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The Dream of the Homeless

By Sam Riviera
21 Comments

The Dream of the Homeless

homeless on easterWho are the homeless? What are they thinking as we walk by without looking them in the eye? What do they want from us as they hold their sign at the stoplight while we fiddle with the radio knobs on our car dashboard?

Do the homeless have dreams? Desires? Wishes? Hopes?

What circumstances in life led them to this spot on the cold, wet pavement under the bridge?

If we want to help the homeless, the very first step is seeking to understand who they are and how they think. The best way to do this is by listening to their stories.

Here are a few of the stories I have heard from homeless people in my town as I spent Easter Sunday among them:

The Innocents

“I have a dream,” said the homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk. “I have a dream that I will have a large house that I can fill with children, the unwanted, unloved, and abused children of the world.

“There’s a little five year old girl I know. She gets passed around and used by men.

“There’s also a baby. He can sit up, so someone sets him out on the front steps of the apartment building where he lives. Sometimes people give him something to eat or drink. He’s in the sun when it’s hot. Sometimes he falls over and falls down the steps and gets hurt and cries. If he’s lucky, someone sets him up again.”

“Where’s his mother?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I’ve asked people who she is and no one knows. They say he’s just out there when they come out the door and they never see anyone take care of him. I want to give him a home.

“The innocents. The Lord gave me the word innocents. I asked him who the innocents are. He told me they are the children no one wants. I pray for them. Will you pray for them?”

We assure her we will.

The Pink Cross

We walk around the corner to a group of homeless women sitting under tarps. “Melinda” was busy working on something on the sidewalk.

“I saw you coming down the street and I’m making this for you.” Somewhere Melinda had come up with a small pink foam cross and foam stickers in the shape of hearts, churches, and the words “Joy”, “Pray,” and “Love God.”

“Jesus rose up from the dead on Easter,” Melinda told us. “Here, this is for you to remind you of that. Would you like some tickets to a movie? It’s about a girl that got hurt, but God helped her in all her trouble. I have two extra tickets.”

We accept the tickets and thank her, and give her and her friends water, food, and shirts.

“Happy Easter!” they shout as we walk on to another group of homeless people.

Yes, the risen Lord walks among the homeless, not only on Easter, but also on every day of the week. He is there, among the beauty of those who know and love him, but also in the middle of incredible darkness.

homeless look away

Murder Walks These Streets

“Six homeless men have been murdered down here lately,” said our friend “Arthur”. We’ve known Arthur for several years. He dreams of starting a business and getting off the street.

So far it hasn’t happened.

“One night I was coming back to my cart and there was a dead man laying right there,” Arthur said, pointing to a small patch of ground planted with bushes. “Someone had bashed in his head and his brains were all over the place.”

“Are you afraid?” I ask.

“Sure, but this is all I got. So far I’ve been lucky, I guess.”

“Drug deal gone bad?” I ask.

“Maybe. I dunno. I was walkin’ around for a couple of hours. It was late and there he was when I came back.”

“Why doesn’t this stuff get in the paper, Arthur?”

“Nobody cares when one of us gets murdered. It’s bad publicity for the city.”

“We care, Arthur.”

“We know. You show it.”

Incredible beauty walks among the homeless, but incredible evil also is their constant companion.

Get the Cop

With my little pink cross held in my hand, we round the corner a couple of hundred feet from where the man had been murdered a few weeks before.

“Them damn cops won’t let us play football there in the street,” a couple of them tell me.

“Why not?” I ask.

“We don’t know, but they’re gonna pay for it.”

homeless neighborA group of about twenty angry homeless men are milling around. One police cruiser with one policeman inside backed into place in the middle of the street in front of them. The policeman rolled down his window, then opened his door, got out and stood there, facing off with the men.

“Friends, we have sweet grapes, water, and buffalo-wing flavored goldfish crackers for you” we announce as we purposely walk between the policeman and the group of angry men. “Who needs a fresh, clean shirt? I have a bag of them here. My wife even ironed them for you.”

Soon we are handing out food, water, and shirts and the mood of the crowd changes. Only one man continues to taunt and curse the policeman. The policeman tells him to calm down, then returns to the safety of his cruiser while the crowd sat, eating grapes and crackers. Some tried on their new shirts.

“This is Easter,” we proclaim. “Have a good Easter, guys.”

“Happy Easter!” several tell us.

None of these men mentioned Jesus rising from the dead and no one gave us an Easter cross. But no one jumped the policeman and no one got shot, either.

Jesus Walks These Streets

Jesus walks the streets. He’s on the corner with the prostitutes. He’s in the alley with the addicts. He walks the streets on Easter morning and on every other morning.

People are murdered there on the street, but others are safe. Jesus is with them both.

Some mothers set their babies on the front steps of their apartment buildings and leave them alone. Other mothers make plans to get off the streets and make a home for the unwanted and unloved children. Jesus cries with and comforts both.

