death stings

“But I found out everybody’s different – the same kind of different as me.  We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us.  The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place.  So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home.”

And with these words, Ron Hall and Denver Moore close out their book, Same Kind of Different As Me.  I’ve been wrestling with Denver’s final words since finishing the book earlier this week.  Is it true?  Are we all homeless?  Is each of us working our way home?

Death has become a reality for me on a number of levels recently: family members aging, friends coming down with horrific illnesses, young lives cut short by automobile accidents.  When we are faced with our own mortality and recognize how short our lives are the differences between us quickly disappear.  No matter our ethnicity, our socio-economic status; no matter what work we do or how we’ve impacted the world for good or ill, when death comes knocking, we all answer the door.

With these thoughts swirling through my head this week, I started rewatching The Lord of the Rings movies with my daughter.  We watched the first movie and I again sat through Frodo’s anguished lament at the course his life had taken: 

“I wish the ring had never come to me.  I wish none of this had happened.” 

To which wise, old Gandalf replies,

“So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Even with all of our advanced science, our wrinkle-free creams, our elite exercise regimens and dietary supplements, our lives are limited to the duration of these failing physical bodies.  Each day that we have we should live with the awareness that death is just around the corner – not with an attitude of worry and fear, but with an attitude of anticipation for the days we have.  We need to understand each day is a gift that will never come again and we must use each one to its fullest potential.

In addition, we believe that death is not the end.  Sorrow wounds.  Sickness hurts.  Death stings.  But death is not the end.  Death is the door that leads us home, as Denver Moore puts it.  Home.  What home?  Some people believe that home is a plane of existence or a form of reincarnation or a vast nothing.  As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe home is eternity spent with God.  We believe home is a place of safety and rest and hope.  Home is our final resting place where we will be reunited with those we love and cherish.

While we are in its midst, death can be a horrible thing.  Let’s call it like it is.  Death is awful and terrible.  And inevitable for us all.  So what are we going to do about it?  Do we shirk away and do all we can to avoid death?  Do we scream in defiance, pull out our hair, and spit in the face of death?

When death comes early and uncalled for, when crippling sickness takes hold, when sadness and depression invade, what response do we have?

We live.

Works in Progress – September 3rd

September 3rd, Kansas City Rescue Mission joins the Crossroads Art District for First Fridays with our Works in Progress Art Show.  This event will include work from 15 different local artists, raffle drawings, live music from Light Walker and HymNuts, refreshments and off-street parking.

For the kids we will have face painting, a clay sculpting table, a leather working table, free art lessons, a moonwalk, a drawing table and caricature sketches.

The event will be held in KCRM’s courtyard at 1520 Cherry Street and will go from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.  This is an alcohol-free event.

Come on out, have some fun and enjoy Kansas City’s First Fridays at the Crossroads!

Corner Quandary – How Should We Respond?

My 16-year-old daughter, Hannah, and her friend stopped to talk to a woman standing on a corner holding a “Homeless, Please Help!” sign. When my daughter told me about it later, I had all those “Dad” thoughts about why that was a bad idea…you know, the whole don’t talk to strangers thing. But I have come to realize that she will most likely talk to strangers her whole life. I can give her advice and ask God to watch over her but she is going to talk to people. It’s who she is.

Hannah is a pray-er. Bad hair day? Pray. Too many cars in her merge lane? Pray. Someone looks like they’re having a rough day? “Hi, I’m Hannah, may I pray for you?”

She also has what I would call a gift of mercy. If you want to touch her heart, tell Hannah about someone who is hurting. So when they encountered that woman on the corner there was no chance they would just pass on by.

Hannah and her friend pulled over, approached the woman and asked if they could pray for her. Her response was enthusiastic. Yes! They prayed an equally enthusiastic prayer for her, handed her $5 and watched her walk away yelling “Hallelujah!” and waving her hands.

Hannah was sure the hallelujah was because of the prayer. I was silently convinced it was because of the $5.

We are often asked at the Kansas City Rescue Mission about those people on the corners with the signs. And our response is almost always the same: Don’t give them money!

You see, we know the statistics that the vast majority of those hapless faces peering at you at intersections aren’t quite as desperate as they’d have you believe. Some make a pretty good living at those corners…one study found Kansas City panhandlers can make as much as $300 each day…and they even compete for the best intersections.

The reality is there is no reason for anyone to go hungry in our city. No one HAS to stand on a corner begging for money to eat because there are many resources for free meals and even free groceries throughout the city. Often the man or woman you pass at the side of the road is standing only a few steps away from a free meal.

