SUMMER
2009
REPORT
Vacation
Time
Summer is
vacation time for many people. This year, Bethann and I even took a
short vacation. The first one in four years. We are grateful that there
are faithful volunteers who step in and keep this ministry going. Jerry
& Karen Burke made the soup last week and Jerry led the team on the
street. Pat and Mike were there with sandwiches and power packs from
St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic Church, Pennsburg. The McGraws from Holy
Ascension Orthodox Mission were there with spaghetti and sandwiches.
Students from Eastern University and Fred and Susie helped.
A couple of weeks ago, I was at our diocese's Parish Life Conference to
be on our Bible Bowl team and to represent our parish at the Fellowship
of St. John the Divine and the missions report. That week, Michael
Heveran and his mom made the soup and he led the team.
Thanks guys!
In God's work, no one is indispensable, yet everyone has a job to do.
Daylily
Sale
We sold daylilies and hostas this year to raise awareness and some
funds for The King's Jubilee. We raised about $350 and at least one new
sandwich maker and server.
When you see the daylilies bloom and the hostas multiply, think of the
homeless and TKJ and say a prayer.
20th
Anniversary Celebration
The King's Jubiee completed its 20th year of service in February. We
waited for warmer weather to celebrate. On Saturday, August 15,
Dormition, we are having a potluck picnic at our house after the
Liturgy at St. Philip's. Please come. Bring something to throw on the
grill or a salad or dessert, something to drink: soda, beer or wine.
There will be badminton, horseshoes and bubbles. We hope to have a
short presentation on the history and future of The King's Jubilee. We
will break for Vespers at St. Philip's at 6. If people want to hang out
after that, that's OK.
If it is rainy, the picnic will be moved indoors to the great room at
St. Philip's.
Your Presence is the Gift
Lately, we have had more volunteers show up to help serve than there
are actual jobs that need doing. Some are discouraged by this and take
away from this that they are not needed and there is no value for them
to show up. This could not be further from the truth.
Jesus said "the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21) A better
translation may actually be "the kingdom of God is among you", since
the "you" here is plural. God is love. The kingdom of God breaks into
this world whenever and wherever His love is expressed or acted on in
this world.
We serve food and we give away clothing and blankets because this is
what people need. However, this is just an occasion and means to share
the love of God. When we say we serve "in Jesus' Name", it does not
just mean we say the words "in Jesus' Name" as we ladle soup. It means
that we are doing this according to the love of Christ. Jesus Christ
compels us to be there. So even if there is no soup for me to ladle and
someone else is handing out the sandwiches; if I am there because
Christ compels me to be there to share his love in obedience to his
command to "condescend to men of low estate"; it is ministry. It is
sacramental.
Just hanging out and listening and talking is important. The fact that
you make the trip and take the time honors the people whom we serve. We
meet as equals. Who couldn't use another friend? Your presence is the
gift.
Twenty Years Doing What?
We have been serving meals on the street in center city Philadelphia to
homeless and other poor folks one night a week for twenty years. For
six years, we were also leading Bible studies and worship services in
Graterford State Prison. For four years we were also serving meals on
the streets of Pottstown and Stowe, PA, mostly to children, on
Wednesday nights. For two years, we were also serving meals and giving
out clothes to homeless people in Upper Darby on Sunday nights. For
about four years, we also led weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings
in Pottstown, East Greenville and Upper Darby. For two or three years,
we served meals and shared clothing at two sites weekly in Columbia,
South Carolina.
We hosted several all day open air concerts with free food in Center
City Philadelphia, Upper Darby and Pottstown. We distributed hundreds
of handmade cloth drawstring bags filled with needed items and New
Testaments to women inmates in the Northampton County Jail. For about a
year, we coordinated a free clothing ministry in East Greenville and
found it a new home with Peace Mennonite Church.
Only the street ministry in Philadelphia is still part of The King's
Jubilee. Some of the rest were one time events. Some discontinued,
because we no longer had volunteers or conditions changed. Some were
shepherded to local churches who continued them for a time. The
Clothesline is still operational in East Greenville, for example.
I almost forgot. For two years, we ran The King's Jubilee Monday
Evening Bible Institute, until all the students quit, because the
Reformation was so bloody and depressing.
All during this time, we have helped families transitioning off of the
street with furniture and household goods. We have channeled funds,
computers, a golfcart and other materiel to other urban ministries who
are serving in Jesus' Name with no government support or entanglement.
This was all great fun and we would like to do more! We are always
considering the possibilities for other areas and venues for serving
the poor in Jesus' Name. We are open to suggestions. Visionaries are
welcome, if they back up their vision with elbow grease. Of course,
none of these ministries would have been possible without the
generosity and prayers of God's people. May God abundantly bless you.
Look Tony! Boathouse
Row!
