Lent

April 6, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 31:9-16

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,
   my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
   and my bones waste away.

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
   a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
   those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many—
   terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
   as they plot to take my life.

But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love.

The homeless on our streets came to my mind when I read this. Some years back my church participated in a feeding program for the homeless providing a meal in rotation with other churches. When one of the so-called homeless women saw the name of our church on our T-shirts her eyes twinkled and she said, “I got married in your church in 1952.” As some of our members got better acquainted with her, we learned she was a retired schoolteacher, who received Social Security and teacher retirement. She said she had an apartment a few blocks from the library where we served the meal. One of the couples who volunteered asked if she would like a ride home and she did. They watched her enter the building and as they drove away, they saw her exit the building from the back pushing her grocery cart that carried all her possessions. She did not trust the demons in the building. I suppose we took special notice of her because she was one like us, but all the homeless are ones like us. I dabble in genealogy, and in many of my families, I have recorded the comment about someone in a family that just left, and we never heard from them again. And those people still exist today.

Our health care system is not what it needs to be, but the mental health care system is even worse. As we try to meet the basic needs on the street, let us not forget to advocate for better systems of care.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the homeless as children created in your image that need our care and our advocacy. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.