One of the hardest things about being a pastor is knowing how to help the people who turn up at the church building. We aren’t set up to provide meals or shelter and we don’t have cash on hand to give out. Sometimes kindness is the best thing we can give, but even that sometimes is not what is needed or wanted. I try to listen and to do everything I can within our scope of offerings to see the person and treat them with respect. Today I gave someone a warm place to stay while they figured out next steps and sent them off with a bottle of water, $20, and a phone charger. I didn’t solve their problems, but I listened, set some boundaries on what we could do and gave of what I could.
I sometimes feel guilty that what I can offer isn’t enough, that Jesus would demand more from me and from us. I have to sit with that and discern how faithful I am being to God’s call to love people as I find them. This is both an immediate issue when I am responding to the human being in front of me, and a bigger question as we think about the kind of world we live in and what we can do to make changes to our systems that cause such suffering.
Today I am praying for one who is on their way that they might find safety and warmth along the journey and that I might be ready for the next time I am needed to respond with respect and an open heart.
-Eilidh
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