The homeless have dreams … and Jesus dreams along with them.

We see Jesus walking these streets. Have you seen him there? We see him every week walking these streets. He’s not hard to find if you know how to look.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, ministry, missions, poor, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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Most Christians are afraid of the dark

By Sam Riviera
10 Comments

Most Christians are afraid of the dark

A while back Jeremy wrote:

If the church wants to join God in storming the gates of hell, in defeating the darkness … We must find the mean places, the dark places, the dangerous places, and take the church there. We must go to the greedy, the liars, the cheats, the thieves, and show them generosity, truth, and honesty. We must find the places that even the cops won’t go, and go there with Jesus instead. Where do the most murders occur? Where do the addicts and prostitutes hang out? Let’s meet there.

Why Don’t We Enter the Darkness?

Most of us are afraid.

We’re afraid that we’ll be harmed physically.

We’re afraid we’ll catch a disease.

We’re afraid we’ll get dirty.

We afraid we’ll be robbed.

We’re afraid people will want our money or our stuff.

We’re afraid that somehow “those people” will break through the walls we’ve built around us, tug at our heart strings, and we’ll end up giving them our money, stuff and time.

Dwell in DarknessWe’re afraid we’ll be contaminated by their sin.

We’re afraid we’ll stop seeing their sin and start seeing them.

We’re afraid we might start loving them, sin and all, but we think we’re supposed to hate their sin.

We’re afraid we might learn to like them.

We’re afraid we might remember that Jesus loves them, but it is our arms Jesus uses to wrap around them.

Why Do We Think They Will Come to the Light?

My wife and I had moved. We visited a church service at a local church. One of the men confronted me at the front door. “We believe men should wear suits and ties to church to show respect to God.” I wasn’t wearing a suit and tie. I told him I didn’t believe that way, and went in anyway. 

At another church, an elder told me, “We don’t want people attending here until they get themselves cleaned up. We don’t want couples coming here who are living together but aren’t married. We only want good Christian people here.”

Why would anyone want to “come” to church if those are the attitudes they find? The people who most need to hear won’t come near. We make certain of that. Why would anyone have even the slightest interest in going any place where they know they won’t be accepted?

What’s The Answer?

Jeremy’s answer is simple. “We must go” to them — to the adulterers, prostitutes, thieves, tax collectors, Gentiles, sick, needy, poor, greedy, selfish, and to all who dwell in darkness.”

It is safer, warmer, less-threatening and more comfortable to keep our distance from those who dwell in darkness. But if we really do follow Jesus, if Jesus really is our Good Shepherd, need we fear evil? Is Jesus with us or not? 

Perhaps the question I must really ask myself is “Am I with Him?”

If I’m with Him, I don’t need to be afraid of the darkness. So go with the sinners are. Don’t be afraid. Jesus will go with you.

So don’t be afraid of the dark. When you’re with Jesus, no sin can harm you.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Christmas, church, darkness, Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, guest post, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, ministry, mission, missions, poor, prostitutes, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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Do you like rain? Imagine being homeless in the rain…

By Sam Riviera
7 Comments

Do you like rain? Imagine being homeless in the rain…

homeless manThe cold rain streams down my window as I sit in my warm and dry home, yet hot, wet tears stream down my cheeks as I watch the rain.

I love the rain, especially since we need it so much in Southern California. But I am not crying for the rain.

I am crying for the people I love who must sit in the rain, soaking wet, with nowhere to go and nothing to cover themselves.

Recently my wife and I distributed a car trunk full of tarps, sweatshirts, sweaters, pants, blankets, food and other supplies to the homeless living in San Diego. But our meager supplies fell far short of meeting what they need.

This morning the temperature is fifty degrees. Fifty isn’t all that cold unless you’re soaked to the skin sitting on a wet sidewalk in the rain. Sitting under a tarp helps, but not everyone has a tarp. Some are sitting in the rain, shivering.

Blood on the Sidewalk

Many of our Christian friends are afraid to go with us to buy and distribute clothes, food, and tarps to the homeless. They’re afraid to go to the inner city and mingle with the poor, the bikers, the gangs. They blanch when we tell them of the times we have stood on still-wet blood stains on the sidewalk where someone was murdered during the previous night. (I think this has happened five or six times.)

Sometimes we’re afraid before we go. For some reason we’re never afraid when we’re there. We see beautiful people, who are in the middle of life’s messes.

To Show The Love of Jesus

My friend who does not follow Jesus, who loves the homeless, the poor, and our gay friends wants to go with me today. She is trying to take off work for a couple of hours to join me. We’ll buy tarps and then hand them out.

When the homeless ask who we are and why we’re doing it I’ll say “I follow Jesus and we’re here to show the love of Jesus.” Then I’ll ask their name, and ask what they need. My friend will write it down in my little notebook.

