I am writing this late at night because I can't sleep. Earlier this evening against my better judgement I accompanied some of my church members down to the homeless mission. I wish I hadn't gone, and I wish I could apologize to the residents there over what they were forced to endure in the name of our church.
It is the custom to hold services before the evening meal and the youth pastor was invited to speak. His sermon droned on and on and was--there is no other way to put it--totally insensitive to his audience. These people are not interested in an in-depth Bible study on a particular topic but that is what they got. His starting text was the scene in Luke where the Sadducees confront Jesus with the riddle of the woman who married seven brothers who all died so whose wife will she be in the resurrection? From there he dipped down into the Old Testament and explained in excruciating detail the law about if a man dies without children his brother is obliged to marry his widow (her feelings on the matter don't count of course). So here he is talking about property rights and family to an audience that has neither. To rub salt on the wound he winds up with a quotation from Paul about counting it all gain if he should lose everything for Christ. In between there was some talk of hellfire and a lot of talk about resurrection. In other words, though he didn't say it, if you accept Jesus you will get pie in the sky when you die.
For the most part his audience listened passively, far more passively than I would have had I been in their shoes. I had to suppress a chuckle when he was talking about how God knows everything, sees everything and a man in the back said quite audibly, "Santa Claus!" Good for you! I thought. At least you show some spirit unlike the rest of them. He was quickly shushed by those around him.
Afterwards we were instructed to split up and sit among the residents and get to know them. Not surprisingly the ones I found myself among did not want to talk to me and I did not blame them. Why should they? To them I was just another well-off clueless do-gooder which I really can't argue against. One woman said she'd been in and out of the homeless mission for several years. She had a seven year old daughter. When asked what school she went to the girl said she did not go to school. Then, if realizing that perhaps she had said too much, she refused to answer any more questions.
Following that, some of us went out for coffee at a nearby coffee shop where we discussed the evening. When I brought up the youth pastor's insensitivity, it was brushed off as "he's simply inexperienced and didn't realize." I mentioned the woman I had tried to have a conversation with. I said, "there is something very very wrong when you have someone who has been in and out of the mission for years." I was told that people make lifestyle choices and if they don't want to improve themselves, if they choose to stay on drugs and alcohol, then nothing can be done for them. Because the mission does offer job training if you choose to commit to their program. What kind of job training? Auto mechanics for the men and cashier/food service for the women. I said, "well, the auto mechanic thing, that's not bad, but these jobs for the women, they only pay minimum wage, and you can't possibly live on minimum wage." Well, you don't know if that is all that they are offering, and you are making assumptions. Wait a minute, who was making assumptions a minute ago?
Here is the problem, which I don't think they get. The system is rigged against the poor. It always has been but now it is increasingly rigged against the rest of us. The Book of Revelation talks about the Mark of the Beast which many people interpret as a computer chip in the forehead or on the hand. Personally, I don't think it necessary. We already have the Mark of the Beast--it is called money.
I just wonder how well some of these people would fare if they were suddenly thrust into a situation where they had no money or very little money. Some years ago Jeremy Rifken wrote a book called "The Age of Access" in which he said the 21st century was going to be defined by who had access to what. These folks down at the mission know all too well what it is like to be out of the loop with no way out.
Take for example the supposedly simple act of communication. Unless you are talking to someone face to face, every other act of communication involves money. Whether it be old-fashioned land-line phone or the Internet, you have to pay for the service. Even snail mail costs money! Without communication, how can you learn about jobs? How can you be reached if a job is available?
Transportation, too, costs money unless you are fortunate enough to live within walking distance of potential work, and I am afraid that the kind of jobs that the mission is training people for are not within walking distance of the mission. So you have to have bus fare. If you don't have bus fare you are screwed.
I wish I could sit my friends down to a game of Monopoly where I was banker and instead of giving everyone the same amount of money I would give some people a huge amount and others none. Then watch how soon the game got ugly. But in Monopoly you do have the option of walking away from the table. In real life you do not. It is no wonder that so many turn to alcohol and drugs. Or others--dare I say it--turn to the illusory comfort of religion. Pie in the sky when you die because you sure aren't going to get it here in life.
