"step away from the hobo"

I've been sitting on some thoughts that I havenÂ't put down in any written form - mostly because my head has been a little cluttered with schedules and with break-ins and insurance claims and blah blah blah...

As many of you know we at Orchards UMC run a sufficiently HUGE fireworks stand here in Vancouver. It helps us give a salary to our Youth Director and also helps us do some wonderful things above and beyond the normal ministries we do as a church. It's a big undertaking that requires at least a few people to manage it full time during the week of sales. I and another guy from our church managed the tent this year (THANKS KEVIN YOU ROCK!) We were typically out at the tent everyday from 8:30 am to about 11:30pm. A couple of night I spent the night out there as well, as night security. Needless to say I was pretty scruffy looking come the end of the week.

Since the tent was in the Vancouver Mall parking lot, from time to time I would call my wife and kids and have them meet me at the food court for lunch when I could get away. On one of the last days of the sale, I met my family at the food court for lunch. I hadn'’t shaved in a week, I was hot and sweaty (we had several days above 100 degrees while working in a tent on a big black asphalt parking lot.) I smelled like gun powder and sweat and was pretty grimy in general. I got there a few minutes before my family, so I got in line at McD'’s. There was a little kid in line in front of me that smiled at me and said "hi". I asked him if he was gonna shoot off fireworks on the 4th and was just being generally friendly to him. I tried to be equally as friendly with his (I assume) mother, but she just gave me a patronizing smile and tugged her son closer. A few other people treated me in a similar way and it dawned on me that they thought I was homeless. In fact when my family joined me my son greeted me with this phrase to his sister Adeline; "“step away from the hobo!"

I've never experienced people looking "“through me"” or clutching their kids close when I stood behind them in line. It was an odd feeling. When I sat with my family the experience kind of stopped (and turned to "why is that beautiful woman with that guy?")

I was able to go home and take a shower and shave and change clothes, I can only imagine what it would be like to have that reaction everyday without break.

Some friends and I have been discussing what are the causes of homelessnes. Is it rampant consumerism? Is it a choice for some? Is it a "have's" vs. "have not's" thing? It seems that over and over as I interact with people who find themselves living on the street I hear stories of broken and destroyed relationships. Either fights with people, abuse by someone in authority, or someone significant. Somewhere along the line they have either lost the ability to have and maintain relationships or chucked it all together . It comes as no surprise to me that a homeless man we helped last year would break into our church and do thousands of dollars worth of damage, we are just another relationship in a long line that he has destroyed.

So if at the heart of sin is a severed relationship - what is the connection between homelessness relationships and sin? I haven't put all these pieces together in such a way that it fits yet but I think there is an important connection there. The fact that so many broken and destroyed relationship litter the trail to homelessness, and that we as a society can't even have the most superficial relationship with these folks by even merely acknowledging their presence and looking through them.

Your milage may vary.

Have a great week friends