When I started The King's Jubilee, it was just me driving our red
Subaru Justy to Center City on Wednesday night. I would have a couple
loaves of sandwiches and maybe some clothes and blankets to give away.
I would bring the cups and spoons. I would meet Deacons Les Bodger and
Marvin Walker of the New Jerusalem Pentecostal Holiness Church. They
would have coffee, creamer and sugar, more sandwiches and the end of
day leftovers from Le Petite Boulangerie, this magnificent French
Bakery by the Wanamaker's. We served at JFK Plaza (Love Park) and in
front of the Eliza Shirley House women's shelter, if there were any
leftovers. I put out our first newsletter TKJ Schematic, outlining my
"scheme" for addressing poverty and homelessness in the region, on our
Apple//c.
In response to that newsletter, our first donation came in along with a
job offer from Wally Wolff. I started working at Diseroad & Wolff
Architects in Hatfield and Wally started coming down to the city with
me a couple times a month.
A cashier at the grocery store asked why I was always buying so many
cups and spoons each Wednesday. She arranged for us to pick up the
Campbell's scratch and dents. Bethann started combining these to make
large kettles of soup on Wednesdays.
My boss, Les Bucher, took an interest in the ministry. He persuaded his
wife, Joan, to let us use her van to make the trip on Wednesday nights,
and he drove. At that time, I was leading a Bible Study on Wednesday
afternoons at Graterford. So Bethann would make the soup. I would swing
by home, load up and head back to work. We would transfer the soup into
Joan's van along with any clothes and blankets that I had gathered and
left at work and Les and I would head down to the city. We would arrive
at the Love Park about 7pm.
More people got involved. For a year or two, almost every Wednesday
night it was Les, Dave Shellington, Tony Lancanese and me, going down
together in the van. We would jokingly refer to it as our poker night,
as it was a night out with the guys. The first time Tony came with us,
we entered the city on the Schuylkill Expressway. I said, "Look Tony!
Boathouse Row!"
He went on and on about the crew team members he knew and how
pretentious they were. He was so vehement that Les and I couldn't help
but laugh. We hadn't seen that coming. So, from then on "Look Tony!
Boathouse Row!" became known as the official TKJ tour of Philadelphia.
On two occasions, when we were giving away the clothes and blankets
after serving the food, I found a nice plaid stadium blanket in a clear
zippered case with a carrying strap. I thought, how thoughtful! God
bless the person who donated this! That was perfect for a homeless
person. I gave it away. The day after the second time I did this, I got
a call at work from Joan Bucher. She asked where her stadium blanket
was. It was missing from her van. I thanked her for it and told her how
generous and thoughtful that was to provide that for a homeless person.
God would surely bless her for this.
She told me that it was her emergency blanket and that she didn't mean
for me to give it away. I told her God would bless her anyway,
especially for giving two. She told me if I gave away a third, we
wouldn't be able to use her van anymore. I told her I wasn't to be
trusted and that if she really wanted to keep it, she had better remove
it from the vehicle on Tuesday nights.
Through the years, I have been guilty of giving away several jackets,
hats, sweatshirts and umbrellas that were left in the vehicle by
volunteers. I almost gave away Myron's jacket last night, but I
recognized it as I picked it up, and restrained myself.
Philosophy
of Ministry
As I was starting The King's Jubilee in the Winter of 1989, I shared my
vision for it with about 150 inmates at Graterford Prison who attended
the Bible Study that I led on Saturday mornings. I had seen many
organizations who had started out with good intentions and Christian
charity transmogrify into cold, bureaucratic structures that seemed to
focus more on organizational growth and longevity and less on the
people they professed to serve.
To try to cut that off at the knees, I made it a requirement in our
founding charter that every staff member or board member would be
actively engaged in serving the poor face to face. I asked the inmates
what my task should be. The immediate consensus was that I should serve
the homeless on the streets of Philadelphia. So that has been a
constant in my life and in TKJ since then.
A stated goal of the ministry was to find the Body of Christ and to
work for the unity of the church. We had seen too many people who
started out doing frontlines ministries become alienated and
spiritually shipwrecked, because their churches dismissed them as
radicals; or didn't see their ministry as valid, because they couldn't
count any new members at church coming from it.
After several blind alleys, we finally came home to the Orthodox
Christian Church in 1998. Far from being radical, we haven't even
approached being normal in our service to the poor, compared with the
Saints whose icons surround us at church.
Cash, Checks & Visa Accepted
If you want to participate in this ministry to the homeless and poor on
the streets of Philadelphia, please feel free to mail checks to:
The King's
Jubilee
27 N. Front St.
Souderton, PA
18964-1148
phone:
267-497-0267
email: TKJ@shoutforjoy.net
Thank
you. May the Lord bless you as you bless the poor in Jesus’ Name.
Peace,
Cranford
Joseph Coulter
We are
now also accepting donations via MasterCard, Visa, Discover and
American Express on our website: www.shoutforjoy.net
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