It is the custom to hold services before the evening meal and the youth pastor was invited to speak. His sermon droned on and on and was--there is no other way to put it--totally insensitive to his audience. These people are not interested in an in-depth Bible study on a particular topic but that is what they got. His starting text was the scene in Luke where the Sadducees confront Jesus with the riddle of the woman who married seven brothers who all died so whose wife will she be in the resurrection? From there he dipped down into the Old Testament and explained in excruciating detail the law about if a man dies without children his brother is obliged to marry his widow (her feelings on the matter don't count of course). So here he is talking about property rights and family to an audience that has neither. To rub salt on the wound he winds up with a quotation from Paul about counting it all gain if he should lose everything for Christ. In between there was some talk of hellfire and a lot of talk about resurrection. In other words, though he didn't say it, if you accept Jesus you will get pie in the sky when you die.
For the most part his audience listened passively, far more passively than I would have had I been in their shoes. I had to suppress a chuckle when he was talking about how God knows everything, sees everything and a man in the back said quite audibly, "Santa Claus!" Good for you! I thought. At least you show some spirit unlike the rest of them. He was quickly shushed by those around him.
Afterwards we were instructed to split up and sit among the residents and get to know them. Not surprisingly the ones I found myself among did not want to talk to me and I did not blame them. Why should they? To them I was just another well-off clueless do-gooder which I really can't argue against. One woman said she'd been in and out of the homeless mission for several years. She had a seven year old daughter. When asked what school she went to the girl said she did not go to school. Then, if realizing that perhaps she had said too much, she refused to answer any more questions.
Following that, some of us went out for coffee at a nearby coffee shop where we discussed the evening. When I brought up the youth pastor's insensitivity, it was brushed off as "he's simply inexperienced and didn't realize." I mentioned the woman I had tried to have a conversation with. I said, "there is something very very wrong when you have someone who has been in and out of the mission for years." I was told that people make lifestyle choices and if they don't want to improve themselves, if they choose to stay on drugs and alcohol, then nothing can be done for them. Because the mission does offer job training if you choose to commit to their program. What kind of job training? Auto mechanics for the men and cashier/food service for the women. I said, "well, the auto mechanic thing, that's not bad, but these jobs for the women, they only pay minimum wage, and you can't possibly live on minimum wage." Well, you don't know if that is all that they are offering, and you are making assumptions. Wait a minute, who was making assumptions a minute ago?
Here is the problem, which I don't think they get. The system is rigged against the poor. It always has been but now it is increasingly rigged against the rest of us. The Book of Revelation talks about the Mark of the Beast which many people interpret as a computer chip in the forehead or on the hand. Personally, I don't think it necessary. We already have the Mark of the Beast--it is called money.
I just wonder how well some of these people would fare if they were suddenly thrust into a situation where they had no money or very little money. Some years ago Jeremy Rifken wrote a book called "The Age of Access" in which he said the 21st century was going to be defined by who had access to what. These folks down at the mission know all too well what it is like to be out of the loop with no way out.
Take for example the supposedly simple act of communication. Unless you are talking to someone face to face, every other act of communication involves money. Whether it be old-fashioned land-line phone or the Internet, you have to pay for the service. Even snail mail costs money! Without communication, how can you learn about jobs? How can you be reached if a job is available?
Transportation, too, costs money unless you are fortunate enough to live within walking distance of potential work, and I am afraid that the kind of jobs that the mission is training people for are not within walking distance of the mission. So you have to have bus fare. If you don't have bus fare you are screwed.
I wish I could sit my friends down to a game of Monopoly where I was banker and instead of giving everyone the same amount of money I would give some people a huge amount and others none. Then watch how soon the game got ugly. But in Monopoly you do have the option of walking away from the table. In real life you do not. It is no wonder that so many turn to alcohol and drugs. Or others--dare I say it--turn to the illusory comfort of religion. Pie in the sky when you die because you sure aren't going to get it here in life.
