Category: our homeless neighbor

Lessons from a Lunch Interrupted: Rethinking Our Response to theHomeless

by Linda Russell, posted in A Holy Whack, Do Something, Follow Me, grace, If not us, then who?, our homeless neighbor

What is it that bothers us most about that homeless person standing on the corner? In a word – they’re “inconvenient.” They show up and shake our complacency to its core. Why can’t they just stay out of sight, get a job, or stand with their signs somewhere else? Who believes they’re really needy anyway? Or, if we do give them our hard-earned money, they’ll probably use it for drugs or alcohol. Why do we work so hard to justify our negative reactions to them?

I am willing to share my own shameful story here. It happened several years ago, but I have never forgotten it because it taught me a profound lesson. One day, I came to a stoplight at a highway exit. Because I missed the light, I was forced to sit uncomfortably, making every effort to disregard the homeless woman on the corner. It was 104° in the shade, and the light took forever to change! I chose to
ignore her because she’s there a lot, and I have given her money in the past. I didn’t feel obliged this time.

Finally,I pulled away and went straight to Panera Bread for lunch. Panera Bread is my favorite place to eat out. Anyway, as I looked down at my lovely salad, the guilt was so immense I could barely get my food down. Here I was with my hardness of heart exposed, listening remorsefully to God’s admonishments and offering my feeble response, “I’m so sorry, Lord. I did it again. I am so sorry!”


I packed up my half-eaten salad, got in my car, and prayed as I drove toward the overpass where she stood, “Please be there.” She was still there! You would think I won the lottery. I quickly turned around and exited again, where she was standing. All the while, digging in my purse for money. $10? No! This was at least a $20 transgression. Yes, $20. Like God would be more impressed with that. I’m a moron!

When I got to her, I handed her the money, hugged her sweaty, dirty body, returned the blessing she offered me first, and ran back to my car full of self-adulation. However, God wasn’t done with me. This lesson was just beginning. It is said that life repeats its lessons over and over until we get them. And I am, hands down, to God’s dismay, the world’s slowest learner.


That very evening of my encounter with the smelly likes of Jesus, I met with some friends. How we got on the subject of the homeless…only God knows. We barely finished our greetings when my “friend” sitting across from me began to spew her indignation toward those nasty homeless people who have the nerve to interrupt her life! If she was going to give any of them money, she wanted to control what they did with it.


I listened to her rail against them and mumbled under my breath, “Lord, really? Did you set this up? It would be just like you! Fine. Can I get a beer, because this is going to take a while, isn’t it? By the way, have I said how sorry I am that we had to revisit my cold, hard indifference to those you love so deeply?”


I then had an hour’s drive home to ponder it all. In particular, my hesitation to discuss it with the woman at our meeting (she’s not really my friend anyway). The words God spoke to my heart penetrated my very soul, “Woe to you, Linda. You hypocrite! Don’t even think about judging her!” Right, okay, I have no right to judge anyone. But, what I wanted to say to her – I needed to hear myself.

So here it goes…We have our favorite defenses against helping the homeless. The most common seem to be:

  • I can’t help everyone.
  • It’s not my responsibility.
  • I want to know what they are going to do with the money.
  • They’re lazy; they need to get a job.
  • Or, my all-time favorite: Let’s put it on God. – “LORD, WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING?!”


As I considered the reasons we hold our clenched fists so tightly around our measly handful of change, I had a picture of me sitting at a long table. There was a line of homeless people on the other side of the table. Each one approached and stood
there as I grilled them to determine if they were worthy of my precious coins. Most I would usher off to the right, UNDESERVING. A few I would send to the left, DESERVING, where I would hand them a few tokens and expect their undying gratitude.


Then, I saw Jesus sitting at that same table. Now I was in line. I watched as each person approached in trembling anticipation. But, it wasn’t money he was handing out, it was grace. Most he would ruthlessly question, “What have you done to deserve this? What will you do with it? Why should I give it to you?” – then gesture to the right, UNDESERVING. A few would be sent to the left and showered with more grace and blessings than they could contain! I quickly got out of line and ran home to get a suitcase, certain I was going to the left, and prepared to capture all the blessings Jesus would bestow on me. I was pumped!


Finally, I reached the front of the line, and without hesitation, Jesus looked at my pathetic life and gestured to the right, UNDESERVING. Slumped over in disbelief, dragging my empty suitcase behind me, I fell into line with the unworthy masses.


