 This morning, since sunrise, I have been sitting by my front window, the street and sidewalks just outside—and have watched at least a dozen folks walk by, bundled up with oversized coats of the Goodwill or thrown-out varieties; every one with a small blanket or some clothe around their necks; their possessions tied up or bagged about them; not moving fast, at a very slow pace—homeless, having survived a cold, very wet over night somewhere outside.
This is one of the hardest things pastoring here in the Hill. For. Me. To. See. Over and over and over right out front of my Hill apartment. While there are some warming centers and over-night winter shelters, not all homeless trust them or have the capacity to“bunk” together and/or have so many other barriers to even be accepting someplace warm for an overnight on a very cold, pouring, rainy night. These are the very forgotten elect—some among them, only God knows . . . “Father, save them, give them hope and eternal life, give them a safe night somewhere . . . send me help to reach them, to serve them . . . 7 days a week . . . the burden comes in that we only do (only can do, really) one hot meal a week outside on the sidewalk (on Saturdays) . . . and only one time a week, some hot coffee on the sidewalk (on Wednesdays) . . . “God turn this into something . . . wake up your workers, they're late. These folks are cold and they are lost.”  Our Saturday Sidewalk Breakfast & Church Service happens every week and no matter the weather. So, rain or shine, snow storms or hail, frothy people still make their way to breakfast on the sidewalk.
Usually, my wife is serving the hot food, which gives her the ability to snap a few pictures of the Sidewalk Service. But she was gone this past Saturday, visiting grand-babies. So, no pics of the service. There were 20 or so present--a large crowd actually--for the sidewalk church service. But the pic above will have to do for this Wasted Evangelism thought--and it is the picture one of my former students (I was once a college professor) posted a reply on Facebook . . . One of the reasons I do open air preaching--one of the reasons I wanted to do an outdoor, on-the-street-church service (which we do with the Breakfast on Saturdays)--is that open air preaching will reach more men than regular church-in-a-building preaching . . . We Presbyterians refer to Sunday church as ordinarily on Sunday and 99.9% of the time inside a building . . . Our Saturday sidewalk church service is "nonordinarlily" for sure. But, it has been a fact--read the books and essays on open air preaching, even from 100+ years ago, and this fact is in them! Yet, it is ordinarily true that men are more likely to listen and respond to open air preaching than indoor church pulpit preaching . . . and we do see that here. One regular elderly gentleman, who is a regular at the sidewalk service, was a bit later than usual. When I greeted him, the first thing he said was, "Did you already give the Word?" And when I said I had, he replied, "Oh, man," and was sad . . . I thanked him and said I was grateful he was so consistently present for the Saturday Sidewalk Church service. He told me he had come for the breakfast, but comes back because of the Word. Praying God takes this fact about outdoor preaching and men and changes the lives of Hill men, that they may find Christ, receive Him, and have their lives changed. Revive us again, O Lord, right here in the unexpected place, the Hill. All to the glorious praise of the Heavenly Father!  Now after five weeks recovering from open heart surgery* . . . Felt better. Stronger. More able to keep a good pace at this morning’s sidewalk breakfast and church. Not as shaky as last week (my first time back at it). While I am still not lifting anything more than 8 lbs, I felt good at moving about and talking to folks. I had good energy for the church service and the preaching. God is good. The message, the sermon, was from Acts 15:11-19 this morning: “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” This is not an easy text—and how can it be relevant to those who do church on the sidewalk? In short, of course, the simple gospel of faith in Jesus is all that is needed to be saved and part of God’s family (v. 11). But there is more: It was--it is—the acceptance of others into this family of the saved that also matters. Who are . . . who can be the sons of God? People who are different, culturally different, race different (yes, I even brought that up right here on the sidewalk)—what we add to our faith that others have to deal with so “I’d” accept then into God’s family, so they can be a part of the saved community? This is the question that is presented to us from this text on the sidewalk right here in the Hill. I briefly explained the Jew-Gentile thing happening in the background of the text—explained how the Jewish believer had to give up circumcision as the defining marker that set the Jew apart from the Gentile; and, the Gentile also had to give up something, namely the defining mark of being a Gentile, namely an idol-worshipper (vv. 19-20). That’s the text. I pointed out some of the modern idols we have and then explained how having such idols in our lives not only keeps us from fulling loving and serving God as we should, but also how such idols and all the habits that go with these idols keep us from loving our neighbors (our wives, family, those children, those on the other side of town, and those around us, especially those very different from “me”); and, this also keeps them from knowing all it takes to be saved is simple faith in Jesus Christ. Our idols have added to who is and who isn’t saved. Our idols tend to make us think others need to adopt a certain form or some measure of life that looks like “mine” in order to be saved and a full member of God’s family. Our idols make us add to faith so that we’d be comfortable with them and they’d be acceptable to us. We can keep people away, even causing them to stay away and not seek Jesus or even desire being a part of God’s family. It was incredible how these good folks identified with this reading of the text—some to be sure, is how they’ve felt and have stayed away from church, away from Jesus; some even recognizing their not very accepting of those different from them. We all need to abstain from idol-worship. After the service, I prayed with one of the street guys, whose cancer has returned. Talked to a few guys whose close friend had relapsed back into drug abuse and had stolen from them. During my sermon, when I used an example of a married couple that the man wasn’t loving his wife as he should because of an idol or idols in his life, one of the men (I could see this right in front of me) reached out and took his wife’s hand. After the service, he came up to me, shook my hand and said “thank you.” God is, indeed doing some amazing work in the lives of these forgotten, marginalized, strange, seemingly hopeless, messy folks. It was a good morning. And, yes, I am a bit tired. But better than last week for sure. Getting better. Slowly my energy is coming back. God is good! *Five weeks ago I had open heart surgery to repair and replace a calcified aortic bicuspid value. Been recuperating and gaining my strength back.
