“Can I offer you a free cup of lemonade?”

There were purveyors of all sorts Monday morning on the streets of Cleveland near Quicken Loans Arena as the Republican National Convention got underway. Most vendors displayed the standard assortment of red, white and blue political hats, buttons, and stickers promoting the Republican nominee. Others sold products designed to denigrate or ridicule the other party’s candidate.  Then there were the teams of folks dressed in pink t-shirts offering free hugs.

The Nuns on the Bus, wearing our own blue t-shirts, divided into two teams named “Holy Curiosity 1” and “Holy Curiosity 2” to spread across the downtown area. We were not selling anything or pushing a particular agenda or policy position. Rather, our mission was simply to offer free cups of lemonade to thirsty folks and engage RNC delegates and others in conversation.  Each team pulled a red wagon, designed to look like our bus, which transported our jugs of lemonade.

I must confess that I was more than a little bit nervous when I first heard that we would be engaging in street ministry at the RNC. How would we be received? It certainly felt different than visiting service organizations or holding caucus events with more friendly crowds.  My nervousness increased as the negative campaigning, hype, and possibility of violence at the convention filled the airwaves.  Yet as our bus rolled into Cleveland, there was a sense of purpose, unity and dare I say joy among us. We were on a mission to bring a politics of inclusion to divided places.

I think it also helped that we were offering something as non-threatening as lemonade. As Sister Simone Campbell said, lemonade is something you have on picnics and who doesn’t like a cup of lemonade on a hot day? Well, it turns out many people don’t. More than once I held out my little paper cup of lemonade and offered it up to passersby who were not interested.  But some did gratefully accept my offering, and each person who took me up on the offer of a cup of free lemonade was also more than willing to let me ask a few questions.

Each sister was equipped with a clipboard, pen, and three questions: 1) Who in your family is it difficult to discuss politics with, and why? 2) What worries you about this election? and 3) What gives you hope for our nation.  I talked to a mix of folks: RNC delegates, Cleveland natives observing the spectacle, vendors, and conservative activists.

I observed a general softening when I told my interviewee that we would be visiting the Democratic National Convention to ask the same questions. As Sister Simone says, the Nuns on the Bus enjoy being “equal opportunity annoyers.”

There was certainly a good amount of ideology and partisanship peppering the answers. We were there to listen, not to judge, and I found myself being stretched in a good way as I recorded responses which expressed frustration, fear, and in some cases parroted the hateful speech and generalizations which are expressed liberally on conservative talk shows.  Most of the answers to the second question about worries were of this variety.

When it comes to our families, there was a lot of commonality. A few people expressed that there is no one in their family or circle of friends that they disagree with, which perhaps helps explain the silo mentality and normalization of extreme views in our current political climate.  Most however named someone, often an in-law, sometimes a parent or child, who held an opposite view point. What I found most encouraging, however, was that more than one person expressed that they were still able to talk with each other about the issues, even if they disagreed.

It was the experience of asking the last question about hope that I found most interesting. More than one person was taken by surprise and unable to immediately answer the question.  One man, after a moment or two of quietly looking up, said, “It’s hard to answer isn’t it, because it’s so experiential.”

Everyone eventually was able to find some hope in the midst of our fear-filled political climate. Some answers were again ideological and focused on their preferred candidate’s stump speech. But there were other frequent answers of the genuinely hope-filled variety. More than one person pointed to young people committed to a better future. A number of answers expressed some faith in our nation’s values, principles, and foundations.  “Our diversity is our strength,” one man from Wisconsin told me, “it can be scary but over time our country will heal, based on our strong values.”  Another from Tennessee said, “We have overcome a lot before as a nation and can do it again.”

For that to be possible, I think we need to bridge the growing political divide.  We need to sweeten the sour conversations in our body politic, in our families, and in our communities.  We need to talk with people with whom we do not normally engage. If we want to mend the gaps and reweave the fabric of society, then we need to move beyond trading barbs, attacks, and presumed facts and focus instead on our hearts, probe our fears, and dare to hope for our nation.

A severe thunderstorm blasted the morning sky over Cleveland as we boarded the bus for downtown.  Sister Simone Campbell described the streaks of lightening and cracks of thunder as “the sky crying that a National Convention is being held here.”

I am not sure the majority of Clevelanders are as excited about the Republican National Convention being here as they are about winning the 2016 National Basketball Association Championship.

Some of the people we are advocating for are the people losing money this week. They are people in need of fair taxes, an increase in living wages, affordable housing and healthcare. Several  businesses in the vicinity of the Quicken Loans Arena, however, will be closed this week; people dependent will be negatively impacted. Businesses remaining open will difficult to reach if streets are closed. There will definitely be a crunch in some aspects of Cleveland’s economy.

Background checks, security screenings, and extra law enforcement is also building a healthy tab for the city.

We, the Nuns in the Bus, trust that all measures have been taken to assure safe passage in, around, and out of Cleveland.

We held our caucus last evening at St. Leo the Great School in Cleveland. As in prior cities the problems making gaps between the “haves and the have nots,” in Cleveland are a lack of public transportation, underemployment, low wages, unaffordable and poor housing, expensive or no health care, environmental injustice, etc.

Lisa Sharon Harper, Chief Church Engagement Officer for Sojourners, has joined us for a few days on the bus. She describes our presence among people as sacred encounters; providing sacred breathing space for the soul. What a powerful and humbling image!

The sun is beaming now. Another sign of God’s blessing upon our mission to “Mend the Gaps.”

Since vehicles cannot drive beyond a certain point we now travel by foot to our base camp at the headquarters of the United Church of Christ.

We call our street ministry today, Lemonade Ministry. Two Red Flyer wagons have been decorated to resemble our bus. As we meet people along the way and offer them a cup of cold Lemonade we are prepared to “listen to stories that need to be told and heard,” Sister Simone Campbell.

Three questions are being asked:
1) Who do you find it hard to discuss politics with in your family?
2) What worries you about this election?
3) What gives you hope for our nation?

These same questions will be asked at the Democratic National Convention next week in Philadelphia. We trust that what will be revealed is that all of us want the same thing. We want to heal our nation and solve our problems together! We the People making a difference

We have become signs of hope for a nation crying with fear, seething anger, and bleeding revenge. We are the hands, feet, and the voice of Christ in today’s wounded world.

With one another we stand strong in our faith knowing that God is in each step we take.  God is our peace, God is our hope, God is our tomorrow.