So many of us live our lives in the realm of worthy vs. unworthy. It categorizes who we are, who our neighbors are, and who the poor are. And when we can muster just a smidgen of concern for others, we raise our voice to the heavens in outrage, “Lord, I don’t know how you can just sit there and watch your people suffer.”

What we fail to remember is that God came into our midst to reveal a different reality. He gives and gives abundantly, even to my sorry self. Not one of us is deserving. We ask for his mercy, grace, and forgiveness, and it is ours. There are no lines to stand in. There is no reason to doubt or fear. The abundance of God’s grace is beyond measure. The riches of his generosity have no limits. But we, like the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35), quickly forget.


Jesus came to serve. He commissioned His disciples to “feed my sheep.” In Matthew’s gospel (14:13-21), five thousand people converged on Jesus. His disciples insisted that he send them home to feed themselves. And what was Jesus’ reply? “You feed them. You do it!” God provided…and all the people were given their fill, with food to spare.


The fact that there are people starving and dying every day is not because of poor planning on God’s part. It’s because many of us who have been given much give little in return (Luke 12:48). The love God calls us to requires us to love everyone. Loving
them means caring for them and giving generously from our abundance of blessings.

And, for the love of God, stop judging them!

It’s to Die For: Caring for the Poor in an Age of Consumerism

by Linda Russell, posted in "Christians" who hate, Do you love Me?, dying for hope, Follow Me, hungry for hope, Love your neighbor, our homeless neighbor, serving others, the suffering need our care, white supremacy and the church

All across the country, people stand in lines three-deep for hours to be the first to plop down a few thousand dollars for the latest iPhone. As usual, the media, the gatekeeper of American values, gleefully stands watch over the frenzy.

Nearby, and unnoticed, other people stand in lines. They are the invisible poor in our midst. Statistics show that on any given day, some portion of the 14.3 million families in this country are standing in food lines (Bread for the World 2022).

 And it’s getting worse. Those numbers will increase as programs like the Child Tax Credit, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are all being cut by our current administration.

To the “haves”, the expression ‘It’s to die for” refers to our obsession with “things”. To the “have-nots”, that expression resonates from the pit of their empty stomachs. In both cases, consumerism defines who we are.

For those obsessed with self-gratification, and there are many “Christians” in their ranks, what they “have” defines who they are. For the poor, what they don’t have determines their value. The former well fed, the latter hungry, both dying spiritually. But this is nothing new. God has grieved over this fact of our humanity since the beginning of time.

He has been sending us Prophets, starting with Amos and Isaiah, to speak to this travesty. And they did not hold back! They continually called out those who believed all their riches and privilege were due to being favored by God. So, the admonishments and “woe to you” warnings of the prophets were simply laughable and annoying to them. Perhaps that’s why Jeremiah wanted to run and hide when God called him into service! But he finally went when he could no longer bear Yahweh’s grief, and he paid a hefty price for that courage.

Then, along came Jesus. Jeremiah and Jesus shared the same passion for the poor and disgust for their oppressors, and they bore the same hatred from those who didn’t want to be reminded of their sinfulness. God’s message was clear to both of them: Be willing “to die for” those who suffer.

Christ still tells us that when we care for the least of these, we care for him. Why are we still not listening? Could it be that we, too, are so enmeshed in this consumerist mentality and individualism that we simply don’t care? Or could it be that the gospel of American Express is louder and more appealing? “Woe to you, shopper, if you don’t use your REDcard for all your needless purchases.”

Do we feel a little better about it if we know that a tiny percentage of our spending goes to African Relief? That works for the barely guilty and isn’t risky because we don’t actually have to see the poor and suffering. Not so easy when hungry children are right in our midst, as are modern-day prophets.

How are today’s prophets speaking to our obsession with self? They are speaking the truth about the chasm between the rich and the poor. They scream unfair andtell us boldly and without reserve, that if we call ourselves Christians, we are charged to care for the poor.

 Mother Teresa says Woe to us if we do not recognize the dignity of the poor, that they too are made in the image of God. “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

Dorothy Day was a tireless advocate for the poor: “The Gospel takes away our right forever, to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving poor.”

John Kavanaugh, S.J. “It is our consumeristic culture today that defines our values, and forms our meaning and purpose. Companies market hope and identity in commodities, not relationships.”

