We call them homeless or unhoused. During the Great Depression, tent cities labeled “Hoovervilles” sprang up. Today, people live in cars, empty buildings, or on the street. They cause fear and disgust.
“Disgust” may sound like a strong word, but recently, a Fox and Friends host suggested “just kill ‘em.” I was infuriated by his callous words, his half-hearted apology, and the tepid response by viewers.
The inner-city church where I am the tired and soon-to-be-retired pastor is in a neighborhood that is a haven for unhoused folks. They congregate here because there are social services, restaurants with big dumpsters, and alleys with hiding places. Often the sidewalks and parking lot of the church become places for them to camp.
People who have the compassion and courage to do something about their plight insist on calling them “unhoused.” The word “homeless” sounds like “hopeless” and is unacceptable. I tend to call them campers, as though they are doing full time what some vacationers do part time. People without a home care more about finding a place to rest than what we call them.
In my setting, these are my people. The first rule of business is “don’t hate your customer,” so I have decided to try to love them. I learned in my first biblical studies course in college what it means to be created in the image of God. Lyle Vander Werff said it in a way we would remember, “All people are created to be related to God.”
I have had many encounters. Some people who don’t have a home are argumentative, entitled, and angry. Some simply want to talk. Some are chiseled, experienced survivors on the street. Others are embarrassed newbies. Sometimes I have to call the police or social services.
These folks have many challenges, including being abandoned by their last resorts, their family and friends.
Some want to work. One guy had a rake so he weeded and cleaned out the flower garden. Another guy handed out cheese sandwiches with what he found in a dumpster.
Some want to pray. “I like to come here and talk to God,” José said. When I mentioned he was welcome to join the worship service, he said simply, “But then you would be there.” Throughout his life, clergy had been judgmental instead of helpful, so he avoided us. Then he went on extensively about his many efforts at sobriety and how he had resigned himself to a life-long addiction.
One woman wanted me to store her meager supplies. She made it clear that if I agreed to store them, I was giving her permanent permission and had agreed to protect her stuff.
Their stuff is valuable. One guy said it would take him about an hour and forty-five minutes to pack it all up. Then he said he needed another hour and forty-five minutes.
Some act like they are actually camping. One guy asked for that “site over there,” referring to a parking space.
Some yell in anger. One guy was barely visible under a luxurious bedspread over two parking places. He came out from under it screaming. I was startled. Another just started cursing at me as I walked up to him. The police officer said, “Yeah, he has a problem with churches.”
The police have been heroic. They call me a frequent flyer because I call them so often. They are patient, kind, and gentle, much more Christ-like than that guy on Fox and Friends.
One woman terrorized us. She began by telling me she was from the Vatican and I was fired. She tried to steal the communion chalice from the Table. She cursed members of the congregation as they entered the church. She broke car windows and set fires. She broke into homes and garages and set more fires. Then she disappeared.
One of the neighbors whose house she invaded said he talked with her parents. Her parents are suffering also. Who can understand how hard they have tried to find a solution to no avail?
My favorite is a kid I call “Easter Morning.” He is a “huffer,” addicted to the toluene in paint fumes and it has damaged his brain. Many times I would see him with a blanket and a hoodie over his head inhaling a cloth doused with the chemical.
One time he broke into the church through an outside vent, reaching a storage room filled with supplies and other tools. He packed up the possible inhalants but broke the lock on the door making his only way of escape back through the vent without his mother lode.
Yet he was always polite. His wide smile tried to cover his severe brain damage. He had a different name each time I asked. He refused all gifts or offerings of help, though he would have taken money or paint.
One Sunday, I was chatting with him, not getting much. All at once he blurted out, “It’s Easter Sunday.” And it was. If there is only one cognitive thought left, that is a good one.
Then he disappeared for a few years. Last Sunday morning, there he was again, amazingly alive.
I asked him where he had been. He said he was sleeping south of here. I wondered how he had survived. He said it was tough. Then I asked him if he knew what Sunday it was. He jumped up with a grin, “Is it Easter?”
It is Easter. He has a heavenly Father who created him, a mother who suffers with him, and Jesus who died on a cross and rose again for him. As Robert Farrar Capon said, “Grace only works on those it finds dead enough to raise.”
