Friends,

I had a moment that felt like it was out of some sort of moralistic religious movie on Monday. As I was pulling into the Church parking lot around 1:00 pm with my carry out lunch in hand, I was met by a very frail elderly African American man pushing a walker. He explained to me that he is homeless, a cancer patient and was in need of help. This was the perfect setting for me to receive some sort of perspective shifting lesson that both renewed my faith in God and humanity, while renewing my call to serve those in most need. All of those things are good, and honestly, it was certainly where I thought the afternoon was heading when I met my new friend, but the interaction showed something messier, more human, but no less faith filled.

At first the situation brought out feelings of saddest and frustration at the state of our medical system and protections we have to help our elderly neighbors. I dropped what I was doing and tried to do right by our friend by calling every expert I could think of. Before long I had a tiny phone committee working hard to help this vulnerable person. Slowly, I started talking to people who actually knew my new friend, and the story slowly got murkier. It turns out that the system was not necessarily to blame. Don’t get me wrong, people are often victims of various systems, but it turns out this was not the case. In fact, various systems actually came through for him in the past and he was well taken care of. As I sat down, and talked to my very transparent friend, it became clear that the situation was a result of brokenness on several different fronts, and there was no lesson to be learned at the end of the 90 minute special that could be somehow be universally applied to help him and those in similar situations.

I have no doubt that different public policies could be implemented to help the most vulnerable in our society, and I actively encourage you to vote for those who will champion those policies. However, policies that are not yet in place do nothing to help us when we try to help someone in need. What do we do now? I am painfully aware that I am not a professional case manager, social worker or anything like that. The only simple answer that I can give you is that we should do something, and that something will certainly be imperfect.

The worst thing you can do is turn people into heroes or villains that do not resemble any real person in creation. I have no doubt the friend I made on Monday had something to teach me, but he was not the sagely frail man that was sent by God to impart wisdom, instead he was something so much more wonderful. He was human. A beloved child of God, that was just as blind as his shortcoming and poor decisions as I am of mine. We should not fall into the temptation of believing that just because someone has participated in their own tragedy that they somehow deserve help any less.

Grace undeserved is a foundational belief in our Church. Christ did not test the chosen people of God to find the most worthy to impart gifts. Instead, he sought out fishermen, tax collectors, and sinners of every kind and told them about the kingdom of God, and made them his disciples. My friend on Monday and I have received the same when it comes to God’s grace, but economics does not work the same way. I am highly suspect that luck played the biggest role that determined my financial stability. I have made profoundly stupid decisions in my life, but received grace, and I often got very lucky, while my friend was less fortunate. Just because I am financially stable does not mean that I have deserved it either.

What my friend needed was stable housing, and I could not provide it to him that moment. I did meet and speak with those who were actively trying to help him find stable housing. I found no deceit, villainy, or perfection with him either. Instead I found someone like me, plus quite a few years. I spoke with him, listened, and gave him what I had. I have no magic cure for the ails of the world, and I doubt I do enough, but I hope starting with seeing the worth of every person regardless of fault is a good place to start.

-Nick