Walter Burghardt, S.J., said that feeding the hungry is not simply a miracle Jesus performed; it is a mandate for Christians.

Kenneth Himes tells us that the word “consume” means “devour, waste, exhaust“, and calls our obsession with consumption in America pathological. “Consumer behavior has been removed from ethical judgment”, which then allows us to become complacent about God’s call to share our resources and acknowledge our indifference toward our starving neighbor. What has been lost is the essence of who we truly are and why we exist.

Mirabai Starr, “Our encounter with the manifold losses that characterize the human experience can till the soil of our hearts so that we are more available to the suffering of other beings and the earth we share. Sorrow can be paralyzing at first, but compassion, which can sometimes take the form of anger, is a wellspring that offers infinite sustenance.”

 As for me, my life changed drastically when I finally looked in the mirror and saw my own sinfulness. Woe to me! My greed and self-fulfillment came on the backs of the poor and hungry. My refusal to give up the slightest want caused children to go to bed hungry. “Thus says the Lord God, enough, Linda! Do what is just and right.” (Ezekiel 45:9)Truth be told, I still suck at it at times. But I’m getting better at self-correcting ahead of that Holy Whack!

In a country in which the majority of people profess to be Christian, our actions do not match that profession of faith. Woe to us, “Hypocrites!” Pope Paul IV spoke of rights as the right not to “have” more, but to “be” more. That is true for all human beings – the needy, and perhaps even more so, the greedy.

The Ungrateful Poor

by Linda Russell, posted in Boasting, Do Something, God in the ordinary, If not us, then who?, Love your neighbor, our homeless neighbor, serving others, the suffering need our care
(Shutterstock Image)

In the years I worked with the homeless, I came to see what I had never seen before; the deep heartache of those cast aside, those we tend to ignore, look away from, or judge.

We may not know the circumstances of the people we encounter day-to-day: the poor struggling to survive or the homeless, who are more and more visible on the streets today. But God calls all of us to compassionate care. No exceptions! They are our brothers and sisters in Christ, no less deserving of value and dignity than we are. Rev Dr. Liz Theoharis calls them “God’s chosen nobodies.”

I have always been inspired by Dorothy Day. She and Paul Maurin began the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930’s. She reminded everyone who came to serve with her, particularly those with an ego, that “There are two things you should know about the poor: they tend to smell, and they are ungrateful.” 

Why would she say that? Because if we have some expectation of their eternal gratitude for us taking our precious time to hand them a bowl of soup, we’ll be sorely disappointed and likely there for the wrong reason.

“Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Saint Mother Teresa

 I believe God challenges us to sit with this stark reminder of how the poor and homeless are generally treated. Have you ever considered what happens to them when they die on the street? Jesus’s words in Matthew 25:40-45 should elicit shame in our hearts, “whatever you do to the least of these you do to me” – but does it?

It did for those who started the Homeless Remembrance Project in 2003. “We’ve stood for more than 2050 women, men, and children who have died! These are outdoor, public, or violent deaths only of presumed homeless and temporarily housed people!” 

Can you wrap your head around those numbers when considering their work is ONLY in a small area of Seattle, Washington? They define it as “A collaborative effort of homeless women, faith community leaders, designers, artists, social service providers, and other friends—working to create places of hope, healing, and beauty to honor and remember homeless people who’ve died in King County.

Our concept is twofold: the Tree of Life, in Victor Steinbrueck Park, is a sculpture with space for community gathering, hope, and healing to recognize that we are one people, homeless and housed together, and we can end homelessness. Leaves of Remembrance on Seattle sidewalks bear the names of those who have died, and we share their stories at the site Fallen Leaves.” https://homelessremembrance.org/

Luke 16:19-31 speaks to the massive gap between the rich and poor in America. Years of a growing obsession with independence, greed, and wealth accumulation have manifested indifference to the plight of the poor.

But some feel compelled to stop looking away and respond to God’s call to serve those who suffer. If you feel that call, I believe it first requires honesty about where you stand and, if there is a tug on your heart to serve, consider why.

What is your “why”? It’s an important question that deserves a great deal of reflection. Is it a response to an obligation you felt after last Sunday’s sermon, checking off the “volunteer” box? Is it a misguided notion that you are their “savior”? -because that job’s already taken.

Mother Teresa’s words should resonate with all who call themselves Christian, “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” If that truth resonates deep within your heart, congratulations, you are on your way to fulfilling your life’s purpose!