Over lunch at the Salvation Army the other day we pondered the question of whether we were already dead? Debated and discussed the philosophical implications on a personal, metaphysical and nature of the universe/reality level.

If we are dead: is this purgatory? Is this hell … eternal hell?

We leaned toward the philosophical argument casting Abbotsford as Purgatory, although one can argue that eternal homelessness in Abbotsford would be Hell. We built a stream of consciousness out of conceptual reasoning supporting Abbotsford as Purgatory.

A wealthy community with many Christian churches. A community possessed of all the resources of Abbotsford, inhabited by people professing to follow the loving teachings of Christ. Viewed in this perspective Abbotsford should be the promised land for the homeless. A loving community to come together and possessing the resources to end homelessness on its streets and to support the homeless in their journeys of recovery to reclaim their lives.

The reality is that all the fine words remain just that – words. The resources that would allow the homeless to recover and grow are denied; hoarded or used to buy more things, fancier things, rather than invested in people in need.

So the homeless struggle through their days, surrounded by what would save them from life on the streets, but denied this salvation. In the short term – Purgatory; in the long term – Hell.

Or perhaps, just perhaps, the truth is that this is Purgatory, not for the homeless, but for those of possessions and wealth and fine words. A final chance to come to understand and live the words they so glibly use and upbraid others with. A final opportunity to live their faith, rather than continuing their pharisaism.

A knotty enigma to reflect upon during this Season celebrating Christs life, with its message of love, hope, rebirth and renewal.

… that the church groups who serve lunch to the homeless on Sundays during the noon hour are both congregations without their own church building? Hillside, the group that serves on the first Sunday of the month, meets in a school and the Open Door who cover the other 40 Sundays meet at Bethel Reformed. As an aside, I would like to tip my hat to Bethel Reformed for their generosity of spirit, for this is not the only group from the community they make their church available to.

I posed this question to Pastor Cristoph Reiners from Peace Lutheran Church who I met through a friend. His reply was thoughtful (read
writings of his at (www.plc-abby.org) and had me thinking that the City would benefit spiritually if his thoughtful writing could be shared more with Abbotsford’s citizens.

Today is the first Sunday of the month and the good folks from Hillside were there with a hearty pasta/spaghetti meal and a larger coffee urn they had acquired because of the demand for coffee by the homeless – especially as the weather gets wet and cold. They also brought HOME-BAKED cookies!

I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a member of this group about the difficultly I am having in finding suitable housing, when the conversation turned to the August long weekend. I had written about Hillside not being there on that weekend and it was not until the labour day long weekend I had found out they had indeed passed along the fact they would not be there that August Sunday and apologized for my misjudgment. Those they told failed to either make other arrangements or to tell anyone that Hillside would not be there.

I explained this misunderstanding to my friend, again verbally apologizing, then decided this is one of those situations where as a child learning proper manners and conduct my parents would have required I sent a written not of apology. I felt this needed a written public apology as amends. I extend sincere apologies and a big thank you. The members of Hillside should know that the homeless look forward with great anticipation (and drooling) to the meals.

There were two other points of interest that emerged from this conversation I want to bring forward for consideration.

The first was that this ongoing serving of meals grew out of looking for a Love Abbotsford project. Instead of joining all the other churches in overwhelming the hungry with food for one day, they chose to serve an ongoing need for food on Sunday. It is unfortunate that other churches did not follow this example, but perhaps that is related to the second point.

The second point arose when we were speaking of an offer to meet some small specific needs. This underscored the need I see for a place that those interested in being part of ending homelessness can go to offer/do what they can. My friend used the image from a recent piece of mine – that of individual drops of rain wearing away the mountain of homelessness. What we need is a place the drops can to pool together and be directed to wearing the mountain at its softest points.

Two congregations without church buildings; Peace Lutheran a small church that has offered to help in the small ways they can …

The other part of the question I posed to Pastor Reiners was: what is it that causes congregations as they grow large in size to invest in bigger buildings and more pastors, rather than in the people in need in their community.

Bringing forth the thought: at what point does an ever bigger, an ever fancier, ever more costly building become a graven image?