Homeless in Boulder in a Cold Winter

What is it like to be homeless in the affluent, sophisticated, and spiritually dark town of Boulder, Colorado? Having observed something of this today, I am musing on it.

After finding that my good friend, Pastor Doug White (a church planter) was preaching at "The Lamb's Lunch" at the First Presbyterian Church Annex in Boulder, I drove there at the last minute to see him in action and be supportive in prayer and in person. "The Lamb's Lunch" is a free meal offered to homeless people each Saturday afternoon.

About a hundred souls filled the room, drinking coffee and eating snacks before the full meal was served. Several folks were supplying everyone with name tags while a pretty, middle-aged blonde woman sang both John Denver and gospel songs, accompanying herself on guitar. "A tough crowd" does not quite capture it. It is a unique crowd, one that most of us don't rub shoulders with (or smell) very often. "The homeless" as a category of society, a social problem, is one thing. Being with the homeless, praying for them, or preaching to them is something else entirely--something of the Kingdom of God.

Men probably outnumbered women by about four to one. There were people in their twenties and much older ones as well. How many homeless people reach elderly status is unknown to me, but I'm sure their numbers are vanishingly small. They vanish before then. They were all bundled up and most did not take off their coats, scarves, and hats. Most of their lives are outside in the elements, and the outside has been extremely cold this season in the Denver and Boulder area. Having their warm clothes on is the norm, not the exception. If you get grouchy when it is unseasonably and perpetually cold, imagine (I mean really imagine it; think through it) what it would be like if you lived on the street: when staying warm--even staying alive--is a skill never formally taught, but necessary to learn.

Some were obviously drunk, as one African American who enthusiastically endorsed Doug White's preaching with "amens" and other slurred comments. Most looked haggard, that particular homeless look of the withered face, nearly vacant eyes, and unkempt hair. But not all looked thus. Some seemed alert: talking, laughing, walking about briskly. Each person is unique. As Kierkegaard said, the individual is a higher category than the universal (existentially conceived).

Pastor White spoke a few words through the microphone to rally attention, then abandoned it, relying on his unamplified voice and dynamic presentation, which had been soaked in prayer. He reviewed his previous two sermons here, asking if folks remembered. Some did--not a bad quiz score for this assembly. He then spoke on Jesus eating with and accepting tax collectors and sinners. Jesus is accessible; Jesus accepts the outcasts; Jesus wants to be in a living relationship with you. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Several in the audience added comments (some quoted Scriptures) and raised their hands when Doug asked for responses. No one heckled. The Pastor's message probably only lasted about ten minutes, but the truth of Jesus' grace was preached. I prayed for Doug and his congregation, before, during, and after the event, hoping the message could penetrate the souls of these creatures made in God's image, these pariahs in the sight of most "normal" people.

After the message, Pastor White greeted everyone in line for food, smiling (as he nearly always does, but genuinely) and saying encouraging things to people one-on-one. Doug and his wife Lesa (who also attended) know many of these folks through the Wednesday night meal they offer at New Day Covenant Church in Boulder. The singer I mentioned above was going to take the microphone and continue to sing, but "Reverend Friendly" (an older homeless fixture in Boulder) took it for himself and mumbled a few things about one universal God. Then an inebriated man took the microphone and said a few things that sounded like Bible passages. After this unplanned upsurge of homilectical improvisation, the microphone was returned to the singer as people got their food and found their seats. How often do they even have seats to sit on, let along beds to sleep on? The singer sang "Amazing Grace," which compensated for the previous John Denver songs. (If you read this, I wanted to thank you for serving and loving these people through singing, but I wasn't able to do so.)

I also saw a man roving about with a video recorder, pointing it in people's faces and asking them questions. I cannot give more detail than this. Perhaps this footage will become a video shown in a church about "the homeless" in Boulder. It would be better for people to be there. We are already so inured to video, so anaesthetized and lobotomized by it overall. Perhaps a homeless man in Boulder will appear on "YouTude." Then what?

Pastor White exhorts and ministers to this group once a month. He tells me that the ministry cannot find anyone else to do so the other three weeks of the month. Think about that. No pastor from the sponsoring church and no other pastor in Boulder is available to speak to the last, the least, and the lost--the very kind of people that Jesus so often talked with, healed, prayed with, and gave himself for. Boulder is rich in scenic beauty; real estate prices are through the ceiling; it sports a major university. But what is the measure of Boulder with respect to "the least of these, my brethren," as Jesus said?

Ministry at "The Lamb's Lunch" or to the homeless in other settings does not have "high returns" in a worldly sense. They are not model citizens. You would not want to go on vacation with them (the definition that Bill Hybels gave for the kind of people who should be recuited for a seeker-friendly church). If converted, they wouldn't be heavy givers to the church (they would be heavy takers); they smell bad quite often. They may be incoherent at worst. Yet with God all things are possible; the lost can be found; the blind can see. And the worldly rich are sent empty away...

God bless Pastor Doug White and those who served the poor at "Lamb's Lunch" today in affluent Boulder, Colorado. May their numbers increase; may their ability to communicate truth in love increase, even as the numbers of those without physical and spiritual homes decrease.