Last Christmas Imago hosted an elaborate banquet for the homeless; the food was catered and the room was decked out. A friend created a video of the church’s outreach to the homeless, and it showed clips of us serving weekly breakfasts and the banquet. There was a scene where the homeless were standing outside the church office (where we serve them breakfast each Sunday). It’s cold and early in the morning. Men and women huddled in their sweatshirts and winter coats, whatever they could wrap around themselves. The Apollo Theater is next door, and their large marquee hangs above the sidewalk. This video shot showed a bunch of homeless people standing under the theater marquee, which was showing the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life. Go figure.
What a sad irony. There is nothing wonderful about life for them. For many of us, our middle to middle/upper class life is, for the most part, wonderful. Yes, we have our mortgage payments, worries and health concerns, but typically, life is good–really good.
I met a man this morning, maybe in his fifties. He told me this was his second day of being homeless. He was staying at a rescue mission. I asked him how he ended up here. He was a cabbie, and for reasons undisclosed, he lost his driver’s license. This caused him to lose his job, which in turn, resulted in him losing his apartment and everything he had. And there he sat, eating some eggs and hash browns we’d served him.
How will he ever rebound? Will someone ever take a chance on the guy? Will he have the determination to look at his current predicament as a brutal means, rather than a terrible end? Will this cause him to do some introspection and make some possibly needed adjustments in his life, or will this massive disappointment hurl him into self-sabotaging ways of numbing himself against the pain?
It remains to be seen. Hopefully through our meager efforts, we can assure him once a week that he hasn’t been discarded or forgotten. If you see a homeless person this week, please don’t dismiss him or her without knowing their story.
I hope that someday my new friend can again echo Jimmy Stewart’s sentiments.
(This article was originally posted on Steve’s blog, The Titanic Swim Team.)
I think instead of wondering what changes the ex-cabbie now homeless man needs to make in his life, we should asking what changes do we need to make in our lives so that the condition of homeless need not exist. MLK said it best, “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. “
Ross, I really appreciate your perspective. Dr. King had a profound understanding of the nature of poverty, i.e. systemic. I wrestle with attempting to make the greatest impact, whether here serving the homeless or in Honduras working with the poorest of the poor. The question I pose myself and for which I have little resolution is: how do we (the church) address the systems/structures and simultaneously value and serve the individual? I hope the church comes up with more “answers” than I have thus far my repertoire of problem-solving. God, give us all discernment and compassion.