The following is an interesting letter to the editor of British Columbia's Christian newspaper which mocks the hospitality the local church I attend in Vancouver is trying to show to our homeless neighbors. A response from the senior pastor was added to the publication:
Letter Entitled: Not Welcome In My Spare Room
So pastor Tim Dickau wants us to hand over our spare bedrooms, the way Chrysostom did - to strangers.
Sure, I'd love to have some crystal meth-crazed, unwashed, stinking guy in my home, complete with the tire iron he uses to smash car windows to get money for crack cocaine.
Obviously, I should come to Dickau's Grandview Calvary Baptist Church to learn how to be a 'real' Christian.
Vancouver's problem is not the homelessness. It's people who say things like: "Loving neighbours is basic to the call of Jesus."
Dickau would think I'm ignoring 'the call of Jesus' if I demand we round up the drug-crazed, mentally deranged homeless and lock them up where they can never get out again. [Published email was signed]
Pastor Tim Dickau responds:
Most of the people we are inviting into our homes are strangers who have become friends over many years, people with whom we have prepared community meals, eaten together, shared stories and laughed with already in our church hall.
Most are trying to get away from drugs, and find that supportive community and housing gives them the stability to do just that.
You are welcome to come on a Thursday night to get to know some of these folks. You might be surprised.
What are your thoughts?
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1 comment:
It saddens me that someone calling themself a Christian would write something as blatantly unloving as what the first person said. How can someone say that it is a problem when people say "loving neighbors is basic to the call fo Jesus"? JEsus himself said it was. Matthew 22:37-39 "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
Love is Jesus's call to us. First love for God, but then love for people. I can understand the fear that the first person had, but to belittle those who are serving "the least of these" is heartbreaking when it comes from a purported Christian. I wonder what the author of the original letter says to these verses? "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
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