Despair, Then Hope.

The holiday season is traditionally a time when we remember the poor, and at present there are literally hundreds of homeless men, women and children in our area. Some of them may find temporary shelter in places like the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, the Salvation Army or the home for battered women, but many will be sleeping in the woods tonight. Some will wander the streets all night long in the cold with absolutely no place to go. Others will try to get some sleep on public benches at the oceanfront, and still others will take semi-shelter against the outside walls of local churches like First Presbyterian and even Galilee. This is happening every night just blocks from where you and I live.

They have known desperation in ways that most of us cannot imagine. And while we may walk by them and, at times, think, "Why can't you just get a job at McDonald's or something?", the truth is for many of them that they aren't even welcome to have a meal in McDonald's, much less to get a job there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought a burger for someone while they waited outside the door. They are the rejects of society. They have burned bridges. Most of them have quite literally lost everything, not only their belongings, but also their relationships with every single friend and family member. Having slipped through the cracks of every local social service organization, they are the ones for whom all attempts at reform and recovery have ultimately failed. And now they’re roaming the streets and freezing to death in the woods – men, women, and children alike – and we are less than excited about helping them.

That’s why I bring it up: because it’s worth considering. Why do we hardly ever get involved with these people who are so desperately in need of help? Why do we choose to alienate them from our communities, even when often times we genuinely feel sympathy for them? It is strange…but not that strange. We have our reasons, and here’s my best guess as to what they are:

1) It’s almost always awkward and inconvenient. Outwardly needy people don’t fit into the comfortable suburban environments we like to create for ourselves. They can be loud, unkempt and even smelly. None of those things are going to help your business in a restaurant or country club, and they’re not going to be very helpful in your bible study either. Perhaps these are legitimate concerns at times, but certainly they are not admirable concerns. “Nice people” would look beyond such things. “Good Christians” would accept these people anyway, right? Sure. But that’s not the only reason we avoid these individuals. No, we have much more legitimate reasons (it gets ugly from here)…

2) In general, desperate homeless people do not come across as “good people". Often times they're just not. In my experience at least, homeless people don't get banned from McDonald's just because they're smelly. Sometimes they're being discriminated against, but many times they're doing something inappropriate or illegal. They make a scene. Maybe they start begging for or even demanding free food, and then they threaten the woman at the register when she doesn’t deliver. Happens all the time. Homeless people have issues. Ministries and charitable organizations market themselves with the idea of “helping innocent victims", and they appeal to us for that very reason. But what happens when the victims are also offenders? Nobody after watching one of those inspirational commercials on TV says, “That’s nice, but I’d rather find some crack-heads and sex offenders to help.” Everyone would rather help "good people".

But maybe you've noticed there's kind of a shortage of these "good people", and not just out in the streets. Spend enough time with the people in your own family, your school, your workplace, even your church, and you may not like what you see. As my old boss used to say, "Working in a church is like working at a fast food restaurant; you're not gonna want to eat there anymore." This is true, and very depressing. But maybe you've come to grips with the fact that we all have serious issues and we all need help, and this does not drive you to despair. You say to yourself, “These homeless peoples' issues are far more obvious than my own, but maybe we’re not that different after all.” And strangely, you have new inspiration to help. Good. So let’s say you start getting to know a homeless person. You soon discover problem number three.

3) They hardly ever make progress. First you decide to give money. Most people have done this, and if you have, you know it doesn’t help much at all, other than making you feel better about yourself. So then you decide to give your time instead and perhaps help someone find housing and apply for a job. For most of us, time is our most precious commodity, much more difficult to part with than our money. But you want to, and you enter into this person’s world. The first problem you run across is that he doesn’t have any form of ID, which is an absolute necessity, so you must spend the next several months going through each and every government process required, and at last you succeed. Then after another long process you get him into a decent apartment, but after three weeks he breaks some rules, threatens the landlord, and is evicted. Back to square one. But there is still hope for the job. The one concern is that his resume may reveal that he’s not quite qualified, but the next day you discover the real issue: his criminal background disqualifies him completely. Back to square one again. Then add addiction to the equation. How many times are you willing to take someone back to rehab and pay their way through again, even when it doesn’t seem to help at all? And how many times are you willing to get lied to? How many times are you willing to get used before you call it quits? You can try to stay motivated by telling yourself, “He’s going to get better. Things are going to work out.” But what happens when he doesn’t get better and things don’t work out?

Well, you really, actually despair. You feel like all your efforts add up to nothing, and there is no hope for this person’s life to ever be made right outside of the miraculous grace of God. Exactly right. Remember this?
This is the center of our faith. We are Christians. We’re the ones who believe that there is no hope for us outside of this one occasion of utter despair. We're the ones who believe that we nailed our Savior to a cross, even as he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” and promised eternal life to the criminal being justly executed by his side. The cross is hope for hopeless people.

You see, at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man…But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8

Christianity is not for good people, acceptable people, or even improving people. Christ died for the powerless and the ungodly. He died for the “down-and-outs”, and we are among them: the loud, the unkempt, and the smelly, the helpless and the hopeless, the victims and the offenders. If other people knew our hearts, all we’ve done and said and thought, we wouldn't be allowed in anywhere! But at a church where the gospel is preached and the eucharist is served, there, needy sinners like us will always be welcome. And so will our needy friends from the streets. And one day, in the Kingdom of God, we will all finally be strong.

The plight of the homeless reminds all of us of our common helplessness in being who we want to be, who we were meant to be. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. We and our homeless neighbors are one in our need. We're in this together. Try to remember that as you see one begging on the sidewalk or making a scene in a 7 Eleven. We are just as desperate, and there is hope for us both. Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee.