Who 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.
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.”
A 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.
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I appreciate your posts from Sam Riviera. Super-helpful perspective and encouragment toward a better way of seeing and being.
Thank you. Dan!
Interesting that, once again, there aren’t near as many comments on your posts of this theme (loving the hurting, poor, oppressed, downtrodden of our communities).
Perhaps we find it all a little too far away from what we fill “our downtime” with usually (comfort, relaxation, entertainment… or even “church” – gasp). Unfortunately, I’m talking to (and about) myself first here.
The longest comment lines (and conversations) seem to be reserved for the blog posts re: theology and/or doctrines or traditions, eh?
Hmmmm…
May we pray, listen, hear, and then OBEY!
Love you all!
MB
Yes, and so it always is. If I wrote a post about gay marriage, women preachers, abortion, evolution or any of those sorts of things, we’d be getting lots of comments. It’s easy to have a strong opinion. However, spending time with the “invisible people” in our society is scary. We think we don’t have the time or the money. The government should do it! Our money goes to more worthwhile causes. Right?
This morning we picked up about a thousand items of clothing which still needs to be sorted and parceled out to the homeless, people who just got off the street, the poor, refugees and others. We’ll repeat that exercise on Saturday. Yesterday we spent the afternoon on the street handing out water (it was 97 here and very dry), sandwiches, eggs, and clothes.
I’m wondering what info. would be useful to people who read these posts. The posts do get lots of hits, even if only a few comment. Do you want to know why we don’t give out new stuff, with only a few exceptions? How to stay safe on the street? How to talk about Jesus with the people on the street? How to get along with the police? What to do when asked for money? What to do when a person with nothing offers us a gift?
Yes, please give us more specifics. Answer all of the above. Thank you.
As I have time, I’ll answer all of those questions. It will probably take several posts. We’re not experts. Our answers to all of these issues and more come from the homeless themselves.
Yes, these posts get few comments. I wonder sometimes at why, and it may be as you said, that people would rather comment on a post about doctrine and theology. However, one thing that many do not see is that these posts on loving homeless people do get read a lot… often much more than posts on doctrine and theology. So people read them and are helped by them, but don’t leave comments for some reason.
Many people are saved however they don’t know the Saviour. Christians in general seem to be connected to people and trying to shine before each other thinking they’re pleasing God. How sad.
To see and know Jesus is to walk his example and reaching out to the one hurting the most.
The man lying in his vomit from a drug of choice is as special as any saint of God.
What we do to the least of man is exactly what we do to Jesus.
It starts in the home.
The motto of the God-Snacked Outreach Ministry: “Love God, Love People.”
The ragamuffin gospel …
Brennan Manning …
I love that book!
Churches these days only care about filling the pews and passing the plates and giving their watered down itchy ear sermons ..That is simply why I have chose to do church at home and make my church for the homeless and walk as JESUS walked by being a servant to HIM and not to man
Thank you for loving the homeless Michael! There are options to filling the pews. Spending time with the homeless is a good option. Sometimes we listen to Jeremy’s podcasts and a couple of others while we sort clothes for the homeless, but we too try to “be” the church rather than “go”to church.
After receiving this email yesterday I just witnessed Jesus at a bus stop where a homeless man openly told my husband and I his story of being in the workforce for 22 years and now enjoying the freedom of being homeless for the last 18 months. Yes Jesus definitely walks with and through all of us.
How often we see presumably well-intentioned Christians who think that all homeless people are homeless because they are sinners in need of being saved. When one gets to know the homeless, you discover that there are definitely those who follow Jesus among their ranks.
How well we remember the day two women were “preaching” to a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk. They told him he needed to be “saved.” They never bothered to talk to him first. If they had, they would have learned that he had been a believer for many years. Need I mention that he was hurt and offended by their condescending behavior?
Some of the homeless have a term for this: “peddling religion.” They tell us they see it all the time, but rarely see people who come to them with only one “agenda”, to love them. They think the latter looks like Jesus. The former, not so much. He who has ears, let him hear.
