This was my first experience serving the homeless, and I will never forget it. It was something I had always wanted to do, but I had never voiced the desire... and now the opportunity dropped right into my lap, accompanied by a bevy of friends.
We started the afternoon in his church kitchen, surrounded by chicken, corn on the cob, water bottles and Ziploc bags. I don't remember everything we prepared, but it was quite a feast, and I remember feeling hungry. We were going to wait until everyone else was served to eat. I remember Nick explaining to us that the homeless care about quality just as much as the rest of us... even though they can't afford to be picky, a dry baloney and cheese sandwich is still unappealing, and a full-course hot meal is love.
We packed everything up and headed out to the streets of Harrisburg. The sleeping bags lying between the bank and well-to-do shoppe on Cameron street were new to me... I had been ignorant of what homelessness looked like before this day, but never again would I miss the signs. We set up our buffet line in a large alley between the buildings, and a crowd of about 20 gathered from seemingly nowhere. I wondered how they knew we were coming.
Before arriving, Nick had coached us very clearly: "The most important thing is to treat them like they're human. Just look them in the eye, give them respect... they don't get that from most people." So I did. After everyone was served, I walked around and passed out water bottles, giving each a smile and sharing a few words if they were open to conversation. I enjoyed talking with them and could sense their gratitude; by treating them like real, valuable people, we gave them a type of spiritual food which could not be satisfied by a physical meal.
One man asked me about the "Tales of the Kingdom" shirt that I was wearing. I told him it was a shirt from a dance that I had performed in about the parables of Jesus and the love of Christ. He asked about this love - he seemed to know some things about it, and guessed that it was the reason I was there, which I confirmed. But he was confused, because he was only familiar with love as a relationship between a man and a woman. I told him that there was another type of love, a fatherly and brotherly love, that compelled Jesus and myself to serve him. It was a conversation I will never forget, and I wish I could have explained the gospel more fully to him, but I hope that I planted a seed.
Another man imprinted on my memory was old, eccentric, and very angry. He was angry because he believed that all homeless people were lazy, and he could not understand why we were helping them. He was homeless himself, but continued to berate everyone there and the workers who were with us, saying that we were wasting our time, that all homeless people were worthless and unwilling to work, and that we were stupid for being there. I went up to him very boldly and put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down (a move that my friends told me afterward was very crazy, but possibly spirit-inspired) and told him that we were there because of Jesus. I do not remember what else I said, but I do remember him asking me very gruffly to take my hands off of him. I complied.
I will always be grateful to Nick for this first opportunity to serve and meet the homeless face-to-face. They were so beautiful, and so loved. I saw so many different people: young and old, black and white, couples, babies, the mentally stable and unstable, those open to love and those closed to it. I knew some had been on the streets only a short while, and that some were planning to stay a while more... and I knew that each and every one of them was a valuable human being, with no more flaws than the rest of us, impacted by the love of Christ that we brought to them. Thank you Nick, and thank you Christ, for allowing me this experience. My burden of love continues to grow.
~The Mandarin
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