Lament

(I wrote this letter to members of St. Joe's after we forced some homeless friends to remove tents from behind the building after we were threatened with fines by the city planning department in October. The church and parking lot are on a rise and are commonly known to the homeless around the Ninth Street area of Durham as "The Hill.")

Lament

10/12/10

Friends,

We worship a God who once saw fit to dwell in a tent. Later He established His dwelling place on a hill. After a time God became incarnate to a virgin in a stable that almost certainly wasn’t zoned for “transient lodging.” Unlike the foxes and the birds, the Christ had nowhere to lay his head and depended entirely on the hospitality of others. This Jesus also said that which we do or don’t do unto the least of those who are members of his family; the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger; we do unto him.

I fear that we evicted our Lord yesterday afternoon.

I know the ecclesial situation; I understand in part the civil situation. I am sympathetic to pragmatic concerns. I am deeply grateful to those who serve St. Joseph’s so faithfully on the behalf of its members, communicants, and ministry partners. I feel a part of St. Joseph’s though I am not a member, which is why I said “we” in the statement above.

I also hear the way in which the poor and homeless are battered by opaque and anonymous systems that criminalize their very existence and keep them from getting the help that has been established for them. A very understandable and justified sense of fatalism develops about the police, correctional system, and social welfare system. That there are rules and standards matters little to those tossed about. These forces are the powers and principalities spoken of by Saint Paul. I’m convinced that the civil and ecclesial forces that used us to wrest our friends from their sanctuary are of that same character and those against which the apostle called us to quarrel.

I don’t have an answer. I’m not sure there is one. I’m not looking for a response to this e-mail, nor would I see one until I return from a retreat at the end of the week. I am still unspeakably sad. I will be in prayer for our souls. I will also be meditating on Psalm 15, which savaged me as I was seeking to make sense of this whole thing last night.

Peace,

Luke

Psalm 15

“O LORD, who may abide in your tent?

Who may dwell on your holy hill?

Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,

and speak the truth from their heart;

who do not slander with their tongue,

and do no evil to their friends,

nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;

in whose eyes the wicked are despised,

but who honor those who fear the LORD;

who stand by their oath even to their hurt;

who do not lend money at interest,

and do not take a bribe against the innocent.

Those who do these things shall never be moved.”