July 31st, 2007
A very grey area
» Posted in Uncategorized at 1:42 pm
It seems to me that people are quick to answer, “Help the homeless” in regards to what we think we should be doing as Christians who are called to “care for the least of these.” On the one hand, this seems like a good answer. But, on the other hand, experience has taught me that this isn’t “black and white”. In fact, it is very grey.
I struggle with the issue of homelessness for several reasons:
- It is an “issue” and doesn’t seem to be about real people
- There are several other “issues” at hand – mental illness, health care and insurance, employment, people who take advantage of others, etc
- There are agencies and organizations that help the homeless, but sometimes they are full and have no more room
- There are people who really have lost everything, but there are also those who “work the system”. Unfortunately, I have met more of the latter.
- What does it really mean to help another? What is helpful and what is not? (For me, this is at the heart of it.)
- While I struggle with what I think about it, what I am supposed to do? Especially when someone walks into our church asking for help?
- And as a Christian Educator, how do I work with people in the church to help them understand the church’s response and action?
It is easy to say, “Help the homeless” but harder to really live it out. What do you think?
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Date posted: Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 1:42 pm | Under category: Uncategorized
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Date posted: Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 1:42 pm | Under category: Uncategorized
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Vanessa,
You are correct that, like most social issues, the issue, plight, and our response to the homeless is complex. Perhaps it starts with your no. 1: unless you personally know someone who is homeless it remains only an abstract “issue†and comfortably “someone else’s problem.†But for those of us whose work or situation puts us in contact with the homeless our feelings of helplessness, in part, are the result of how complex the situation is globally and personally.
The older I’ve gotten the more I’ve become inclined to believe that to the questions “Am I my brother’s keeper?†and “Is everyone my neighbor?†the answer sometimes is “No.†That may not sound very “Christian†or empathetic, but the fact is that I am not responsible for everybody (but I also ponder to what extent that extends to the corporate level). That said, it does not mean that I cannot choose to respond on a personal or social level in particular ways. However, I must confess that all responses I’ve ever made to this issue have amounted to little more than “gestures†(soup kitchen, giving money, giving out blankets, Habitat, CARITAS)
How do you solve the problem of homelessness? You can’t. And sometimes, the issue is not “home-less-nessâ€, but rather, other more fundamental and more complex issues and dynamics. Merely GIVING someone a home rarely solves the problems of living they face. Witness that some of the most successful programs are those that require “sweat equity†(read “responsibility and self-determinationâ€) on the part of those being helped. See also, Ready, Willing, and Able.
Congregations find ways to handle the issues of “the homeless†and of the occasional panhandler. I fear that most of those ways are more pragmatic than theological (how quickly and safely can we get rid of a strange person who “does not belong†from the church building?). At my former church we worked with several local agencies to help those who came to the church for crisis help (and there was a steady stream of them given the easy access to the church they had from the highway). The fact is that as an individual congregation we didn’t have the resources to help them. One added benefit of our system is that the agencies helped US, as a congregation, not get “taken†by those who really didn’t need (or want) “help†(and yes, there were a LOT of those who “worked the circuit†of churches in the area).
The discomfort in the reality of our inability to help those “strangers†who come to our congregations for help is in how it challenges our flippant use of the word “community†for ourselves. Those times may serve as a reminder that a congregation is not a community unto itself—but it is a PART OF THE LARGER COMMUNITY that just walked in the door.
As to what educators can do, I think Marty’s challenge in a previous post, and your own confession about how complex the situation is, may be a place to start. Let’s let our church members wrestle with how complex the “issue†is: theologically, ethically, socially, pragmatically, and personally. Let’s challenge them to not settle for easy answers and to seek what are appropriate (though perhaps always inadequate) redemptive responses—personally and as a congregation. Help them ask the hard questions, live with the ambiguity of the answers, but respond in grace nevertheless. Some programs churches, or individual church members, can participate in include these. And if the response amounts to not much more than merely a “gesture,” well, it’s a starting point upon which to build.
Films on homelessness for educational use:
Homeless in America (2004)
Dark Days (2000)
Homeless
Bum’s Paradise
On your epitaph would you rather it read, “He/she was compassionate towards the poor and taken advantage of,” or “He/she was hard-hearted towards the poor?” If I’m going to err on one side–I’ll take the compassionate, yes often abused and used route.
Check out http://www.ethicsdaily.com/static.cfm?mode=curricula_the_agenda. The ethicsdaily.com site has an eight-week resource called “The Agenda: 8 Lessons from Luke 4″ that speaks to this issue. In their words, “This free Bible study curriculum from Baptist Center for Ethics is designed to help Baptists thoroughly engage Luke 4–the focal chapter for the New Baptist Covenant and its 2008 gathering in Atlanta.” This would be a good study on the issues. Free study guides are also provided. This event has stirred up much controversy, but that’s an issue for another post! I will be leading a study group using this resource in our church this Fall.
One of the best solutions I’ve ever experienced in addressing the use of benevolent funds is to discover a niche where a specific need is going unmet in the community. At my former church, Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC, we discovered that many children who were in school had toothaches and dental needs. Instead of handing out money to persons who came through our doors asking for handouts–some legitimate and some not–we decided that a more effective stewardship response would be to pay for the dental needs of children whose parents flipped our hamburgers in local restaurants, but did not have health insurance. The school nurses administered the program. We paid for the need. Yes, this is a long step from getting personally involved with the poor, but we were not doing that anyway. At least it met a significant need and our benevolent funds were being used wisely.
I would suggest that you lead your church to determine a real need that is not being met in the community and then meet that need. It will take a little time and research. If you can’t do that, why not give assistance to a group in your local community that is doing a good work for God. Join others in their efforts with volunteer and financial support. We don’t always have to create a new ministry! If we care about our community we will be sensitive to the needs around us. When was the last time your church took a “reverse immersion” approach–that is, asked members to glean the field for a month of unmet needs and then came and shared those needs in a congregational gathering? Not a bad idea, I think.