Psalm 66:12; Jeremiah 29:5 & 7; Luke 17:18

Strangers in the City

About three weeks ago, Eddie Fong and some of his friends from our church helped prepare a meal for the visiting health care workers from Indonesia. It smelled so good that soon we heard a knock on the kitchen door.  A homeless man had stepped out of his wheel chair from the parking lot driven by the smell of Eddie’s delicious chicken.  He asked if he and his friend could get some of that food that had been beckoning him.  I asked Eddie if there was enough and he communicated that he feared there wasn’t.  So I offered him a box of cereal from the cabinet by the door where we stock some food for the hungry.  He declined.  Frankly I felt annoyed.  I have thought a lot about that moment since then.  What was the annoyance about?  Was it that we couldn’t give him the food our Parkview folks were preparing for our guests from the other side of the world?  Was it because he picked and chose the food he wanted while the truly hungry might not?  There is truth in that too.  It so happens that last Tuesday we met a young homeless man who was very cheerful and who told us about his own private religion. He asked for some food and he was more than happy with the box of cereal we had offered the other man.

Friends, we have had homeless sleep around the church for decades now.  For years there was even one living under the floor boards of my office. They have slept behind the bamboo bush, outside the window of Donna’s office, next to the Heiwa, on the veranda of the Kansha and  in the courtyard garden.  I expect one or two are not too happy the courtyard is mostly closed off now the Kansha is a residence.  Jeremiah speaks of exile and of the strange city where people must find a place and he channels the words of God Who says:” seek the welfare of the city.”   The city is a place of exile, but the people are not asked to shun it or to fear it but to seek its welfare.  Sometimes even cities can provide us with “a spacious place” as Psalm 66 verse 12 says.  But this spacious place is not necessarily a house with three acres, it is a place where we can experience a sense of spiritual space.

The Presbytery held its meeting away from the city at Zephyr Point Lake Tahoe last Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday evening they had a speaker named Dewitt Jones, a former National Geographic photographer.  He gave an inspirational talk and he reminded us that what National Geographic has always done is “celebrate the best of life.”  Their photographs show the world in its greatest beauty.  In a sense this is what God asks the Hebrew exiles to:” to celebrate the best of the life they now have. “They are to accept what good there is.  They are told in so many words that the foreigner can bring wisdom and blessing to the locals just like the leper in the healing story in Luke is able to show his full gratitude and appreciation to Jesus even though he is the Samaritan and the others are not.  The foreigner can bring blessing.  We forget that and we certainly forget that in this election season.  The foreigners just need a chance.

Friends, but what about that homeless fellow who was picky about the food?   He too lives in the city.  He too is kind of a foreigner like we were all foreigners in this city or in other cities at one point. The text is Jeremiah says:”for the welfare of the city is your welfare?” What I think that means is that that welfare cannot be separate from the welfare others, including the discerning homeless man in search of Eddie’s haute cuisine.  Their lot is linked to our lot, practically but also spiritually.  “For the welfare of the city is your welfare.”  We can “celebrate what is good in life” as the text also seems to imply, but we must allow and empower others to do so always.  When it comes to the homeless we have found that is not so easy and we never seem to feel fulfilled.  But maybe something should be gnawing at us.  For the situation isn’t right.

One pastor at the Presbytery retreat said that:”the church should do two-thirds of its work for others, not for itself.  Another person said: but many churches are just struggling to survive.  This angered the pastor who was still stewing about when the meeting ended.  Yet once again the text says:” the welfare of the city is our welfare.” This is where we hope our residency program will start bearing fruit as we try to look outward more.

Rob Watkins, the Interim Presbytery Executive said that research shows most churches wait for visitors to come and he said:”they aren’t going to come.” We have to go out and engage with people.  That is the only way to do things in this day and age.  Friends, may we celebrate what is right with the city and pursue not only our welfare but all who dwell in it.  May God bless our efforts.