Dear Sirs:

I wish I had written it. The letter by S.R. Klassen was correct “If we want to be known as a Christian community, all of us need to join the ranks of those who are doing what Jesus actually told us to do. Let’s start meeting the needs of those in Abbotsford who have the least. While the needs of the least of these in our community are so wholly unmet, how dare we even begin to take a moral stand?”

One can only feel that someone is sending a message when you consider that on the day S.R. Klassen’s letter appeared in the Abbotsford News, on the front page of the Vancouver Sun was the story of First United Church at East Hastings and Main in Vancouver. A church that ran a deficit of $260,000 last year and is headed for the same level of deficit this year, all so that it may provide safe shelter for sleeping to those homeless who need it.

I hope that enough practicing Christians read story of First United and respond to the appeal so that First United Church can continue to provide shelter to meet the needs of the least of those in its community. I also hope that the lesson embodied in the parable of First United inspires more of the “christian community” in Abbotsford chooses to start practicing their faith instead of merely paying lip service to it.