Remedy Tour-Nashville from Trevor DeVage on Vimeo.
[A great shot from Daley at our first stop in Joplin, MO.]
Second on the schedule in Nashville was Cross Point Church. We had a great night there. There was an energy in the room that seemed contagious. The response from the students in the audience was inspiring and exciting–it seemed like the message of hearing the song of the oppressed was heard loud and clear on this particular night.
There was a lot of focus on risk that night; that Kyle is taking a risk on us, and we are taking a risk on Kyle. I love the idea of risk being a key factor in any human relationship.
I’ve been impressed all week by Trevor and Jeremy’s willingness to risk; to get on a tour bus, invite a team of volunteers, and attempt something big. To risk sleeping in coffin-sized bunks, to risk going to Indiana when it’s 30 degrees…
In all seriousness, it’s been inspiring to watch the team risk this week.
Thanks to Cross Point for having us….more thoughts to come.
-julie
The first order of business in Nashville was at Emmaus, a really cool community of folks that meet together on Sundays. Their space was vibey and they were really welcoming to us. We did a scaled down version of our regular presentation, which went well. This sweet community has a heart for justice and we had a great time meeting them and spending a quick Sunday morning with them. Every Sunday morning they meet together and assemble food packets to take to the homeless. Then they return to their meeting place and have their church service. It’s awesome to see people taking care of people.
[Q&A with Kyle]
-julie
[Q&A with Kyle in Lafayette, IN]
During the Q&A time in Lafayette, Kyle said something that I can’t stop thinking about. Trevor and Jeremy asked him to describe part of what being homeless was like, how he felt, how he was treated, etc. He began to describe the different avoidance techniques people have seemed to master when it comes to ignoring a homeless person, and he said, “They will find something to look at besides you.”
Jeremy talks about how easy it is to find things to distract yourself with when you’re stopped at a traffic light and a homeless person is standing nearby. It’s easy to play with the radio, to check your phone, or look away. It’s easy to find anything else to look at, just like Kyle said.
I think there are a lot of reasons for our tendency to look away. Some of them are selfish. Some of them are fearful. And maybe part of it is because we honestly don’t know what to do. It’s hard to see someone in need and not know how to truly be helpful. It’s as though you can’t win–because the quick fix of handing out spare change doesn’t do anyone any good, and the process of actually helping a homeless person to get back on their feet in society is such a complicated, multi-faceted process that we feel unempowered. It’s just easier to look away.
It reminded me of what the author Henri Nouwen wrote in his book, Reaching Out:
Maybe, for the time being, we have to accept the many fluctuations between knowing and not knowing, seeing and not seeing, feeling and not feeling, between days in which the whole world seems like a rose garden and days in which our hearts seem tied to a millstone, between moments of ecstatic joy and moments of gloomy depression, between the humble confession that the newspaper holds more than our souls can bear and the realization that it is only through facing up to the reality of our world that we can grow into our responsibility. What keeps us from opening ourselves to the reality of the world? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal?
But when you turn and look, and when you stop and listen, it turns out we actually can do something. It’s not easy, but making it easy isn’t necessarily the point. Maybe we just take it one story at a time.
-julie
After a great run in Joplin, we drove up to Connexions Christian Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana.
Approximately 15 minutes to start time, there was approximately no one there. Of course it’s everyone’s hope for a good turnout, but it was really interesting to observe everyone’s reactions to the fact that no one was there, 15 minutes to start.
Anxious.
As people slowly began to trickle in, I started to wonder, why do numbers matter? I’m a musician, and I always hope that people will come to my shows–and obviously, the more the better. I always have to remind myself that if I’m playing good music, then it’s always worth it, it doesn’t matter how many people are listening. Good music is always worth it. But the music must be good. It’s up to me as the performer to decide if it’s going to be worth it. The responsibility is still mine.
So, if one person were to have attended last night, it would only matter if everyone gave their all. And no doubt, everyone did. It was great. There turned out to be just under 40 attendees, and they were excited. And it was worth it.
They were generous to us and to Kyle, and wanted to get to work in Lafayette to start changing their city.
So, why do numbers matter?
Ego, maybe.
But last night, they didn’t matter.
-julie
Hi all–I’m Julie, and I’ll be filling you all in on the happenings of The Forgotten Tour while we’re on the road. I’ll share some photos, stories, thoughts, maybe an embarrassing moment or two….
We’re currently hanging on the bus in Lafayette, Indiana, about to do a show in a couple hours. I’ll be back around soon, but wanted to introduce myself and say hello!
I hope the guys don’t regret giving me the username and password to the blog, because this is going to be superfantastic. Thumbs up.
Well it is here. I am sitting in my living room getting ready to load up the car and head to get on our bus for this tour. Today we leave for Joplin, MO to start with our good friends at Christ Church Oronogo on Wednesday night. It is kind of surreal thinking that our homeless buddy Kyle’s last night as a homeless guy was two nights ago. There will be a lot more to come on that and much more over the next week. With that said, I pray that Kyle and the others like him will be forgotten no more. I pray that the awareness that we bring to each city will be an awakening. More to come…
-Trevor-