A few years ago, I was on the south bank in London, near Waterloo station, and I got talking with a homeless man called Richard who had approached me asking for money.
He was in a bad state. As we spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and then his trousers, to show me the most terrible open wounds on his arms and legs that I have ever seen. Richard was a drug addict and his wounds were caused by injecting sites which had got seriously infected.
Resigned
I told him what he already knew: these wounds were so serious they were life-threatening. I urged him to go to the nearby St Thomas’ Hospital and offered to go with him, but he was not interested. He seemed resigned to his fate.
But, even after he knew I would not give him any money, he did want to talk. And he proceeded to tell me about his family background and the abuse he experienced which had triggered his life falling apart, and his descent onto the street.
Forgiveness
Quite out of the blue, he asked me starkly:
‘How do I find forgiveness?’
I explained what I believe about God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus, which is available for everyone, whatever they had done and whatever the situation. And then he asked me to pray for him.
So sitting on a wall by a busy pavement, I prayed the Lord’s Prayer with him.
“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”
‘The right words’
After I finished the prayer, Richard mumbled Amen. But then there was a further request: he asked me to write down the words of the prayer for him, as he put “so I have the right words to say”.
I ripped a page out of my notebook and wrote down this ancient prayer in block capitals as neatly as I could. I handed it to Richard and he folded it, put it in his pocket. We shook hands, said goodbye and he shuffled off.
Spiritual needs
I don’t know what happened to Richard. If I am honest, I don’t know how much longer he had to live because he was in a terrible state. But I’ll never forget that conversation.
What struck me forcibly was that as well as obvious physical and medical needs, Richard had clear spiritual needs. He was seeking a deeper form of restoration which social and health services alone could not provide.
He was seeking grace – something which could bring him consolation and forgiveness in his overwhelming grief and pain.
Conviction
A few months later I joined the West London Mission, which ran both a day centre and a registered care home for people just like Richard. And the encounter influenced my conviction ever since to integrate the practical and spiritual aspects of care and to resist the secularising trajectory of so much social action.
It was this belief that took me to work for Hope into Action where we overtly want to embody both professional excellence and spiritual passion in everything we do as we work with churches to house people who have been homeless.
Last week
And just last week, I was reminded again of the importance of this at the community meal we run at my church each Wednesday called The Vine.
It was a busy evening. Some volunteers got held up and were late, the oven was not heating up properly, the meal was delayed and there were a few hassles to deal with. And towards the end of the evening, a man came in (I’ll call him Tony) who we know well but who we have not seen for ages.
Heaviness
Tony loitered at the entrance, looking a bit embarrassed and apologetic. We welcomed him in and served him one of the last meals.
As we sat together, he explained some of the health and relationships difficulties he was facing. You could sense the heaviness of what he was dealing with, so as he finished eating I offered to pray for him and he readily accepted.
‘It’s about grace’
Tony explained he not come recently because “I have been working and I know this meal is just for people with no money.”
I said to him that we never state who can or can’t come to the meal – it’s for anyone who wants to come. I said to him, ‘It’s about grace’ and I instinctively put my hand on his shoulder. And when I did this, it seemed to release something within him, and in that crowded room, he started crying.
And as we sat there, I prayed for him in dealing with all he was facing. And after that he put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for me.
Spiritual food
I was so glad that our church community can offer a hot meal and a warm welcome to people like Tony. It’s a practical expression of grace.
But too often in social action, the practical obscures the prayerful. Our nervousness or reticence easily allow Christian social action to secularise.
As well as real food, the church needs to offer people spiritual food as well. After all, that’s our main job. As Ann Morisy wrote in Beyond the Good Samaritan (1997):
“People have spiritual needs, and if churches do not help people address these needs then few other agencies will. Churches have often been duped by our deeply secular culture into providing welfare for those in need without being clear about how this helps the Church fulfil its primary task. There are other agencies which provide care for those in need, but no other agency other than churches has the task of helping people do business with God.”
Last year, 60% of Hope into Action’s tenants wanted to be prayed for and 14 took the step of being baptised. All are welcome at our national conference on 20th May in Milton Keynes.
Next week, I am facilitating a seminar at the ChurchWorks Summit titled Semi-skimmed beliefs or Full Fat Faith: Investing in your Christian Distinctiveness.
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