Shelter the Homeless

I was a teenager and one thing that my friend's family did every month was go to a homeless shelter early in the morning on a weekend and help to feed the homeless. Somehow my parents only allowed me to hang out at his house on those weekends. I did a lot of feeding of homeless people.

The reason I relate this story is because I wondered early on why these people lived in such a way. Why did they allow themselves to be out on the street? Why did they allow themselves to live "off the grid"? The person who ran the shelter explained that some were just mentally ill and had no real capacity to live in private housing and basically had no idea that they needed a home. They lived on the street because it was what they knew and they didn't want to break out of that.

I think that homeless shelter did a lot of good for a lot of people. Heck, most homeless shelters probably do. We are a paranoid type of people and I don't suppose my wife would be friendly to the idea of me bringing in any homeless person I met to the house, especially with two young daughters at home. There is a safety issue and the fact that we as a family are not equipped to handle the situations that would arrise in the same way that a shelter or charity would be able to.

So how do we shelter the homeless? How do any of us shelter the homeless? Are there different types of homeless besides the people that we see on television, or the people we see at shelters?

One could argue that any stranger that walks into a church is homeless. I've been a stranger in a number of churches. I don't like to go to the same mass every week so I will go to different churches at different times just to get a general flavor of things.

Some churches "get it" when it comes to sheltering the homeless.

They are welcoming. I don't just mean saying "hi" and the occasional wondering look. I mean there is a sense of embrace. An idea that you are part of the community even if you are only there for the first time. More than simply old lacrosse players who are good with the baskets, the ushers are inviting, comforting, yet at the same time challenging if someone gets out of line.

I've seen churches that don't "get it" and then wonder why they don't have more attendees. Could it be any more simple than this? To give shelter to the homeless? How do we even know who that is? Many times it is difficult. Many times the homeless are in disguise.

They could be seeking shelter from pain, brokenness, loneliness, and they wonder if they even deserve to be loved. To have a home in someone's heart.

They could be seeking a shelter so that they can worship God. A place that they can call home so from the safety of that home they can embrace the doubts that they have in faith.

The great thing about a community is that it provides that home. However, there is the fact that a community involves service to and from each other. There is each giving according to their ability and each receiving according their needs.

Some may not even be aware that they need a home. They wander, thinking that being outside of that community, outside of that home is the norm, the way that things should be.

I don't know where you stand as you read this. Maybe you need a home. Maybe you can provide shelter. Maybe you can point someone in the right direction.

Sheltering the homeless isn't as big as it seems.

Sometimes it's much bigger.