All Things Considered

 

 

 

"Homelessness is a social condition that God’s people must not tolerate!”

Home For the Holy Days

by Pastor Bruce Ray

“Home” is a powerful word.  It connotes warmth, safety, security.  It is a “heart” word that brings to mind family, rest and a place where I can be myself without fear.  So, I cannot imagine not having a place I call “home.”  To be homeless is to be without safety, without rest, and without hope.  To be homeless is to live in fear and isolation.  Which is why I find it so interesting Isaiah identifies “providing shelter” for the wanderer as an outcome of righteousness (Isaiah 58:7).  To be homeless is to be disconnected from community and disconnected from God.  Homelessness is a social condition that God’s people must not tolerate. 

This Lent, we are joining Faith E. C. Church in Lancaster, PA, to address homelessness in our communities.  We are going to embark on a Fast that will result in creation of “home” for people who have lived in isolation and fear. 

Faith’s pastor, Joel Kime, has identified Lancaster as a wealthy area—yet even there, many people struggle with homelessness and housing instability. In fact, they were recently shocked to discover that so many families are currently living in a Super 8 motel that their school district has a bus stop on site! 

Homelessness is more visible in Chicago.  We see the homeless begging at the bottom of expressway ramps and sleeping beneath viaducts.  We are confronted daily by men and women pushing shopping carts or pulling luggage.  However, just because we see homelessness on a daily basis doesn’t make us “feel” more.  In fact, sometimes we see it so much that we tune it out entirely.

Homelessness often happens in stages.  Housing instability is a problem for many people that are not living under the expressway.  Between unemployment, increased rents, foreclosures, etc, the line between a “home” and “homelessness” is becoming thinner and thinner. 

During our 40+ days of the Lenten Compact, we will work at “feeling” compassion for the homeless.  But acts of charity toward the homeless in our midst does not go far enough to “provide shelter”.  We need to act justly—advocating for safe, affordable housing for all income levels, for housing regulations that protect those experiencing unemployment and income instability and for laws that curb greed and abuse of the poor.    

Let’s make the prophet Micah’s vision a reality where everyone sits under his own vine and his own fig tree (a home) and no one lives in fear.  (Micah 4:4)

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