Spirit Sighting: on the way to Midway

I was sure my elbows were permanently damaged from pulling the navy blue suitcase up and down the long ramps that connected all the trains I needed to take to get through Chicago to Midway Airport. The luggage was nearly half my size and stuffed with at least eight pairs of shoes—just in case. I was lucky to be lugging it, since I didn't have a suitcase of my own the day before and my co-worker Vicki didn't want me to buy a new one as much as I didn't want to, since we both agreed that suitcase shopping was depressing, so she lent me hers. It was huge and I was very excited to bring as many clothing options as this baby could hold, that was, until I had to pull my own weight.

I left at 5:00 am to catch my 7:40 flight and I was standing on the train platform when my plane was boarding. I called David and woke him up at 4:40 am California time to give him the good news.

“It’s Thanksgiving travel, Jessica!” he cracked out of his sleepy voice, trying to whisper loud enough so I could hear him without waking his roommates. He was at the Society of Biblical Literature conference in San Diego and shacking up with his buddies to save on the cost of a hotel room and sharing a double bed with a man named Tim who liked to sprawl. “You might not be able to book another flight! What time did you leave?”

“5 am! The trains are running late, the transfers are killing me and this bag weighs a thousand pounds!” I should’ve called a limo. I wish we could afford a limo.

“And my cell phone is dying,” I added.

He moaned, “Jess!” which I interpreted as, “Are you the most irresponsible person in the world?”

Just then a trained pulled up, I pressed the cell phone into my shoulder and heaved the beast and I inside. “I think I just stepped on the wrong train,” I said after the doors closed. It was a pink line and I needed the orange. David sighed. “Well it looks like I may spend Thanksgiving in Chicago…” Adding a nervous, "heh, heh" like I was trying to joke, but my heart dropped into my shoes when he silently agreed with me.

“Call Southwest,” he finally said.

I breathed again knowing there was a little hope.

Back on the orange line I sat listening to my cell phone’s low battery beep while I was on hold waiting to talk to a Southwest representative. “Did you know that every four minutes people switch the nostrils they breathe out of? Why don’t you take a moment to calm yourself and relax before your representative attends your call.”

Yes, why don’t I. It sure would be embarrassing to go home and tell everyone I spent Thanksgiving alone because I missed my plane. But what really worried me was the thought of my elbows dislocating on the way home and the long-term pain I would have to explain to the doctors--it was a really heavy suitcase--yes, eight pairs of shoes--do you know how long the ramp is at 56 and Cermack?

Beep.

Breathe.

Beep.

Breathe.

The doors flung open at Pulaski. A large young man stepped on the train, locked eyes with me and smiled a goofy sort of smile. Great.

“Do you speak Polish?” he asked.

“No.”

“What about Italian?”

“No.”

“What language do you speak?”

Beep.

“English. And a little bit of Spanish.”

I would have ignored him had I not just been reading the Episcopal bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori’s book, A Wing and a Prayer, where she reminded us that we are all connected in the body of Christ, that God cares about even the least of these—especially the stranger—and we have something to learn from everyone.

“Como se parla?”

“What?”

“What is your name? in Spanish,” he said.

OK, so maybe I wasn't going to learn Spanish from this guy.

“Oh, you mean Como te llamas?” I said.

“Yeah, como te llamas?”

Beep.

“Me llamo Jessica. Como te llamas?”

“Me llamo Roberto.”

“How come you don’t speak Polish?” Robert asked me.

“I really don’t like learning languages,” I said.

“Polish is easy. Here’s how you say hello—cześć. Here’s how you say goodbye—do zobaczenia!

“You like languages…”

“Yes!”

“Did you study them in school?”

“No. I just picked it up.”

Beep.

“Southwest, how may I help you?” It was almost a miralce. I put my finger up in the air so Robert would wait and rapidly told the woman on the other end that I was not going to make my 7:40 flight, hoping and praying my phone's bye bye jingle was at least another minute away. “You can fly standby at 8:30 for no extra charge,” she said.

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” My blood pressure dropped enough for me to promise myself another cup of coffee to celebrate.

“Where are you going,” asked Robert after I hung up.

“To California. My husband and son are there with the in-laws.”

The train made its last stop at Midway.

“That’s a big bag you got there,” he said.

“Yeah, I got it.”

He turned to me and I saw a light flicker in his eyes. “As soon as I saw you today, God told me I needed to help you. Let me carry your bag,” he said and lifted my suitcase with ease. “Too many people just care about money, money, money. That’s not what it’s all about. It’s all about love and helping one another out, Jessica.”

