As we walk towards the parking structure, smiles start rolling in. First, it’s Steve: “Fight on!” he exclaims, throwing up USC’s peace sign while pressure washing the sidewalk. “Morning, Steve!” the kids yell. Next, it’s Mike, a rough but joyful homeless man: “There’s my favorite family!” We arrive late to Life on the Streets (or “LOTS,” as we call it), but Santa Bob, Jazzie, and Beverly are at our table, eager to make room for the kids to pass out forks, ketchup, and butter. “How was your week?” Santa Bob asks as he gets out the kids’ name tags. “We had a great week, Bob!” the kids respond. And we always have a great week, because every Saturday morning, I take the kids to serve breakfast to the homeless.
“How are you modeling missional service to your children?” This question was posed six weeks into our parenting class, as the teacher discussed how our actions as parents model those of our children. My response was: “I tithe. Sometimes I serve in Sunday School. I’m involved. I don’t have time to serve in the mission field… I have five kids!” The class ended, but the question didn’t go away. It nagged at me. You might now be asking yourself the same question.
Have you ever read “The Last Stop on Market Street”? It’s a beautiful children’s book about a child serving with his grandmother at a soup kitchen every Sunday after church. The child doesn’t want to go, but his grandmother shows him that the world is filled with beauty through the love of people. I read this book to the kids later that week, and the question nagged harder: “How are YOU modeling missional service to your children?”
I didn’t have a satisfactory answer. The only way to model was to do. So, the next Saturday, we went to serve the homeless breakfast.
Growing up, my understanding was that the homeless were THEM: bad, scary, not quite human. Panhandlers taking advantage. Addicts. People who deserved their fate. When my five kids and I first walked up to the homeless breakfast, this is who I thought we were meeting. I was scared. I told the kids to stay close, not to touch anything or anyone, and not to talk to anyone. But as we entered, we realized these people weren’t scary; in fact, they were friendly! They welcomed us to their weekly Saturday morning ritual. We didn’t do much that first morning, but I left with a completely changed view of what spending time with these people meant.
You need to understand: the homeless are wonderful people. Not objects, ideas, or political tools. Just people, like you or me. They smile when seeing their friends. They struggle with their sins. They live in the world. People.
There are different types of homeless, too. The homeless-by-choice. Drug addicts. The elderly, your traditional “widows.” The mentally ill. The down-and-out who have fallen on hard times. While my original perception of the homeless as scary and “other” may be true, experiencing them in person forced me to see them first as people who want to be loved, have needs, and experience joy and sorrow just like you and me.
One week turned into many. The kids are practically celebrities now. When we walk up, Frank (always first in line) turns around from “Circle Time” and smiles huge and waves. Beverly hands the kids a book she found and has been saving all week to give them. We pray with Mike when he asks us to. Last week, he brought the kids a bike he found. Smile after smile after smile.
We now know their names, hundreds of names. We’ve seen triumph and failure. I saw Josh, who had been a regular at LOTS, walking along the street in Costa Mesa and wondered where he’d been. He told me he cleaned up! Has a job and a house and is doing so much better! I almost lost it when I heard it.
The biggest thing for me is that when I first went to LOTS, I thought I’d be doing the “serving.” In a way, we do; we pass out forks and ketchup and give out smiles to everyone we chat with. But in a much bigger way, I’ve been served by being alongside the lowly. They are the nicest people I know, and I live amongst the richest people in the country. While poor in every way imaginable, the homeless are rich. They understand what it is like to wholly rely on God. They understand deeply what community is and how it is a treasure.
The experience of being served while serving comes as no surprise to Christians. Jesus himself taught about this “upside-down” kingdom often in his ministry. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Blessed. When I’m with our friends from 8 to 10 on Saturday mornings, I feel, witness, and experience the blessing. I get a little glimpse of the kingdom.
Graham Wahlberg 