A dog is not just for Christmas...

On Sunday night I stepped out of my own skin for an evening. Our church has a close association with a charity that ministers to homeless people in Brighton. One of the ways in which they provide care is by going out on the streets and distributing sandwiches and hot drinks, so on Sunday evening Rach & I joined them.

I learned a lot in just a few hours. The homeless people we met were polite, grateful, proud, protective of each other, chatty and friendly. I was told to make contact, to make physical contact with each one - because physical contact is something they have the very least of. I was pleased to; pleased to be able to take off my gloves and shake each one by the hand, give them my name and learn theirs.

I, like many others have so often ignored homeless people. I have deliberately closed my eyes to them - ignoring requests for a small amount of change, not even having the courtesy of acknowledging their presence and saying, "sorry, but no." Too many times have I justified that by telling myself that I have barely nough money myself or that, "he'll only go and spend it on drugs or booze." Whatever gave me the right to make that kind of hypocritical judgement? What was I going to do with my money?

Although I have spoken to a few homeless people in the past and I've given some small change (even if merely out of guilt or conscience), I've never gone onto the streets of a city with the specific intention of meeting with them and giving up something of my life to (hopefully) make their situation a little better. Of course it was eye-opening. I'm a suburban, middle-class man living in a suburban middle-class corner of a largely suburban middle-class country. I have food, central heating, clothes, a bathroom etc. Seeing lives so different, I've begun to learn a new perspective.

One thing really stuck with me. One young man was telling me what his Christmas had been like. On Christmas Eve a man in a Mercedes had driven up to him and given him some food, cakes and the like. Then he'd gone away and come back, and again. He gave this young, homeless man so much, he'd had to give it away. Whatever the background, the man in the Mercedes cared about the plight of the homeless man, and shown him (& by default, others) some of that Christmas Spirit I harped on about last month. I hope he goes back and does it again. I hope he takes that Christmas Spirit and remembers that, like the dog, its not just for Christmas. Its a gift that should last every day.

I thank all the people I met on Sunday night, for what they all taught me in only a few hours and I commend all those people who commit to helping them.

I'll be going back to the streets again.