The Least, The Last, The Lost

What a busy week this has been! (haven't I sung that tune before on this blog?) It was busy with some "extra" things. One of the extra things was a tour of the Erie United Methodist Alliance for new pastor's in the Erie-Meadville District.

I've heard of the "Erie Alliance" for at least a dozen years. If you had asked me what they did before Tuesday of this past week, I would've said, "They help the poor." And the truth is that they do help the poor, but that's too broad a statement for the ministries in which our Erie U.M. Alliance is engaged.

They help a variety of categories of people who happen to be poor and in a variety of ways. They help homeless veterans at Liberty House. We met and toured Liberty House with Devin, the supervisor of the house. In the paraphrased words of Devin, "These men need help with clothes, food, housing and jobs, but more than anything they need to be made whole from the inside out. That's God's work and we're here to help that happen. God is in this thing."

Another category of people are the underemployed, or the working poor. Those who have a job or jobs, but work at such a low rate of pay, they can't provide like they need or want to for their families. They provide temporary housing and emergency shelter for families. In fact, The Refuge is the only emergency shelter in Erie County who will allow single fathers with children to remain together - other shelters make the fathers separate from their children, even if the father is the only parent to care for them.

There is work with those who are homeless and living on the streets. The stories of God's grace at work through the labors of the Erie U.M. Alliance to help bring wholeness into the lives of the homeless and the poor brought me to tears. The point is - by God's grace and the willingness of people to engage with those whom the world would throw away means that lives are being changed.

I'm always fascinated that when things keep coming at me in various ways. My visit to the ministries of the Erie U.M. Alliance coincides with a website our pastoral assistant Roger pointed out to me. A website by a local business owner here in Erie. One of his blog entries is his concern with those who loiter around their building "up to no good, urinating on our building and in Griswold Park, attempting to rummage through the cars in our parking lots, etc." The picture he shows may be homeless men or perhaps just those who are unemployed. The blog asks for help for this problem.

I understand his dilemma, I really do. I do not think anyone should be allowed to break the law by being "up to no good," urinating in public, or rummaging in cars not their own." I understand that the view is probably not good for business. I guess my concern is not his cry for help, rather the comments of response to his blog. The responses include sarcasm, blame of the persons and the government for "allowing people not to work and get free benefits," and suggestions like "move out the free meals for parasites and problems like this will leave with them." One entry gives a few suggestions and the results, one of which is "you would not have to look at these people during your day."

Not having to "look at these people" would certainly make our lives easier. I don't offer any easy solution - because there are none. And the feeding programs in the city and providing temporary housing does not solve all real problems in people's lives. And the truth is that there are a portion of people who are homeless who do not want help -- or those who are underemployed are in family cycle of dependence on agency help.

I guess what troubles me most about the negative posts that I read was the quick tendency to not see these people as children of God. The blame and judgmental tone of some of the posts was troubling because there was no ability or willingness to see Jesus in these people.

I remember a story our son Craig told us about a man who lives in Oakland - Craig met him while in college a few years ago. I've forgotten his name, but he can always be seen on the streets of Oakland in front of the stores with a cup held out for donations. He's not homeless - he lives in an apartment, which I'm sure is substandard housing. He has no job, although it appears he can work. For whatever reason(s) this man has learned to make his living on the hand-outs of others.

Craig told us that every time he passed him, he would offer to take him for a meal, and talked with him a while. When Craig told us this, my motherly response was, "You do what? Is that safe?" I admit, not a very Christ-like response, but in all honesty, a concerned mother's response. Craig said to me, "Mom, he's not dangerous. And I wouldn't give him money because I'm pretty sure he'd get drunk on it. So I give him a meal - that way I know he gets to eat."

It's not easy to look upon those who are unclean, unkempt and maybe some who are a little unsavory. And there's some truth that there are those who don't want help or have become co-dependent on social agencies or the church. But we'll never have the opportunity to be a part of God's transformational power if we ignore them or push them out of the area so we don't have to look at them.

In our annual conference, we are struggling to deal with poverty. The Poverty Strategy Team, formed as part of our Believe Again! Plan for Ministry, has scheduled 3 Poverty Simulations in Western PA. The first will be Nov. 4 from 3-6 p.m. at South Avenue UMC in Wilkinsburg. The simulations are 2 hours long, followed by a talk-back session, a light meal and a brief worship. There are 2 other simulations planned - March 1, 2008 in Meadville and April 13, 2008 in Indiana. You can read more about the project here: http://www.wpaumc-files.org/Interlink%20Archives/2007-09-28interlink.pdf

Oh, and by the way - God's grace is longing to change those whose hearts are hardened and those who sound judgmental and harsh - let's not write them off, either!

By God's Grace,
Michelle