Joy in the Bronx

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Grazie, Gracias, Danke, Merci, and Thank You!

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you again for your continued support and prayers throughout the summer. Working with Bronx Fellowship has been a great experience. I have learned much about God, people, and myself. I have not captured everything that happened this summer on this blog, but as I continue to reflect on my summer experiences, I will write more. From now on, I will be posting on my old blog “The Life of Joy”.

In Christ’s love,
Clarissa Joy

BFC Interns 2008
Heath, Katie, Danielle, Me, and Jordan

View from my window

BFC

More about Bronx Fellowship of Christ

Monday, August 11, 2008

Rapfest 2008

I have never been a huge fan of rap-- mostly because I like to listen to things I can sing to in the shower. On Saturday, BFC (Bronx Fellowship of Christ for any of you who are just tuning in) represented at Rapfest 2008. We had a prayer station set up and everything!
I have to admit I only stayed for a couple of hours partly because my head was starting to hurt and because the sun was brutal (have I been in NYC too long- hello Texas sun tomorrow). The point is that Rapfest was a Christian Rap block party in the South Bronx and it was great!!!

Powerful Prayers

Here are some pictures of the piles of prayer requests we had throughout the summer. Please help me continue to pray for the people in the Bronx. They need it. Really they do.

Prayer Station still amazes me. I explained what a prayer station is to the two men I was sitting by on the plane earlier. They couldn’t believe it worked!

Plans to Return

Monday morning I carried a not so large, but heavy box up the stairs to the Freeman Downtown train stop. I was on my way to Parkchester to meet with Jared at Starbucks, but first I had to mail a box home. I went one stop down to Simpson Street then asked around for the post office I knew I had seen from the elevated train. I walked a couple of blocks to the post office only to find that the line was long and stationary. I did not have enough time to wait, so I turned around and walked back to the train stop to find the bus stop I needed for Parkchester. Upon entering the bus, the driver was helpful and friendly. He complained that he was back from vacation and that his one-week vacation was not enough. He told me that next year, he would hit 15 years working for MTA and would receive five weeks for vacation—practically nothing compared to our friends across seas in Europe.

My meeting with Jared was very beneficial. I sat down and the first thing he said was “What have you learned?” Of course, if this is just thrown out at me my mind will automatically go blank for a minute. I felt silly not having a perfectly thought out answer or a sorted out list. I have learned more than I would have imagined. My response was something like, “I, as a woman, can actually be part of a ministry.” I grew up thinking that women could teach Sunday school and cook meals—oh and clean of course. Not that any of this is bad; it is essential and someone needs to do it. I just did not feel that I would ever feel useful in those roles. Ask my roommates, cleaning is not my forte. And children are great, but I am not the right person to teach Sunday school. I can cook though, no matter what my brother says—he is just mad I will not cook for him! But I digress. Jared and I discussed this for a while, and I was encouraged to hear him advocate for women to not be considered second-class citizens. We discussed other things too, but most importantly, we talked about my return to College Station and my possible return to the Bronx.

I want to come back to the Bronx. (Okay, really, I do not want to leave- but I am at the airport as I write this, so I guess I have to go.) I really enjoyed working with Bronx Fellowship. I realize that a yearlong commitment will be quite different from the dynamics of a sprint-like summer internship. I want to experience this. I want to be part of a community that is living intentionally for the purpose of sharing the Gospel in a place that is very broken. There are a couple of options for coming back. All will have to have a lot of thought and prayer. One of the options is to graduate from A&M and go to graduate school in New York City and do an apprenticeship with Bronx Fellowship part-time. Any of the options including an apprenticeship will mean that I will need to raise support. This is scary, but hopefully possible. I always hate asking people for financial support, but a minister once told me that you are asking a person to be part of a ministry that they cannot go do themselves. The idea is that some people have the means to go out and do, while others have the means to support and send. That makes me feel better, but oh wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do both?

Sunset Salsa

Throughout the summer there is salsa dancing every day in New York City. There is free dancing outside on piers, in parks, and even market places. When did I figure this out? The last week in the city! I guess it is good that it took me that long to figure it all out, otherwise I would be tempted to run off from work and go dancing. On Tuesday night, I went over to Chelsea Market and salsa danced for a long time. It was great! I met the Cuban Salsa dancing crowd, the salsa snobs- or as they like to call themselves the “on-two” dancers, and the laid back salsa dancers. It was quite fun… and FREE!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Early Reflection

I have two more weeks to go—I have a million things on my mind.

First, I am so thankful for this experience. I cannot express enough how thankful I am to all of you who helped support me this summer. You have helped me be part of a wonderful ministry that has challenged me and taught me many things about both ministry and myself.

Right before I came to New York City, I spent a week relaxing on the hammock near my pool reading and, occasionally, taking a swim. I was beginning to doubt my desire to spend the summer in the city (especially when my mom walked around singing “hot town, summer in the city…” –she warned me!), but those doubts are long gone. I am so glad I was able to spend the summer here. The growth I have experienced is exciting!

Last summer, I struggled greatly with restraints on women in Christianity. I did not doubt my belief in God or in Jesus Christ, but I was greatly conflicted with what I read in the Bible. My understanding of what I read was based on the interpretations of the New Testament that I have grown up with. I eventually put the questions I was struggling with on the back burner and tried my best to ignore it. (I still have many questions!!!) Working with Bronx Fellowship has been extremely refreshing and challenging. Not only was I allowed to do things, I was expected to!

I still do not want to leave NYC for multiple reasons, but I know I need to go home. I have plans to come back as soon as possible, i.e. after graduation. I am seriously considering doing an apprenticeship with Bronx Fellowship after I graduate. This is something I will be praying about over the next two years.

For now, I plan to make the most of these last two weeks working with Bronx Fellowship.