the homeless--

I was at a meeting yesterday with a couple of local clergy talking about expanding the winter emergency shelter program to Ephrata/Akron. The winter shelter program was initiated in the city last year. Churches, in connection with Lancaster Co. council of churches and the drop-in center located at Water St. rescue mission, host as many as forty people in their church building for a week. They provide overnight shelter, cots and blankets, for people who receive a voucher from the drop-in center. Most beds, most weeks are pretty full. But I've never been.
As we think about expanding this program to provcide shelter for unsheltered homeless people, we realized something significant. I don't know who these people are. I don't know any unsheltered homeless people. I know a couple of sheltered homeless---people living in someone else's house or apartment---domestic refugees, without their own home, living in the graces of some friend or family member temporarily. But I don't know any unsheltered homeless people. Where do they sleep? How do they eat? Before I help to initiate a "program" I should know a person. Because isn't homelessness another one of those issues that we treat objectively, rather than relationally? I believe it is so for a couple of reasons. People with homes do not concern themselves with people who do not. We live in different worlds and cultures for the most part. And we culturally isolate the poorest of the poor and the homeless. Also, if some of us knew homeless people, they wouldn't stay homeless. We would have to make room somehow. That is the real issue. Can we make room in our lives for someone who needs food, clothing, shelter, the basics? Can we make room in our hearts for such a one? I'll be accused of being a typical bleeding heart liberal. Home ownership is not a right, I know. This economy has taught us all that lesson. But dwelling in safety, especially in cold months when exposure becomes life threatening, is a human right. Some of us treat our pets better that that. And really the relational piece is about Jesus, isn't it? To know a homeless poor person is to know Jesus face-to-face. So, my next task is to seek out and meet an unsheltered homeless person. I may need some help to do this. I will also spend a night at one of the winter shelter churches in Lancaster city before Christmas. Anyone like to join me?