Sometimes I pray with them there on the sidewalk, in the rain. Sometimes they ask about Jesus. Sometimes they bless me, at God’s bidding. I bless them in return.

We’re safe, warm, and dry. But are they?

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, guest post, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, ministry, mission, missions, poor, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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You might be surprised who you will meet among the homeless

By Sam Riviera
24 Comments

You might be surprised who you will meet among the homeless

helping the homelessJesus said that we would always have the poor with us (Matt 26:11).

As a result, we find it easy to conclude that the problem of the poor is too big for us to solve, so we drop a few dollars in the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas and write a check for missions and give it to our local church.

We almost become blind to the poor where we live.

When the recent census revealed that there are over ten thousand homeless people in San Diego, everyone I know thought those numbers must be incorrect. “Occasionally I see a homeless person at an intersection begging for money but surely there can’t be more than a few hundred homeless people in the entire city!”

One church group of which we were a part decided that the homeless were on the streets because of “bad decisions” they had made. The group felt that helping them would only encourage them to stay homeless. The solution they proposed was that “Homeless people should get off their butts and get jobs!”

Their perspective might have changed if they had gotten their butts out of the pews and gone down to get to know some of the homeless in the streets.

Going to the Homeless

Last Saturday our small group ventured to downtown San Diego to an area where several hundred homeless people live on the sidewalk, in the shadow of the ballpark.

As we walked in the shadow of this great structure, I was reminded of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, literally in the shadow of the Herodian, one of Herod’s palaces and a symbol of the wealth and might of the Roman Empire.

Friday had brought a soaking rain. On Saturday the homeless were trying to dry their clothes, blankets and sleeping bags. As several told us, “We’re trying to get dry before it rains tomorrow.” We shared chips and some other prepackaged food we had taken with us and talked to them. Some had been living on the streets for months or years. One man said he had lost his job, had run out of money, and had just joined the ranks of the homeless that day.

We went home thankful for our warm bed and dry clothes.

About lunch time on Sunday the second storm arrived. The rain continued until the middle of the night. The heavy rain woke me up several times that night, and I prayed for the people sitting in the rain on the sidewalk downtown, some without even a garbage bag to cover their heads.

As the rain fell, the temperature dipped into the upper forties and low fifties. As many homeless have explained to us, even though the temperature might be above freezing, being soaked to the skin on a chilly night can lower body temperature and is especially dangerous for those with health problems. If a person remains cold and wet on the streets, hypothermia can set in and the homeless person may die.

Are the Homeless My Problem?

As I prayed for the homeless while it rained, I began to wonder if I had done enough.

We had taken food to the homeless, but I was lying in a warm dry bed and they were sitting on a cold, wet sidewalk getting soaked. We had given them dry clothes, but those clothes were now soaking wet while I had a whole closet full of warm and dry clothes a few feet away.

The problem of the homeless seemed too big for me or our small group to solve.

Was there something more we could do, or should we just give up?

As I lay there, I realized the truth of what Jesus said about the poor.

It is true that the poor will always be with us (Matt 26:11), but this is not an excuse to not help the poor, but an opportunity! Since the poor will always be with us, every person in every generation has the opportunity to be blessed through helping the poor.

More than that, since Jesus Himself said that if we give a cup of cold water to one of the least of these in His name, it is as if we are giving the cup of cold water to Jesus Himself (Matt 10:42), the opportunity to feed and clothe the poor is an opportunity to hang out with Jesus!

With this in mind, it would be unfair for only one generation or one group of people to have this opportunity! Therefore, it is a blessing that the poor will always be with us, because now all of us can go meet with Jesus on the streets.

So if you have ever wanted to meet Jesus, now is your chance! Go out and love the homeless.

There is so much need in the world!

And YOU can help.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: be the church, Discipleship, evangelism, following Jesus, homeless, looks like Jesus, love like Jesus, Matthew 10:42, Matthew 26:11, ministry, missions, poor, Sam Riviera, Theology of the Church

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Did Jesus Teach Social Justice?

By Jeremy Myers
41 Comments

Did Jesus Teach Social Justice?

social justiceSocial justice has been a controversial topic in Christian circles for several decades. Part of the controversy is whether or not Jesus taught His followers to practice social justice.

As with many Christian debates, there are two main sides to this issue… and as with many Christian debates, I hold to a third position. Let me review the two main positions on social justice, and then present my own view.

1. The Gospel Leads to Social Justice

First, some Christians say that social justice is a perversion of the Gospel, and that rather than seek to engage in social justice issues, we should instead just preach the Gospel. They say that no amount of helping people will transform society and bring justice to the world, unless it is first founded upon Jesus Christ.

People’s lives cannot be truly transformed, they say, until they submit their lives to Jesus Christ, and adopt the values of the Kingdom of God.