KCRM’s strategy for responding to the panhandler you meet on the street or outside your car window can be found here: http://www.kcrm.org/newkcrm/Help. You can download a Free Shelter Ticket that you can give in lieu of money to someone who approaches you.

So, yes, that would be my advice. Don’t give money to a person on the street claiming to be homeless. Don’t put yourself at risk. Support ministries like KCRM that are equipped to help the homeless person’s needs, both critical and ongoing.

But, that being said, I don’t want to douse Hannah’s flame, either. I love the courage she has to pray for anyone at any time. I’m proud of her! And I have to trust that God has some heavenly bubble wrap around my baby to keep her protected out there in a dangerous world.

So to all the Hannahs out there, let me say this: Be careful! But if God says pray for someone, give to someone, reach out to someone…then by all means, do it!

Jesus, the homeless man

Listening to Rich Mullins’ The Jesus Record in my car earlier this week, I was inspired by his insightful lyrics yet again: “the hope of the whole world rests on the shoulders of a homeless man.”  The line comes from his song, “You Did Not Have a Home.” Mullins is referring to Jesus; specifically, Jesus, the homeless man.  That’s not something you hear preached from the pulpit most Sundays: Jesus was homeless.  He relied on the hospitality of others for food and shelter.  He wandered from place to place on foot (though admittedly, most people travelled by foot at that time).  He owned little more than the clothes on his back and the sandals on his feet.

How do we define homelessness today?  A person without a home.  A person without a job.  Someone who doesn’t know where his next meal will be coming from or where he’ll be sleeping tonight.  Someone who is dependent on others to meet his most basic needs: food, shelter and clothing.  Does this describe Jesus?

I suppose Jesus didn’t know where his next meal would come from most days, though I don’t imagine he was too concerned about it.  I can hear the disciples arguing over what they were going to do for dinner or where they were going to spend the night.  Somehow I don’t think Jesus worried too much about those basic needs.  It was like someone was watching out for him.  More to the point, he lived as if he knew it.

So what if Jesus, the homeless man, came into the Kansas City Rescue Mission?  Where would we find him?  What would he be doing?  Maybe Jesus would head straight up to the front of the chapel and start preaching and teaching.  He did a lot of teaching back in his day.  Maybe he’d slip in quietly, head to the kitchen, and start washing dishes or preparing salads.  He washed his disciples feet.  Maybe he’d kick in the front door and sweep the computer monitor off the front desk in anger and disgust over the way we’ve neglected the poor and suffering.  He overturned tables and whipped the sales people who’d moved into the temple.  Maybe he would enter accompanied by trumpets and choirs, hymns and choruses, a red carpet, cameras, the 5:00 news a la Palm Sunday.

I think if Jesus came into KCRM, he would probably walk quietly into the chapel.  He’d look around and figure out which guy in there was at his wits end, the guy who’d taken all he could, the guy who was suffering to the point of exhaustion.  I guess I don’t know how Jesus would choose.  He’d just know where His Father wanted him.  I think he’d sit down next to the guy, he’d put his arm around him, lean in close, and say, “I love you, brother.  Dad loves you, too.  You ready to get something to eat?”  Then he’d get in line for dinner, sit down with the least of these, say a blessing and dig in, delighting in those he loves most.

Oh, You did not have a home
There were places You visited frequently
You took off Your shoes and scratched Your feet
‘Cause you knew that the whole world belongs to the meek
But You did not have a home, no, You did not have a home

 And You did not take a wife
There were pretty maids all in a row
Who lined up to touch the hem of Your robe
But You had no place to take them,
So You did not take a wife, no, You did not take a wife

 
Birds have nests, foxes have dens
But the hope of the whole world rests
On the shoulders of a homeless man
You had the shoulders of a homeless man
No, You did not have a home

 
Well you had no stones to throw
You came without an ax to grind
You did not tow the party line
No wonder sight came to the blind
You had no stones to throw, You had no stones to throw

 
And You rode an ass’ foal
They spread their coats and cut down palms
For You and Your donkey to walk upon
But the world won’t find what it thinks it wants
On the back of an ass’ foal, so I guess You had to get sold
‘Cause the world can’t stand what it can’t own
And it can’t own You ‘Cause You did not have a home

 
Birds have nests, foxes have dens
But the hope of the whole world rests
On the shoulders of a homeless man
You had the shoulders of a homeless man
And the world can’t stand what it can’t own
And it can’t own You ’cause You did not have a home

- Rich Mullins, “You Did Not Have a Home”