The Circle

Along with several other members of our church outreach commission, we spent a recent Saturday afternoon serving dinner at a local shelter. I mention this not as a form of humble brag--it was a very small service on our part against a far greater need than any of us could fulfill. While we were cleaning up at the end one of the staff mentioned that in his years working at the shelter he had seen the same faces come and go and come again, a never ending circle.

He went on to say that when a check from social services arrived or some other turn of fortune briefly graced the lives of those who frequented the shelter they would vanish from the daily rounds, but when the money ran out they would return. I'll spare you the rest of his sad tale. As you might suspect it cast the poor and homeless who turned to this shelter for food and a night's respite from the streets in a less than positive light, suggesting drugs, booze or some other behavior as a cause rather than a symptom.

None of us needs to hear another sermon on mental health as an underlying issue, and in any event it is hardly the point. Poverty, bone grinding, life long poverty in many cases is almost always what separated the people standing in line for a hot meal from those of us who had homes and family to go back to when our good deed for the day was done. It should not be this way but as scripture says, the poor will always be with us, even as we are reminded it is they who will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Please don't think of me or the staffer as cynics--most of those who express such emotions are lapsed idealists under the skin. I'm not one of them, but I was sad and in poor spirits after our day ended. Why? Not perhaps for the reasons you might expect. I understand that there is only so much any of us can do in our lifetime to right the ills of the world. That isn't a reason to despair but it is recognition that there but for the grace of God any of us might be among those seeking shelter--from poverty, from persecution, from our own emotions. And should we climb out of the pit we are in--whether by our own hand or good fortune--there is a better than even chance we may fall back. The circle continues, never ending.

Our human nature does not always serve us well. When things are going well for us it is easy to forget when times were bad, for us or others known to us. Our pledge to keep the lessons of misfortune always in mind can slip away. Perhaps that is why some people do not like to see or be among the poor, the needy, the strangers. It reminds us of what could be, there but for fortune, of hard times we may have faced or those we think we will never experience. And it is a short walk from that view to seeing those who deserve our help as adversaries, less deserving of tolerance, assistance or basic respect.

This isn't a plea to go serve food, or give a few dollars to a street person, though those are things any of us might do to come along side those in need. Rather it is about raising awareness that every day we walk around our community and do not see those amongst us whose lives might be made just a bit more tolerable by an act of kindness on our part. It is about doing more than waiting to be asked, defending those who are hurting or unable to fend for themselves. It is about caring for our fellow human beings-even and especially those who may seem scary or who remain willfully unseen in our haste to pass them by. We should not do this because the circle goes round, unceasing and relentless but because we are all of us one, born under the same sun, all making our way as best we can. To lift another does not drag us down and whatever good fortune has come our way is not ours but the product of circumstances, talents and will force we were given.

I am not so naive as to think that cold hearts and averted eyes can be changed by a few words. But for those who have eyes to see and ears to listen, think what one act, one moment each day can mean to another human in need.