Well said, and a great reminder. In our ministry we write a newsletter that allows them to see how we “do” our daily Christian walk. We let them know we’re available if they want or need us to pray with them or need more information on how to begin a walk with God if they don’t have one. For us, we use fabulous meals as a way to put a good taste in the mouths of people who may have somehow obtained a bad taste in their mouth for God. The hope is that they will reconsider what they may have negitively thought about Christians and God by us demonstrating God’s love for them.
I experienced Christ recently and often after I prayed about how I might serve him through serving others. I began noticing homeless people and being a grateful recovering alcoholic and drug addict myself I recognized that simply handing out cash would probably due more harm than good. I’ve donated and given many types of items including food and I realized I am having some impact for the good when one of the recipients exclaimed that he was grateful for my help and that in addition “ you don’t know how many people you’ve helped. “
All of a sudden I have started to do research on the best way to go about helping the homeless after having visions of an old food truck converted to help those in need based on the season. This is how I came across this website and I am very grateful for the information I’ve come across so far. I will continue to pray to the Father through Jesus Christ in petitioning his wisdom and guidance in the ministry of helping those in need. I think as long as I am showing genuine concern and care for those on the street and they know I am helping out of a love for the lord and a love for them it is not necessary for me to preach verbally, my “preaching” will “preach” itself as long as I am honest and willing to follow the lord with all of my heart. Am I on the right track? I am brand new at this and sincerely desire any feedback or constructive criticism/suggestions.
We are a team of 4 men and myself, the only female , we go out every Tuesday and Friday between 1 and 2.30 with food, clothing and two large flasks of coffee. We call ourselves Church on the Street, and display a wooden cross to identify ourselves as Christians. We stand in the town outside McDonalds. My husband walks round to see if there are any begging and invites them to come to us. He carries a small rucksack with a flask
and food in case they don’t want to move from their begging spot. We get as many as 15 coming to us and have built up some great relationships. They know we love Jesus and them and that’s why we are there. The majority are addicts. They feel our love and we feel theirs. Jesus is the reason. We don’t preach we love and care we pray for those who want prayer. It’s the most fulfilling ministry we’ve all experienced, our team leader was an alcoholic and drug addict so 63251729learning much from him. We meet every week for a night of prayer and discussion, seeking Jesus in everything. We have a Bible Study every week. This ministry is purely independent not affiliated to any Church, we are the Church. We put our own money into it. We’ve been given some donations, everything goes to the ministry. We praise God for the privilege of reaching out to these people. We always give them a hug , they give us a bigger one back. They love the fellowship and often stay with us for the full hour and a half. All praise and glory to our wonderful God.
I realize your post is from a long time ago, but I would say you are exactly where God wants you to be. Our ministry was God given and came out of our gratitude to God seeing us through a crushing period of grief. God showed us how to start where we were, use what we had to serve others. Following his prompting was the best decision we ever made. Our ministry has grown tremendously! While we are told how much we help our “Peeps in the Streets,” I don’t thing I can even put into words how much serving others has helped us. Our lives will never be the same. Thank you God!
My husband and I have a ministry called God-Snacked. We show up daily feeding the homeless hot lunches M-F and big dinners on Sundays, where they are. We do it to demonstrate God’s love for them. After a year we know our regulars by name and they know us. We write a newsletter called “The God-Snacked Peeps in the Streets Newsletter” in which we talk about things that are important to them, and tell them about ourselves and our week. We describe our walk with God, our failings and shortcomings, and also how we get back on track with God. We share God with them in this way and pray with them in the streets when they want to. I have seen big changes in the way they trust and treat us. They love to tell us about times they’ve been a blessing to someone else, or other things they do that are positive–as we are constantly encouraging these behaviors. We’ve become part of their community and it’s growing! We love them, and they love us. They light up when they know we’re truly happy to see them.
This is very good reading. I feel God has put it on my heart in a big way to minister to the homeless in my city. Can you please send me more literature