Shawn Casselberry's Blog
The Woman Who Changed Her Mind / 06.22.09, 09:31 AM
“What is she doing?” we all thought collectively as we looked around at each other wondering what was going on. Besides, our lawyer just
said we have community support for our music school and no one has
shown any objection. Until now. “I object. Excuse me. I object.” She
walked swiftly from the back of the council chamber to the front
causing a stir and interrupting the proceedings. We were there to
obtain a special use permit for an abandoned building that we wanted
to turn into an after-school music and dance outreach for kids with
incarcerated loved ones in our neighborhood. We had spent the last
year collecting all the required documentation to present to the
zoning board of appeals. We had letters of support from our
Alderwoman and State Representative in favor of the project. We
secured a contract with the public school next door to use their
parking lot which was no small feat. We sent out a mailing to the
surrounding neighbors notifying them of our purposes and heard no
objections. But she obviously had objections and we had no idea why.
Objections are not unusual for zoning hearings. In fact, we sat
through about 10 other hearings before ours and in many cases
objectors showed up to voice their dissent. Earlier that day a church
objected to having a men’s recovery ministry that a friend of ours was
starting on their block because they didn’t want to have a bunch of
homeless guys hanging around (that is a whole other issue!). But we
did not expect anyone to object to turning a blighted building into a
safe haven and creative outlet for at-risk children. Even one of the
zoning board members asked the woman, “What could you possibly have
objections to?”
She was a woman in her late fifties dressed in Sunday attire and
clutching her purse as she walked. They directed her to sit at a table
with a microphone and she turned to face the zoning board as she
spoke. She told them she has lived in the neighborhood since she was 7
years old. She was against our project on the grounds that it will
create heavy traffic flow in the neighborhood and will bring down
property values. She said she has never seen a community center not
cause a decline in property values even though our appraiser had just
testified that his report showed no evidence of this. She said the
building had been vandalized in the past and she had called the city
many times. The board asked, “Don’t you think having a
positive program for youth will be better than having an empty
building?” The zoning board seemed to be advocating for us against the woman.
She continued with her objections and the board gave us the final
word. We told her we appreciated her concerns and that we would be
using the school parking lot and that many of our kids walk or ride
bikes so there would not be a big increase in traffic flow. We assured
her that the kids would be supervised and we would make sure the
building was secured.
When we finished we tracked down the woman and told her more about our
program. Her guarded demeanor melted as we explained to her that we have
been working with kids with incarcerated loved ones in the
neighborhood for many years and this building will help us continue to
reach out to them. She mentioned in her testimony that she had gone to
a certain Catholic youth center when she was younger and I told her
afterward that we have partnered with that organization in the past.
Upon hearing this she had a look of horror on her face and said,
“Don’t tell them I spoke against you. I didn’t know!” I could tell she
was truly regretful and embarrassed. I said I wouldn’t tell but it could be
helpful to us if she went back in and told the zoning board that she
no longer objects. She said she definitely would and we exchanged
pleasant words before parting ways.
This whole encounter left me thinking how easy it is for good people
to fight passionately on the wrong side. A Biblical example of this is
Paul who thought he was defending God by persecuting Christians but
found himself working against God’s purposes. During the Civil Rights movement,
many decent white people and my own church denomination fought
ardently against the advancement of social and economic equality for
blacks in our country. More recently, we have seen how good evangelical
Christians can become outspoken proponents for war despite the
Biblical call to be peacemakers. We see denominations dividing over theological differences and churches fighting amongst themselves, failing to see that we are all on the same side. Instead of churches becoming good neighbors to the poor
and homeless, they are objecting to their presence in their community. I even find myself speaking out against the church with criticisms and complaints instead of seeking to understand and helping the church accomplish its mission.
These are all sober reminders that it is possible for us to find
ourselves fighting on the wrong side. Just because we are Christians,
does not mean we are always right. If we are not humble enough to entertain
the possibility that we could be wrong, and be willing to admit it, we may very well find ourselves working against God’s purposes. Can we change our mind when we realize we have been fighting the wrong battles? The woman at the hearing is
an amazing parable of how we have been as a church and what we need to do to
turn things around. If only we could be as humble as that woman.
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Read more of Shawn Casselberry's Blogs.
AWESOME!!! Oh what a soul changing experience we have when we travel the Damascus Road.
By Brother Bell / Jun 24, 02:10 AM / #