No Place Like Home

Every Sunday morning, the choir stands at the church's side entrance while the pastor shares announcements. During the opening hymn, we walk along the side of the church to the rear of the sanctuary before processing up to the altar. As we were standing along the side while the pastor read the news, I detected an unpleasant odor. I glanced over to the side pew to see its sole occupant- a homeless man.

Immediately, my heart went to this man. I glanced furtively at his disheveled appearance: unkempt hair, long fingernails, unshaven ... probably hadn't bathed recently. Because my church is in downtown CoolCity, the homeless frequently come to the church for food and warmth. The man coughed. My hand went to my robe pocket- did I have a cough drop that I could offer this man? Unfortunately no- just a cough drop wrapper and an old tissue. When the pastor announced our opening hymn, the man took out the hymnal and thumbed through it until he came to the correct song.

When the choir began singing, we began our processional, away from this man ... but my thoughts stayed with him. Would anyone approach him for the Passing of the Peace? I considered it, but realized I might hold up the choral anthem following the peace if I were to go all the way over to the other side of the church. Still, I thought about him through the service ...

~*~*~*~

At dinner this evening, one of my friends mentioned something about her plans with CO, an organization on campus which meets on Sunday nights to prepare and distribute food to the homeless downtown. I asked her shyly if I could join her tonight, and I explained how the man at church this morning had really made an impact on me. She assured me it was open to anyone who wanted to help, and I was more than welcome to come.

At 7pm, I headed over to one of the few buildings on campus which I had never entered before. This is where they prepared the food - sandwiches made from the campus cafeteria's leftovers. When I got there, I was pleased to see my friend from dinner ... and some other people I knew: a cute guy from Bible Study and another RA in my building (and later- another girl from my old building). I made one sandwich but then ended up putting sandwiches made by others into plastic baggies. We joked around and chatted as we worked.

Once we had packaged everything and organized it into a cart, we took the food and a few bags of clothing and toiletries and left. We walked downtown and only met three [homeless] men before we ended up dropping off our remaining food and supplies at a shelter where we encountered several more who were homeless. I enjoyed talking with the people, and I was humbled by their humility and the humor they shared. I also liked serving these people alongside the small group of my peers. I felt like I was doing what God wanted me to be doing at that moment.

When we got back to campus, we dropped off the extra supplies and our cart. Then we headed over to the coffee place for a few minutes to warm up and relax. All in all, a well-spent evening.

~*~*~*~

(Now: sleep before I get up early to do all the homework I put off all weekend...)