Dear Trekker,
As I have sought to explain in the past, each month I write from the heart. Sometimes it is something that just hit me suddenly. A gentle nudge by the Spirit! Sometimes, the thoughts have been brewing a long time! Then finally, I have to write on it because it suddenly has come to a head. I cannot avoid the topic. Such is this month’s subject…homelessness.
Trekker, as we begin, we must be careful to understand homelessness in the context of His life for us, not the way the world “would conform us to its mold.” If you care to “fact check” it, you will find a very narrow, disjointed, partial definition of homelessness by the pundit-sized sociologists of the day. How is this for the “true story”…”homeless (as defined by the National Council for Health Care for the Homeless) is defined as an individual who lacks’ housing” (without regard to whether the individual is a member of a family). One is homeless if he has no housing for the night, e.g. (note the equation of house and home). Homelessness, note also, has no relationship to family. Finally, homelessness is not aligned at all should there be a “true shelter” we all can call “home.”
Classically speaking, a culture of homelessness would mean that individuals who are homeless share corresponding beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors, similar social structures and a common economic situation, all in response to a comparable living environment. If this last sentence is true (and I think it is), we are today in America, flush with a culture of homelessness. The “homeless” have been used and abused; they trust few if any. They are exploited by do-gooders; they have no effective moral compass. Dishonesty is rampant in the homeless community; relationships (if any) are at most short-lived. Family relationships (and everyone has a mom and dad) are non-existent or so ineffective some homeless choose not to “go home,” preferring to beg or borrow or steal the means to live. Homelessness is such a sad commentary on our enlightened society. We should do better for ourselves and others. But there are some core issues we must not discount! Here is the sad part. There is no true love in homelessness. Love exits early in the homeless heart. The world tries to “manage” the homeless – loving the homeless or recognizing their need for love is an after-thought.
All of this came to a head earlier this month while reading the late priest and author, Brennan Manning’s Reflections for Ragamuffins which quoted Manning’s earlier work, The Ragamuffin Gospel. Manning says, “Home is not a heavenly mansion in the afterlife, but a safe place right in the midst of our anxious world.” A safe place! Where are we safe? Only one place – in Jesus! The Jerusalem Bible takes my life verses, John 15:4, 5 and translates verse 4 as follows: “Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.” Wow… that is a relationship. Home is a relationship between Jesus and me, Jesus and you, trekker. Home is a place… the heart of Jesus!
If Manning’s words have merit (and I believe they do), home has a spiritual dimension, a spiritual foundation that when absent, makes home as we know it, very problematic. Home is a relational fulfillment where all are held precious in living life with us. Home is a hearth, where the family comes together in faith and practice. If not faith or family, there is no substance in the home of lasting value. Could that not be why we see homeless persons as victims of a decay in society? The answer is obvious!
Manning has yet more wise and pertinent comments: “Home is that scared space – external or internal – where we don’t have to be afraid, where we are confident of hospitality and love.” Then he gives an ever greater dimension to homelessness today: “In our society, we have not only many homeless people sleeping on the streets, in shelters, or in welfare hotels, but also vagabonds in flight, who never come home to themselves (italics mine). Then he really nails it. I hope you don’t squirm, trekker. This may hit you: “They (homeless) seek a safe place through alcohol or drugs, or security in success, competence, friends, pleasure, notoriety, knowledge, or even a little religion.” Quite a statement by Manning, who himself fought alcoholism virtually all his life. But he is not finished: “They (homeless) have become strangers to themselves, people who have an address but are never at home, who never hear the voice of love, or experience the freedom of God’s children” (italics mine). Manning concludes: “To those of us in flight, who are afraid to turn around lest we run into ourselves, Jesus says, ‘You have a home…I am your home…claim me as your home…you will find it to be the intimate place where I found my home…it is right where you are…in your innermost being…in your heart.’”
WOW! Trekker, I believe with all my heart Manning has put his finger on the trigger of homelessness. It is a spiritual problem! So much of life comes around to where we live. We all are homeless and hopeless until we receive the home Jesus offers…Himself. I believe this is why the Spirit gave me John 15:4,5 in my devotional time at the Wheaton College Memorial Chapel on my wedding day, 62 ½ years ago. Jesus could not have been more loving and instructive. “Jim, make your home in Me, and I will live and make my home in you. As fruit trees don’t bear fruit unless they are living in the vine, neither will you if you don’t live in me.” Then v.5 is simply a repeat –“I am the vine, you are a branch. Live in me and you will bear much fruit. But without me, you can do nothing”…zero…zippo! Trekker, that is my life encapsulated! Anything I have ever “done” is because of Jesus living in me and my frail soul seeking to live in Jesus (I’d say of you… what you have “done,” and there is much, is because of your decision to seek to live in Jesus!). All glory, laud and honor to Christ our Lord and King!
Trekker, our culture has the cart of homelessness before the horse of Christ. What we call homelessness today is a symptom of the core problem…we’ve forgotten God. We consistently turn our backs to Him as totally irrelevant to modern life and morals, and/or we have failed to pass on the power of God in our educational system. Actually, both are true. We are reaping a whirlwind in the 21st century. The “elite” of society haven’t a clue concerning genuine homelessness. All without Christ are the true homeless people of this (and every) generation.
Bless those giving the homeless shelter, clothing and food…but also giving them Jesus. My Uncle Kenneth Hawkins ran a rescue mission in Fort Wayne, IN. The Salvation Army has done yeoman duty with the homeless population for years upon years. Thank God for rescue missions!
Take courage my friend! I pray that you find your true home in Jesus. Where Jesus is home, we can joyfully cross home plate over and over again. God bless you.
Your friend at home with Jesus,
Jim Meredith