Folks Need a Place to Stay
This is a slightly revised and updated version of a story we published in this newsletter two years ago on May 1, 2013.
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Roland had been homeless for more than a decade when we first met him. He was living outside, next to an abandoned hotel building with the remnants of some cheap mattress to lay his body down upon at the end of every exhausting day. At the end of each long, hard day he would ball up his one change of clothes and stuff it into a plastic grocery bag to serve as a pitiful pillow. This pillow was less for the sake of comfort than to keep his head off of the filth that inevitably accumulated in the open concrete stairwell that pretended to be his shelter each night. For short periods of time, Roland had the slender mercy of a blanket to wrap around himself at night. But more often than not, he used whatever rubbish most closely resembled a blanket to shield himself from the elements. He was lucky to get a few consecutive hours of sleep to say nothing of comfort or privacy.
Roland was well known around town as he wandered up and down Main St. and put in time at his favorite locations. Quite regularly, people gifted food and clothing to Roland which made it possible for him to survive many of the harder days. But friends and relationships were often in short supply. There were people who looked for him when they had food to give away, but nobody who sought him out simply to share an afternoon lazily talking about things that matter immensely and things that don’t matter in the slightest. That’s how we met him and became fast friends: one of us sat down beside him on one of the very first “roving feasts,” and introduced ourselves, saying “I’m going to eat lunch and was wondering if you’d like to join me.” Soon, Roland was regularly joining us for meals, prayers, and conversation.
Months later, eager for a position of leadership and responsibility in the fledgling Grace and Main Fellowship, Roland accepted the title of minister of prayer. Lifting him up as one of our own and one of our leaders, we commissioned Roland to lift us up in his prayers and to carry the prayers of our community on his heart and in his thoughts. This is a responsibility he continues to take seriously and to which he remains faithfully committed.
During this time, we went with Roland to negotiate shelter with a landlord, insisting upon a written lease and reasonable terms. We found a bed and furniture for his new apartment and we continued to eat and visit with him regularly. In other words, we joined our lives to his and he joined himself to our community. We helped him remember his medicine and he helped us remember other sisters and brothers still in great need. We made sure he had food and could pay his rent, and he made sure we bathed our work in prayer and offered blessings over those who came to join us in our work.
We were shocked though, when we came to visit him after his first night in his own apartment in over ten years, because there was somebody sleeping on his couch. We took him aside to make sure that his guest hadn’t bullied his way into Roland’s apartment or otherwise taken advantage of him. He gave us a surprised look before responding, “Folks need a place to stay!”
In that moment, we knew he was right and we soon learned that our lives needed to change in response to the Gospel truth Roland had just shared with us.
We could not escape the truth of Roland’s pronouncement. “Folks really do need a place to stay,” we’d remind each other over meals and prayers. So, with Roland’s leadership, we decided to take the next step in hospitality and began inviting folks to stay with us, in addition to continuing to invite people to eat, pray, and celebrate with us.
Tonight, Roland will take another first step when he invites us into his new home for prayers and Bible study. He found this new home on his own and he prefers it in part because he’s better able to offer hospitality there. We’ll gather in his living room and give thanks for grace received and mercy shared in view of forgiveness granted to sinners like you and me. We’ll share a couple of Roland’s favorite pies (egg custard) and talk about the places where God is moving in our midst while giving silent but jubilant thanks for warm shelter and warmer relationships forged over meals and continued and continuing commitments. We will receive the hospitality of our brother who spoke the truth to us one afternoon, and we will return to our own homes with the sisters and brothers God has called into our midst to share life with us—even if just for a little while—because all of us need a place to stay.
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