"We don't make widgets, all we have is a piece of candy and a prayer for you, would you like to have a prayer this morning," I asked?
"Who doesn't want a prayer? Of course, I need a prayer. I don't care what religion it is, it is one God - I'll take a prayer. Your sign says right here, right now, you mean right now? Oh yes, I need to have a prayer."
"Is there something in particular you want to have a prayer about?" Deacon Williams asked. "May I touch your shoulder?"
"My eyes, my sight is bad since the surgery," lamented the elderly woman. "I thought I would be healed better by now."
The teary-eyed Muslim man choked out, "My wife died last week, and I have four grandchildren and I don't know what I am going to do."
"That cup (chalice) is really pretty, do you drink coffee from it, can I have it, asked the mentally challenged woman?"
"Yes, I need you to pray for me. Can I have some candy, can I have the cup?"
"Twenty years ago, I was in an abandoned house in South Philly with a needle stuck in my arm. I had overdosed before but none of the people I had been with that day were near me. No neighbor called the police on me. I know that it was just me and Jesus in that house that day," the upright older Vietnam vet standing next to me shared. "I've been clean for twenty years."
"My work for Doctors without Borders has taken me many places, and we all need the Word of God. Thank you for being here this morning. This has made my day," beamed the handsome older doctor who is still in practice.
"Can we please pray that my son will speak to me, he has not spoken to me in years? I did some things that I shouldn't have done, but I need prayer that he will speak to me again, pleaded the volunteer."
"And thank you, and God bless you. I feel better already," she declared hurrying off while wiping away tears.
"I'm homeless."
All of this dialogue took place on Section C of the V.A. Hospital parking lot on 38th Street during the Veterans Annual Operation Stand Down Day on September 9th. My name is Marcia White. I'm the Transitions Ministry Assistant for the Diocese. West Philadelphia born and raised, I lived in the heart of the Black Bottom before it became University City, and my house turned into a classroom or a closet in University City High School. I've passed the V.A. Hospital at 38th Street more times than I can count.
One day I walked in with my brother Jody who had a toothache. It was later diagnosed as mouth cancer. The V.A. took care of the cancer just fine, but for several months Jody became a patient because of the severe head trauma he suffered as a result of being ejected from a car while on a weekend leave for the cancer treatment. I visited him nearly every day. I share this because I know the parking lot well, but only in passing.
On this Saturday, instead of parking, I stood in lot C for what seemed like twenty minutes. I was surprised to learn that two and a half hours had passed as people said "yes" to prayer. There were lines for medical services, clothing and lunch. Some of the tables around the Diocese of Pennsylvania Veterans Ministry Initiative spot were laden with goodies - shirts, lanyards, cell phone opportunities, etc.
What the diocesan table held were our brochures detailing the our work with Veterans, two small filled candy dishes, two signs that read FREE PRAYER - RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW, a shiny new chalice set, Deacon Toneh Williams, The Reverends John Gardner and Elizabeth Colton, and our message of love from Jesus Christ.
And they came to hear it! Sometimes folks needed to wait for someone else's prayer to end before their prayer could begin.
I am not sure why I was blessed with the privilege to be on Section C of the V.A. parking lot praying with strangers in my old neighborhood on a Saturday in the fall, anymore than I know why I was blessed to walk on the Great Wall of China on a Thursday afternoon. I do know that they are still in my prayers. I now pray that you will add them to yours.
