Love loses

Six churches have banded together for the past six years to feed the homeless in Raleigh, North Carolina. From the mission statement of Love Wins Ministries:

We want to build relationships that cross cultural and societal barriers. It is not that complicated: We love people – period. No agenda, no strings attached. People that society has left behind. People who wear dirty clothes. People who beg for money on the side of the road. People who are not welcome in most church buildings. People the city wishes would disappear. People made, we believe, in the very image of God.

In other words, they are working to translate the teachings of Jesus into action. They want to show love to the marginalized and downtrodden. Sadly, feeding the homeless is something that their city is cracking down on, with police officers threatening to jail ministry members for passing out food.

This morning we showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding. 

Today officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested.

Government officials, no doubt at the behest of business interests, have decided to get tough with the homeless as part of an effort to revitalize this area of the city. It is a further hardening of hearts. By the way, the feeding program is necessary because of the lack of services on weekends.

We feed people and have been doing so, and much more, for six years. On the weekends people have no where else to go other than the park because Wake County and/or the City of Raleigh offers no soup kitchens or other options on the weekends. None. There is no “official” place you can get a meal if you are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. You are left to your wits, and for the last six years, you could get a cup of hot coffee and a hot breakfast sandwich from us – because you could not get one from any tax funded location.

The Love Wins blog post about their recent confrontation with the police attracted almost 400 comments. I was amazed at the number of people that suggested that the solution is to feed the homeless from churches participating in the ministry. Rather than bring the food to the homeless, the ministry should figure out a way to transport the homeless to the food. And, of course, some could not resist the temptation to throw stones at the poor.

It may be causing more of a problem, than creating a solution. I have worked and volunteered in a local ‘soup kitchen’ that fed people for free. Most of them were local people, who left their neighborhood homes, and were just to lazy to get food for themselves. Sure, somehow people really need help, but a large gathering of homeless vagrants may not be the best for a local park.

I have never run across anyone that goes to a soup kitchen because they are too lazy to prepare their own meals, yet here is someone claiming that soup kitchens are full of freeloaders. The myths of welfare "queens" and food stamps being used to buy luxury items like crab legs are very persuasive for the self-centered. Cynical politicians thrive on the ready acceptance of slander and scapegoating.

The Lord said that He will judge harshly anyone that neglects the suffering of others. Perhaps He was just being overly dramatic. Or perhaps repentance is in order. Giving the finger to the poor is like giving the finger to Christ. It is a big mistake, whether you think you are predestined or not. Failure to show God's love, especially for those crying out to God, is something you definitely do not want on your spiritual resume.