 On Saturday mornings, God shows up right here on the sidewalk in front of our Hill apartment. Over the years of being here in the Hill, both our church and, as well, Lisa and I (especially since we moved into the Hill) have encountered the homeless population. Sometimes on a Sunday morning, every year at our Park BBQ ministry, and now, almost every Saturday at the Sidewalk Breakfast and Sidewalk Church Service. Are the elect not also among the homeless? Is there not an obligation to make church available, accessible, and welcoming to the homeless? While so many things break and burden my heart in this ministry, the presence of the homeless grieves me, perplexes me, and humbles me. Over the past four months or so, we have come to know one of the local homeless. He collects bottles (a few of us save them for him). I encouraged him to start coming to our Saturday Breakfast and, perhaps, even to stay for the sidewalk church service. So he did. And, has been. Regularly. In fact, he’d bring one or two of his homeless friends (pretty much every Saturday), encouraging them, “We’re staying for the Church Service, too.” We have had, regularly, the homeless breakdown and cry, even a few times falling to their knees with their arms stretched out. We pray for them, comfort them. They’re just so grateful for the food and broken because they know they need God desperately. This man, the one who brings people, was missing a few Saturdays. When he showed back up, he assured me he was alright, but had been in the hospital. “Well, actually, the police brought me to the hospital,” he said. “Why did they do that?” “They arrested me for fighting, but instead of jail, they brought me to Yale—New Haven Hospital.” He was in a bad way, he explained. “But, I’m good now.” In fact, he was so proud to tell me: “Pastor, look at me. I’m clean. My teeth are brushed. My clothes are clean. I’m taking showers. I am good now.” My heart was so glad. He hasn’t stopped coming for Breakfast and participates in our Sidewalk Church Service—and has been bringing his homeless friends. Another regular gentleman also brings friends and many times his homeless friends to the breakfast and service. This week he brought a young lady (probably in her 30s). When we served her the food, she broke down and cried—she was so grateful. Drug use had ruined her teeth. In fact, she had told us she had a lot of teeth just removed. Ashen and thin—and being subject to the nightly elements doesn’t bring rest and renewed strength. This was very evident. She just cried and cried and said thank you, thank you, thank you. During the Church Service, she broke down, crying through most of it. Afterward, she came up to me to thank me again, still tears flowing. I told he, “We are glad you came today. Life has been pretty rough for you. Please come back. Come be a part of what God is doing here on this sidewalk. Let’s learn about Jesus. He is here for you. He will forgive you. Doesn’t mean everything will get better, but you will get better. Jesus will change you and help you, but most of all, he’ll give you a new family, this church family. This is where Jesus will give you strength, encouragement, people to cry with you—and eventually, people for you to cry with.” The thank yous kept coming. She said she plans on coming back. Are not the elect among the homeless? God showed up this past Saturday.
Got 6 minutes and ten seconds? Finally . . . our 2020 CPC in The Hill Park BBQ video . . . we are so thankful for all who made this ministry possible this summer . . . ➥ CPC New Haven Life Groups ➥Our Volunteers from our Lutheran church family sisters and brothers ➥Our many supporters who gave out of their own resources to help with the costs ➥Our own CPC in The Hill church family, the Life Groups ➥Our sister church, CPC Milford ➥And . . . so many others and especially our Trowbridge Square Park friends and neighbors. |
Wasted Blogger, Chip M. AndersonI am the pastor and church planter for Christ Presbyterian Church in The Hill; a flawed practitioner of Wasted Evangelism. I am learning about Wasted Evangelism through my experience in The Hill and through the good people of CPC in The Hill. Archives
April 2024
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