PJ’s Page –
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the meaning of home lately. I wrote about this in last month’s Messenger, too, proving my point! Part of this is because our year of living downtown has come to an end and Bruce and I are in the process of moving back “up north.” But mostly I’ve been thinking about home because of the sharp increase in the number of people we encounter each day at the church, who have either no housing or unstable housing situations. A couple of weeks ago, a woman who slept on our doorstep for most of the winter in 2014 knocked on the door of the church, looking for safety and refuge. Her husband had become abusive and she’d taken their motor home and fled. She is not well, having recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. She does have some supportive people in her life and some help from local agencies. Mostly, though, she is just trying to stay safe and be as well as she can possibly be.
Another family, with four little girls under the age of five turned to us for help as they waited on their permanent affordable housing apartment to be ready. They had nowhere to stay.
One of my summer memories from childhood was playing outside all day long, only coming back in for lunch and later, for supper. The increase in people receiving lunches from us has also increased dramatically. Just today, we’d given out eleven lunches in an hour and a half. I can’t imagine what it feels like to have to depend on someone else to feed my children, or myself. But every day, when these folks receive lunch from us, I hope they feel some of the love and care that they represent. Thank you for supporting the lunch program with such faithfulness. It is a remarkable example of the ongoing commitment of this congregation to feeding the hungry neighbor.
Today, thanks to your generosity, that mother of four, who does work and is living in a hotel as she waits for her permanent supportive housing to be ready, was able to do laundry for herself and her children. The family was able to stay in the hotel for the weekend until that housing became available. Both of these were possible because of your support of our Helping Hands fund.
Today, the woman who lives in her motor home was able to take the bus (her motor home was impounded due to the many complaints of our neighbors, and because it was tampered with, but that is another long story) to the courthouse to work with an attorney secured by facinghomelessness.org. (Also find them on Facebook). They are a remarkable grassroots effort, doing what they can to help one person at a time. Your gifts to Helping Hands helped secure her bus fare.
The next time I sigh over how I don’t like to move, the next time I complain about not being able to find the frying pan in a box, I hope I will stop and consider how fortunate I am to have a house to call home. The next time I grumble that my favorite pair of pants is in the laundry hamper, I hope I will stop and consider what a luxury it is to be able to do the laundry in the comfort of my home. And the next time I think that “there’s nothing to eat in the house” I will remember that for many of our neighbors, it is true that there is neither food or house.
Herb Brokering, who I’ve quoted before, wrote a marvelous poem, intended to be sung as a hymn. May it remind us of our true home and of God’s call upon us to care for our neighbors.
With great hope,
Pastor Julie+
O God of earth
so full of shelter,
make room for warm
and still the stormy winds of home.
Be windbreak for the weary.
Be thou the home
whose walls will warm the stranger
and give the lost a refuge.
O God of earth
so full of comfort,
make room for peace
and heal the wounded side of home.
Be thou the home
whose bonds will mend the fragile
and draw us near the tender.
O God of earth
so full of laughter,
make room for life
and wake the listless days of home.
Be singer for the silent.
Be thou the home
whose meals will fill the hungry
and keep us at your table.
O God of earth
so full of loving,
make room for cries
and bear the aching grief of home.
Be lover for the lonesome.
Be thou the home
whose hands will dry the tearful
and wish to us good morning.
~Herb Brokering