Mission The Welcome Ministry seeks to provide a faithful response to homelessness and to improve the quality of life for homeless people by providing: hospitality; food; and referrals for housing, health care and drug and alcohol treatment.
Contact Us Email is the easiest and fastest way to get in touch with the Welcome Ministry. Address: Phone: Fax: Email: Director:
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The Homeless Homeless Pastor Food Not Bombs: Tuesday, March 13th Reflections: On the one hand I am enjoying the freedom that I have found on the streets: I get to walk slower, when I have no where in particular to go; I have only faith to rely on that I will be given my daily bread; I get to take the time to let others serve me (wash my feet), though it feels so much easier/better for me to serve others; I can do what I want at anytime, because I have no deadlines or people expecting anything from me (except maybe that I write in my blog every day); I can sit at the fountain at UN plaza and read a book; I can drink wine out of a paper bag in front of the church; I can do all the things that I am normally too dignified to do in my normal professional life (like pee outdoors); and I can lie in the sun with my bare toes in the grass and take a nap in the middle of the day. I wonder why I don’t do these things all the time? Some of these things are wonderful bits of self care. Some of these things are uncivilized and simply not done by “civilized people.” The real answer is that it all comes at a cost. I could do what I wanted anytime I wanted, or I could trade in my freedom for a (false) sense of control and a few comforts (like a warm bath, a soft bed, a back that doesn’t ache, the ability not to have to carry everything I own, the ability to be indoors and not get sexually harassed when people see that I am female, to not be considered a threat when people see me as male, to drink a warm soy hot chocolate). If I eat dairy, I will get sick. So, thank God(dess) Food Not Bombs! They serve vegan food that is yummy and healthy and I know that it will not make me sick. At their food line in the middle of UN Plaza they bring the food in big white buckets that are toted on the back of bicycles. They say there are not a food line, they are a protest to the way that the government spends its money. They have been around for decades, but their message seems particularly poignant today – particularly since the money that goes to food banks, welfare, library’s and other programs that feed the hearts, minds, Spirits and stomachs of the American people have been slashed in light of the war spending. Food Not Bombs gets all the ingredients for the food they cook by going into the dumpsters of posh supermarkets, where they only put out the produce that are 100% beautiful and charge people 100% more for them. All that waste. They then take the discarded, imperfect food to the discarded, imperfect people that have been cast out of society – our human litter (the people don’t mind leaving discarded on the sidewalk). What would happen if at the snap of our fingers the first would become last and the last first? Would things get any better? Would we have a world of more compassion? I guess it depends on if we REALLY are longing for the day when pain and suffering ceases and we are all able to eat at the same banquet/communion table?
Prayers: I also remember the loving memory of Don H. a wonderful member of Christ Church Lutheran, who had a vigor for life even when his body failed him. I have wonderful memories of his love, especially for teaching, traveling Europe and beautiful cathedrals. May he enjoy eternal rest and everlasting peace with all the saints who have gone before him. AMEN. Rev. Megan Rohrer Previous .... Fragile Flesh, Fragile Streets: Monday March 12th |