Street Reflections

I recall several friends asking me to let them know if/when I wrote a blog entry about my homeless experience.  I thought a lot about what I could write about during the trip.  I expected to have a blog post up within 24 or 48 hours at the most and I had loads of ideas during the trip about angles I could take.  However, in retrospect none of them can capture our experience with the justice it deserves.  Moreover, I really do not want to capture the experience in writing or at least I do not want anyone to live vicariously through our experience on the street.  I even cringe writing that last sentence knowing that it can come across as prideful, but “so it goes.”

Tomorrow it will be three weeks since 8 of us from National Community Church decided to experience what it is like to be homeless.  We walked into National Coalition for the Homeless dropped off our cell-phones and wallets and left with the clothes on our back, a black trash bag containing two blankets, a journal, Bible and a pamphlet from Pathways to Housing that lists locations for services for the homeless.  That pamphlet was our meal ticket if we could not glean locations to eat from those on the streets.

In the weeks since the trip I have had numerous people ask me about my experience.  And I have enjoyed those conversations.  It seems that most think this decision to go homeless for 72 hours was at least a bit out there.  Oddly, I do not see it that way at all.  Based on the scriptures, particularly the Gospels and Jesus’ life, we decided to be with those that Jesus would have been with.  I am now back in my comfortable home in front of my laptop and life actually seems a bit off kilter.

Moreover, there are just as many homeless in DC at this moment as there were before we decided to go on this “plunge.”  For those interested the number is close to 6,000 for the District of Columbia.   So, really, what was it we accomplished during our time?  This, I think, is a great question to ask.  For one, I believe all eight of us have a better understanding of what it feels like to be homeless.  We all were required to panhandle and seven of the eight of us thought it was the most humiliating experience of our lives!  Personally, I had several takeaways from this experience.  One is this: there is a really good chance that saying “Hello” and asking the name of someone who is panhandling and not giving them any money at all just might be the bright spot of their day.

In DC there are many services available for the homeless community.  The spectrum of these services is broad, and I continue to learn more about them.  There are currently food deliveries at 5:30 and 7:00 on weekdays at Murrow Park located at 18^th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.  And on weekends just a few blocks away at Franklin Park located at K street and 13^th there are food deliveries as well as clothing distribution.  Note: these details are included in case any of you may want to stop by and find a new friend.  There are shelters and quite a few places that have hot meals—some secular and some faith based.  I did not visit any shelters but heard some nightmare stories about the conditions of many of them.  Another takeaway is that I am confident that I would prefer living, i.e. sleeping on the street rather than in a shelter if I were homeless.

In my opinion, too many of the services provided for the homeless in DC lack a relational focus.  I recall getting breakfast at one place and feeling like I was herded in and out.  There was something inhuman about this.  That is why I feel so strongly about the power of acknowledging a person panhandling.  Moreover, this is what Jesus does over and over in the Bible; acknowledging someone’s humanity.  Acknowledging someone’s humanity is the centerpiece of the “Good Samaritan” Parable.  Jesus acknowledges the humanity of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.  He acknowledges the humanity of the woman caught in adultery while helping those that want to stone her to recognize the humanity in themselves in John 8.

The woman in Luke 8 who had a problem with bleeding, making her a major social outcast in Jesus’ day, touched Jesus cloak and was healed, yet Jesus does not allow her to just be healed he longs to interact with her.  Verses 46-48 are worth quoting here—again the scripture states that she has already been healed yet:

 Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me."

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

In calling this woman “Daughter,” Jesus acknowledges her humanity—she is no longer the outcast that society has made her.  This is what I hope my time on the streets allowed to me to learn—that I can acknowledge the humanity of anyone and everyone.

6,000 is a large number, but not insurmountable in my honest opinion.  How amazing would it be if we could put all of the homeless NGOs in DC out of business in our lifetime?  This is a God-sized dream, but one I want to be a part of.

While I was on the streets there were so many experiences that I thought I might share, but they are the experiences of our group.  I kind of see them as sacred and am now reluctant to share them.  Besides, for $50 you too can have this experience—it will be the cheapest vacation you ever take and you will have your own sacred experiences as well.  So perhaps that is my biggest takeaway—more people should step into the shoes of the homeless—experiencing what life is like from the other side is one of the best bridge-builders out there.