your heart. You enter into this mystery being joined to the
church, joining yourself to Jesus body in prayer, fellowship, baptism and Eucharist.
In the face of our terrible human habit of hurting one another, God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus,
whom we crucified in our fear and anger has been raised from the dead. Gods loving word to our lashing
out in violence and hatred is peace and forgiveness, coming to meet us again. Even on the other side of death,
he comes to meet us again in the resurrection.
On the last day, he will raise your body up too. Jesus is the first fruit, implying that He is the first of
many children of God who will be raised. You no longer have to only look out for number one, to complete
for fame, wealth, love, because Jesus has defeated death. You dont have to fiercely guard your possessions
and your children and even your life, because Christ is risen and death is not the last word. You dont have to
shrink back from anothers suffering because Jesus has been through hell and back, and he will go with you
into the darkness.
We no longer live in the shadow of fear, but in His light of love for the whole world.+

Panhandling and Community News

by Fr. Colin
Greetings from Durham. This is the Candlemas edition of the Little Way - a traditional name for the Feast of the
Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, also known as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It
is traditional on this day in some parts of the world for priests to bless candles for use throughout the year. It
always takes place 40 days after Christmas, and always, somehow, also appears to coincide with the Feast of the
Nativity of Joe Sroka.
We are overjoyed to announce that, as expected, Mac Stewart was ordained to the priesthood January 16th in
Oklahoma City. I was honored to preach at the event, and Leigh, Greg and I got to see Fr. MacGregors first Mass
on that following Sunday, and once during the next week at St. Lukes, Chickasha, where we relaxed with Fr.
Justin, Mallory, and Master Thomas. Fr. Mac is living proof that the Lord has not abandoned his Church. Another
joy from the CFW in diaspora is the birth of Clare Inez Crawford, born on January 29th to Fr. Stephen and
Amanda Crawford (Trinity Church, Baton Rouge).
Please pray for us as we think and pray about the future (what a terrible thing to have to do). We all want to
stay together, we have a newly remodeled house we rent, we like the idea of farming but dont know how, and
we live in the city. We have one infant and two more coming. That creates a lot of variables. We have no doubt
our shared future will be easily wrought by the Lord. As usual, we have no idea what that will look like for us.
Prayers appreciated. Oh, and send us some money too.+
10

Candlemas 2015

Weekly Schedule
At St. Josephs Episcopal Church
(1902 W. Main St., Durham)
Morning Prayer: 7:30am Mon-Fri
Breakfast: 8:00am Mon-Fri
Evening Prayer: 5:30pm Mon-Fri

Donate These Things!

Twin frame, ma,ress, sheets (4)
Coee
$30k for a Priests Salary
Laundry detergent
Dish soap
Farm land
Toilet paper
13-gallon trash bags
Fresh vegetables
Grocery cards
Wheat sandwich bread

At St. Clare Chapel, Peter Maurin House

(1116 Iredell St., Durham)
Holy Eucharist 6:25am Mon-Fri
Evensong: 6:00pm Sun
Supper: 6:30pm Fri, Sun
Compline: 8:30pm Fri, Sun
At St. Mary House
(302 Powe St., Durham)
Supper: 6:30pm Tues
All are welcome anytime.

Editors
Fr. Justin Fletcher
Dr. Crystal Hambley
Tyler Hambley
Leigh Edwards Miller

Fr. Colin Miller

Joe Sroka
Michelle Sroka
Fr. Mac Stewart

Contact Us
The best way to get involved is to come to the
Daily Office at St. Josephs Episcopal Church,
Durham, Monday through Friday at 7:30 am
and 5:30 pm. You can also call Fr. Colin at 919BUM-CHIN (919.286.2446).

Candlemas 2015

"11

The Little Way is a pamphlet of The Community of the Franciscan Way, a Mission of the Episcopal Diocese
of North Carolina. We seek a life of prayer, study, simplicity, and fellowship with the poor. We stand in the
tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement, founded in 1933 by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day. The Peter
Maurin Catholic Worker House offers food and shelter to the poor. Funds are directly used for the
performance of the Works of Mercy, and no one in the community draws any salary from contributions.
Donations always welcome.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

To feed the hungry
To give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To harbor the harborless
To visit the sick
To ransom the captive
To bury the dead

The Community of the Franciscan Way

1116 Iredell Street

Durham, NC 27705
http://cfw.dionc.org

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

To instruct the uninformed
To counsel the doubtful
To admonish sinners
To bear wrongs patiently
To forgive offenses willingly
To comfort the afflicted
To pray for the living and the dead