Robert carried my suitcase all the way to the airport’s escalator where he stopped and held out his finger to me, in a hand that held his lunch, which I shook and then he added, “sorry I could only give you my finger to shake because I have all this stuff in my hands.”

“That’s okay, Robert.”

He smiled big and beautiful, set down the suitcase and said, “do zobaczenia!”

November 11, 2007

Breakfast club met again this week, and was a chance to catch up after the weekend (a very long weekend for some). We spent some time looking over the newspaper and pulled some interesting articles out to discuss including topics like the moment of silence in schools, technology’s place in religious teaching, and evoking Christ’s name for sympathy or support. In supper club we played games and made our own sub sandwiches - which were really good. A few youth group members won special prizes for bringing friends along, but in the end everyone filled up on candy and toys. We heard some excitement around going to see a movie next week, so be on the lookout for more information on possibly seeing Beowulf Sunday afternoon or evening.

November 4, 2007

Breakfast club this week consisted of our All Saints’ Day Performance for the Sunday school children, complete with microphones, costumes, and laughter. We had a few angels, a few saints, and a great audience to cheer them on. Afterwards we spent some time up in Jessica’s apartment making a breakfast of eggs and grapes, and playing Mario Party on Nintendo Wii with her 4 year old son, Ian, whose talent for the game was much greater than ours.

In the evening we gathered for dinner at On The Border and shared lots of chips, guacamole, and cheesy sauce. We celebrated Andrew’s birthday with song and ice cream – lots of ice cream – and generally spent the evening among good food and better friends. At the end of the night we returned to the predella for our tradition of quiet reflection and prayer.

Next week join us for a more low-key Sunday, gathering for Breakfast Club at 10am in the youth room, and then again for Supper Club at 6:30 in the same space. We have spent a lot of time getting to know each other, and are excited to continue this precious journey together.

Nuestra Senora Halloween Party!

October 21, 2007

Breakfast Club resumed with Rebecca and Jessica joining the group this week. We're still learning names and we're excited to get to know you all better. We ate food, relaxed and caught up with friends. We also shared the past weeks high's and low's and discussed strengthening our spiritual eyes by looking for "Spirit Sightings" each week as we try and see God at work in the world around us. Mother Teresa made a spiritual practice out of seeing Jesus in every person's eyes, even the most downtrodden. Last week Father Jay quoted a friend of his who said that Jesus comes to us in every person we meet, but sometimes Jesus is disguised pretty well. Maybe if we keep looking, we'll learn to see better--Jesus was always healing the blind and we hope to wake up to the dreams that God has for us. This Sunday Fr. David said that sometimes life hands you a banana and says, "God's on the line." We want to say "No!" to the banana, rather than answering a call that seems ridiculous. He talked about the Rules of Improvisation--really the rules of life--which remind us that to be fully engaged in life we have to learn to say yes to the things that come our way. If life hands us a banana--we have to answer that call. So whether we're seeing "Spirit Sightings" or going bananas, hopefully we can share our strengths and our struggles together in youth group.

At Supper Club we had a super fun time playing Capture the flag (or frisbee) in the church. Jessica snagged an early win for the girls, but the boys won round two after we enjoyed pizza. We closed the night offering up our prayers and hopes, making a sacred space under the stars together. Whether you're an old-timer or you haven't joined us in a while, we'd love to see you again!

What we want to get out of Youth Group

have fun and meet people
get to know people
get more people to come
meet more people and make new friends
have fun
learn more about self
have energy
do new projects
come every Sunday
expand horizons
grow spiritually together
a year to grow together
attendance
expansions
learn soulja boy
people should want to come
grow close enough to always be there for each other
feel included
continue to be inclusive
grow in faith, hope and love
continue momentum

J & R's First Sunday

Wow! What a fun group! We are so excited to get to know all of you more. You all have so much passion and a strong desire to grow--in numbers, in faith, in depth.

We're going to continue to build our community with get-to-know you type games and listen together as we discern where the Spirit is leading us. We have a lot of ideas percolating, but we know you do too and we want to hear from you and create this ministry together.

We set up this blog to keep in touch and post happenings and fun stuff. Feel free to comment or add things!

Supper Club Highlights-October 14 : The non-working markers got trashed, we traced our hands, 3 random facts about yourselves became our first impression, Subway--Spirit got some too--oops! You got to hear a few random facts about us like: Jessica ate raw cat food and Rebecca was on the Bozo Show. We shared our hopes for Youth Group, and there's a lot of hope to expand. We had ice cream Sundays and managed to avoid a whip cream showdown. We closed with predella prayers in the nave.

Next week, same time, same place!