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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in BarnesWinter2011
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Pastoral Letter As I write this the Churches Together Group along with local volunteers are preparing for the night shelter to start its winter work: offering hospitality and shelter to those homeless within our community. Due to the previous demand on this service and the dramatic rise of homelessness over the last year the West London Churches Homeless Concern, who organise the shelter, have expanded the number of venues so that they can double their capacity. I have mixed emotions about this. I am pleased on the one hand that churches and communities working together across West London are ready and able to meet the growing need. On the other hand I am deeply saddened and disturbed that this work is necessary at all. Until this year homelessness across the UK was declining steadily since its peak in 2003 [1], alarmingly this last year has seen an increase of 17% and rising. Predictions are that the worst is yet to come. Many organisations consider this rise to be the direct result of the coalition government’s dismantling of the buffers against poverty and unemployment. Other contributing factors contained in the well-documented increasing gap between UK’s rich and poor might also be cited. However I am reminded that this is not a political but a pastoral piece. It is not the purpose of this letter to explore responsibility for the rise in homelessness, tempting as that is, but to reflect on its pastoral significance for us all.  Considering
this I recall that in previous issues we have recognised the importance
of relationship and how that is played out in families, across
communities and ultimately through our relationship with God as
Trinity. Language and stigma sometimes make it possible, if not
easy, to consider people who live outside our ‘social norms’, such as
those who find themselves homeless, as ‘other’; unconnected and
detached from the world and communities we ourselves inhabit. Christmas
however reminds us that God chose to enter the world alongside the
homeless. Through no fault of their own Mary and Joseph found
themselves destitute and in urgent need of the hospitality of
strangers. Consequently Jesus was born in ‘the squalor of a borrowed
stable’[2]; no home, no bed, just an animal trough for comfort and the
blanket of Bethlehem’s night sky. This sets the tone for Jesus’
entire ministry. In the Christmas story we begin our relationship with
a God who is revealed to us in a child born at the margins of human
community. Jesus continues to echo these humble beginnings as, in
life, he identifies with and ministers to those on the fringes of
society and, in death, is excluded and cast outside the city to be
crucified. Through the birth, life and death of Jesus God doesn’t
just make a place for the ‘other’ within society, he brings them centre
stage and shines a spotlight on their profound relevance to his
kingdom. Through this we become aware that in God’s created order
we do not live independently of those who feel ‘on the margins’ but
rather our wellbeing is intimately connected. We are in relationship
with God who calls us too to walk alongside and embrace those in
need. If our society is broken and people within our
communities are suffering the kinds of hardships such as those that
lead to dramatic increases in homelessness then we ourselves are
broken. Poverty and Homelessness Action Week, which takes place from
28th January to 5th February and is supported by a coalition of
Christian denominations and organisations, recognises that there are
barriers inherit in our society that prevent us being ‘one’ and
perpetuate our brokenness. This year it takes as its theme ‘Breaking
Barriers’ and invites us to consider how we can work together to break
the barriers that trap people in poverty and homelessness. It is
not my place, nor my intention, to promote a particular party political
perspective but I do commend engaging with the issues that are causing
our brothers and sisters such great distress this winter. Through
the Christmas story we see afresh that God in Christ is with them and
for our own part we remember Jesus’ teaching found in Matthew 25.31-46
‘…just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my
family, you did it to me’. May God fill us with spirit as we seek to make known his kingdom. I leave you with a prayer from the Poverty and Homelessness Action Week team: Father, we thank you that Jesus came to break down barriers. He did not see the migrant or the settled, the housed or the homeless, the employed or the unemployed; He saw and loved the person. Forgive us when we put up barriers between ourselves and others; help us show love to all without constraint. Help us, your church, to build communities without barriers, where all are valued because all are made in your image. In Jesus’ name, Amen Yours in Christ, Nicola Morrison (For more information on Breaking Barriers please go to: http://www.actionweek.org.uk) [1] Department of Communities & Local Government [2] Graham Kendrick (Hymn: From the squalor of a borrowed stable)
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