I heard that from at least three different people on a Sunday after church. "I was keeping an eye on the collection plate for you." See, halfway through the sermon a man walked into our church. He had a backpack, a duffle bag, and another plastic bag full of his possessions. His hair was a mess and his blue surgical mask was worn out. I had been sitting in the nearest pew when I saw him stop and dig out a crumpled-up dollar bill and put it in the offering plate before entering the sanctuary. He sat right in front of me. Diligently taken notes on the sermon and even wrote down a few names from the prayer list.
After the service let out, I wanted to introduce myself to this man, but I kept getting stopped. Three different people had pulled me aside, while this man was still in the building, to tell me they were watching the collection plate. None of them noticed that he had put money in. None of them had introduced themselves to this guest to our church, which is something we pride ourselves in doing well. To be very frank, no one approached him or seemed to trust him because he was homeless. It isn't a common sight, here in small town Wisconsin. Definitely not compared to the amount of homelessness in Saint Paul, MN where I had just moved from. Regardless of the severity, what has always bothered me was how we, as Christians, have treated the issue.
In my first months at this new church, a congregant was driving me to his house when we passed by a man with a cardboard sign that read: Anything helps. God Bless. "What do you think about it?" The congregant asked as we drove on. He went on to tell me it was probably a scam; there's not a store in town that's not hiring. Unfortunately, I think this is the mindset we often find ourselves in. "Anyone asking for money are scamming people." Even if we don't think that everyone on the streets in a con artist, we don't run the risk of giving out money because, "What if they use it for drugs? Or alcohol?" On mission trips and youth gatherings, we teach kids not to give to homeless. Here, around our Christian School, the cops have been called because a homeless man was on the lawn.
It all seems backwards to our Christian calling. We are commanded time and time again: "Share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house" (Isaiah 58:7), "Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42), and "Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices" (Hebrews 13:16). As Christians, we are called to help without questions. Give without questions. It is not up to us to decide who is and isn't worth helping. Because if we reflect, we know we are just as fallen and sinful and undeserving of help, and yet Christ saved us anyway.
A few years ago, I was in Texas at the Community First Village. It was like a town of tiny homes designed for homeless people and to help them get back into the world. One of the many wonderful things this village does, is not only house hundreds of struggling individuals, but also study the causes and conditions of homelessness. They found that the leading cause of people ending up homeless is not bad decisions, or laziness, but a "profound loss of family." People find themselves in tight situations and have no one to turn to for help. No parents to spot them when they're behind on rent. No siblings to offer up a couch for a little while. No one.
Add this lack to family to the lack of human dignity that many homeless are treated with, and we see just how tough of a life it is. No one to shake their hand, say their name, or even look them in the eye. All three of those things therefore, have been found to be very important to homeless people. So, when I bolted out of church after the homeless man that visited us, and ignoring people's comments about "watching the collection plate," it was to shake this man's hand, look him in the eye, and ask for his name. When he came back to church the next week, I shook his hand again and greeted him by name and almost immediately he had told me how much that meant to him.
While I was in confirmation in middle school, our small group leader had told us that he lived with the homeless for a year. He decided to leave his family and belongings to be with these people and to see what their lives were like. One of the things he pointed out to us was how great of people most of them really were. They saw he didn't have a coat, so they found him one. They told him where to get food and invited him to eat with them. They wanted him to be a part of their community.
On a mission trip to Puerto Rico, meals and gifts were brought to us by the people of the local church. They made sure we were fed and had water and anything that we needed. I was astonished to see that those people were in the town square asking for money or selling little crafts later that day. I asked the pastor there why these people had given to us if they had so little. "Some people just want to help," he said.
The folk in Puerto Rico, and the few homeless men who I've had the blessing of knowing in depth, have all carried with them a remarkable faith and love for the Lord. This man who's been visiting our church the past few weeks has only complained about one thing to me: his Bible got destroyed in the rain. Of all the things in his life he didn't have, he missed reading Scripture.
So often, we look at the homeless with contempt, turning a blind eye, "passing on the other side of the road." So often, we don't treat these people as we'd treat ourselves. As if their homeless condition somehow made them less a child of God. So many homeless carry signs saying, "God Bless," but too few times do we show them the love of God. We need to start understanding that these people have lives full of stories and complexities and loss. We need to treat these neighbors with love and compassion. How we live this out is different in our settings. In freezing Saint Paul, I would give away coffee or a warm meal. I always carried cash to give away. Here, I found myself buying a new Bible with a waterproof case. What we do exactly doesn't matter, what matters is that we do something. "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17
"'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"
~Matthew 25:35-40
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