Furthermore, these churches argue that we should not be wasting our time on social justice issues until people have heard and accept the Gospel. “What good is it,” you might hear them say, “if a person has a full belly but is still headed for hell? People still go to hell whether they are well-fed or not.”

2. Social Justice is at the Center of the Gospel

On the other side of the social justice debate are those who argue that social justice issues are at the center of the Gospel, and that as we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we see Him engaged in social justice actions at every turn. He feeds the hungry. He defends the oppressed. He stands up for women’s rights. He loves the outcast, the despised, the rejected, and the sinner, and calls on the rich and powerful to give their money to the poor and take of the needs of the helpless.

While this second group usually agrees that feeding the poor and defending the powerless will not “get them to heaven” they argue that getting people to heaven is not the only goal of the Gospel. You will often hear them say, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care,” and “The way to a person’s heart is through their stomach.”

Social Justice and Jesus

Where do I stand on these issues?

Personally, I think that most of the problem lies in the term “social justice” itself. It is not that the term is wrong, it’s just that the term “social justice” means different things to different people, and so even if two groups of people are arguing about “social justice,” they may not be arguing about the same thing.

So my view is that we should stop talking and arguing about “social justice” and instead, just try to follow the example of Jesus.

Ah, but there’s the rub. What exactly did Jesus teach regarding the message of the Gospel, and what exactly did Jesus do regarding the needs of the people of His day?

social justice and JesusA full explanation would take a full book, but let me see if I can summarize three of the highlights:

  1. The mission and message of Jesus is pretty clearly summarized in Luke 4:18-19. He wants to give sight to the blind, liberty to the captives, and deliverance to the oppressed. If we look at the actions of Jesus throughout the Gospels, He did these things both spiritually and physically.  Sometimes Jesus met people’s physical needs before He addressed their spiritual needs, and other times He addressed their spiritual needs first.
  2. Jesus was not into free handouts. Yes, Jesus gave free meals and free healthcare to people. But notice a few things about these events. First, the people He is helping are almost always people who are following Him or who have sought Him out in some way. When He feeds the five thousand, it was because they had been listening to His teachings and He had gone on so long that they all became hungry and had not brought any food. The vast majority of these people were not homeless. They were not unemployed. They just forgot to bring food. Later, when word gets around that Jesus was giving free meals, and people started showing up just the free stuff, Jesus pretty much chased them away (cf. John 6).
  3. Jesus never called on the government to provide free stuff. Not once did Jesus ever call on the Roman Empire, or the local Israelite authorities to raise taxes so that the poor and unemployed could be taken care of. Taking care of the poor and needy in the community was a priority of Jesus, but He never saw this as the responsibility of the government. Taking care of the poor and needy in the community was the responsibility of the individual person, or of local groups.

social justice and the churchSo when it comes to Jesus and His Gospel message, I don’t think He would side with either of the two main groups in the social justice debate.

On the one hand, helping the poor and needy was indeed a priority for Jesus, and sometimes He helped people whether or not they believed in Him for eternal life and became His followers. Sometimes He helped people just because they needed help.

But on the other hand, Jesus was not a proponent of trying to legislate morality, of trying to get people to do what is right through higher taxation and passing laws. Jesus did not put much faith in human government to fix what was wrong with the world. Fixing the world, helping the poor, and defending the oppressed was His job, and the job He passed on to those who follow Him.

And fixing what is wrong with the world means looking not just at people’s spiritual needs, but also their mental, emotional, psychological, and physical needs as well.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a full-orbed Gospel which addresses all of humanity’s needs, and which He wants the church to spread throughout the world, and on their own initiative, not through taxation or legislation from the government. A church which calls on the government to take care of the needy in our community has surrendered–not to Jesus–but to the state. Helping the needy in our community is the job of the church; not the state.

Of course, as long as we spend all our money on lavish buildings, state-of-the-art soundboards, pastoral salaries, and excessive programming, we will have no choice but to ask the government to do what Jesus has called us to do all along.


This post was written as part of the October Synchroblog, where different bloggers around the world were invited to write about the topic of the social justice in today’s world. Here is a list of other contributors:

  • K.W. Leslie – Social Justice and Social Darwinism
  • Glenn Hager – Notes on Not Saving the World
  • J.A. Carter – The Gospel Truth About Social Justice
  • Sherri Huleatt – Sex Trafficking: the Story of a Young Girl, the Problem of a Generation
  • Edwin Pastor Fedex Aldrich – Social Justice or Social Programs
  • LIz Dyer – A Social Justice Story
  • Carol Kuniholm – Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
  • Leah Sophia – Justice is Important, Food is Essential
  • Kathy Escobar – Justice is More Than Equality

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, evangelism, gospel, government, Jesus, needy, poor, social gospel, social justice, synchroblog, Theology of the Church

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