Just for 3 nights in December we gave over much of our church building to be able to welcome 9 guests who would otherwise have been sleeping rough. It was part of the Birmingham Churches Night Shelter.
I think I can say with confidence that all of those involved in whatever capacity found it to be an uplifting, heart-warming and yet challenging experience.
Here are just some of things that touched me.
The deep gratitude from the guests, which was movingly expressed especially on the last day of the project.
The sense of sadness that I felt about our guests having to live like this.
The pure emotional and spiritual power of the traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration on the Friday evening – the Polish men who were our guests were so moved and enlivened.
The genuine coming together of people across our them-and –us boundaries that we create in this life. To paraphrase St Paul “neither Polish nor British, housed nor homeless; male nor female, church member or non-member” .
The Night Shelter was a good thing. I think we should do it again. The basic thing is about providing a safe warm place to sleep, but there is so much more to it than that: the blessings for all involved just flow and flow.
Listen in your heart to what it says in Isaiah 58:
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
… Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
….then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Blessings all round.
Gerard.