Header photo by ev on Unsplash
Man with cart photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
23 Responses
Thanks for these reminders to love and serve everyone created in God’s image. And thanks for your work with people who are unhoused. You have the heart of Jesus.
Thank you!
Wonderful. Great writing. Pathos and humor. It all rings true.
Lovely. Thank you, Harlan.
Thanks so much Harlan.
Beautiful!
We are all children of God. Thank you for sharing.
Harlan the humanizer, thank you for helping us know your customers as more than labels, and for modeling that so well. You’re a good communicator, and your patience, compassion, and insight make you a great pastor and friend. Cheers to a richly deserved retirement!
I was moved to tears by your words. Thank you.
Harlan, thanks for faithfully living out the wisdom you learned in Lyle’s class.
Your compassionate and honest story brings tears to my eyes, seeing each of these ‘unhoused’ people, made in the image of their Maker, struggling with their own demons as well as the demons unloosed on them by careless and hate-filled words by those who see them as less than human and undeserving of compassion. As I parked my car under a tree at a doctor’s office last week, the embarassed face of the woman parked next to my car, as our eyes met, has stayed with me. It was very obvious she was living in her car, eating a sandwich, not expecting anyone to park next to her. She was gone when I came out. Would I have dared offer some kind of help if she was still there? A number of years ago our son was in Meijers late on a snowy night when he saw a young man close to his age, sitting on a bench inside, surrounded by his belongings. He approached, asked a few questions, and ended up taking him to the hotel down the street and paying for a room that would include breakfast the next morning. Not an answer to this young man’s problems, but reality based compassion, which is what you are offering.
Thank you for your honest and compassionate piece. I would only take exception to one sentence: “Some want to work,” which reinforces a common stereotype. In fact, at least in our community, there are homeless people who work full time jobs, but the structures of our society keep them homeless. They don’t make enough money at their minimum-wage jobs to pay the application fee (which is non-refundable if you don’t get the apartment), the security deposit, and first and last month’s rent. Others have a felony conviction on their record. They may have served their time and been released decades ago, but they cannot rent a place because of that conviction.
Harlan,
Thank you for this reflection of your experiences. While reading I found myself making mental check marks of similar experiences at the church I attend and serve. My job title, Facility and Hospitality Manager, often places me at the front of the line of daily connecting with those who enter our church, sleep outside of it, join us for meals or charge their phones. Occasional disruptive or dangerous behavior has required involving the local public safety officers. The compassion of the local police officers I found especially true in our community. Caring for the church community sometimes has me at odds with the hospitality portion of my job when connecting with those who most need my care and hospitality. All are welcome here.
Thanks, Bruce, for all you do to offer hospitality for those at your/our doorstep. And, thanks, too, to Harlan for his many years of serving folks in the Denver area. Extending God’s grace to love to all is our mission!J
Thanks, Bruce, for all you do to offer hospitality for those at your/our doorstep. And, thanks, too, to Harlan for his many years of serving folks in the Denver area. Extending God’s grace to love to all is our mission!
Thanks for all that you do. God loves most the powerless, and your acts of love for them have eternal impacts, whether or not anyone else even notices.
Thank you Harlan, I appreciate you and your family’s good work.
I have heard that many are only one or a few paychecks from being unhoused. With the current administration and political changes that might become more of a reality than we thought.
Thank you Harlan, for blessing us all by sharing these years of ministry in City Church in Denver. It’s a “wake up” call to Christ’s example, and how your heart has reached many. My husband and I appreciated your ministry so much some 30 years ago, and now I wish you a happy and blessed retirement!
Thank you.
Thanks, Harlan. Something tells me you will never retire from sharing God’s love!
Such a gift to read the gentle words of my former paster from American Reformed Church in Orange City in RJ. Grateful to hear you preach again. Blessings on your retirement.
Thank you for sharing. Our local program called Refresh, Hygiene and Hope offers showers, food, a mailing address, clothes and much more. And I could insert the names of our friends into the behaviors you have described. Unfortunately, we have not been able to do more than sustain our friends in the situation in which they find themselves. We have not found a safe and secure place for them to sleep after a very hard day on the streets.