Barking to the Choir

Boyle opens by stating “God is a nudge” (13). By this, he means God calls people to give up on their misconceptions of him—misconceptions lead them to believe “God yearns to blame and punish us, ask us to measure up or express disappointment and disapproval at every turn” (13). He quotes the Persian poet Hafez, who wrote God’s never-ending refrain to human beings is “Come dance with me” (14). Boyle believes humans diminish God’s true identity and call to humanity by remaking him in their own image. He hopes to interrupt this process. 

Boyle discusses the gang members with whom he works every day; he calls them “homies.” He intimates that his homies are “forever contorting the English language in what [he] calls ‘homie-propisms’” (14). These are idiosyncratic, innocent mistakes made with the English language sometimes bear more insight than the true expressions—such as when a homie said “The Lord...is EXHAUSTED” while reading a liturgy at church, instead of the printed scripture which actually read “The Lord is exalted” (15). Boyle prefers the mistake, as he “would rather hope for a humble God who gets exhausted in delighting over and loving us” (15). 

Boyle states most of the homies at Homeboy Industries have a background of trauma and as a result, form unstable attachments to both caretakers and therapists. In Boyle’s belief, God responds to these homies’ “chronic fear of both intimacy and being left behind” by never forgetting them, as it states in the book of Isaiah (17). 

Boyle recounts the story of a man named The Fat Man, who became acquainted with Boyle when he worked as a chaplain at Folsom State Prison. The Fat Man was a lifelong heroin addict who spent most of his days in prison. The Fat Man would end all his conversations with Boyle with the phrase “I love ya like a rock” (17). When he overdosed on heroin following his eventual release, Boyle began using this signature phrase in all his work—because this phrase truly resonated with him and reminded him of God’s steadfast love. 

Boyle tells the story of his homie Rogelio, whose son one day at the swimming pool told him he wanted to grow up to be a father just like he was. Another homie named Cuco, who never knew his father, devises a new adventure for he and his son to undertake every day due to his son’s greeting his arrival home every day with a huge hug and the statement that it is now time for an adventure. 

Boyle says he is often asked if he has ever gotten close to losing his faith. He believes this is a recurring question because he “buried 220 kids, all killed because of gang violence—kids [he] loved, often killed by kids [he loves]” (21). Boyle has never quite known how to answer this question, as he doesn’t see God as an accomplice to that carnage. 

Boyle believes humans assign more irritation and pettiness to God than the deity possesses. He believes people should be more invested in making their lives “fully expressive of God’s pleasure, delight, and loving-kindness” (26). He recounts when he first began to minister at Dolores Mission, his sermons were “always a variation on a central theme: God is too busy loving you to have any time left over to be disappointed” (26). This message was often met with congregants asking him to chastise and punish them for their shortcomings before God as that was the kind of God to which they were accustomed. But in Boyle’s mind, God is puzzled by the myriad ways humans limit Him—a God who yearns to accept and embrace them in mercy and love. “This [knowledge of the true nature of God] can only come when I know that I am accepted especially at my worst,” Boyle states (27). 

Boyle saw God’s generosity when a group of Belgian nuns agreed to move out of their convent so it could be fully dedicated to housing Boyle’s alternative school for gang members who could not be educated anywhere else. He also recounts the time a homie named Chuy told him God always shows up regardless of how much bad Chuy did: “The Dude shows up,” Chuy says (33). 

Boyle again quotes the poet Hafez: “Ever since Happiness heard your name, it’s been running down the street trying to find you”(32). He likens this sentiment to the nature of God and recounts the story of 10-year-old Rico—a young man who came to be a mascot of sorts for Homeboy Industries during its early days. Rico, ceaselessly tormented by bullies at school, was lavished with attention and love by all who worked at Homeboy Industries. One day, the boy burst into an evening mass Boyle was conducting. When Boyle asked him what was going on, Rico joyfully replied, “I’m finding you!” (33).