From Don Fornoff, Bishop’s Task Force on Homelessness:
As we all look to next week’s day of Thanksgiving, let us all be thankful for opportunities to engage with and serve our unhoused neighbors. If not having already done so, have our parish outreach groups made sure the homeless folks we have been helping are included in our feeding plans? Remember, the food doesn’t just nourish the body; it also brings our neighbors into community as valued neighbors.
While doing so, here is a prayer for those we serve as we go forward.
Gracious God:
Hear our prayer today for all women and men, boys and girls who are homeless this day.
For those sleeping under bridges, on park benches, in doorways or bus stations.
For those who can only find shelter for the night but must wander in the daytime.
For families broken because they could not afford to pay the rent.
For those who have no relatives or friends who can take them in.
For those who have no place to keep possessions that remind them who they are.
For those who are afraid and hopeless.
For those who have been betrayed by our social safety net.
For all those people, we pray that we will find ways to provide shelter, security and hope.
Jesus, help us to see your face in the eyes of every homeless person we meet so that we may be empowered through word and deed, and through the political means we have, to bring justice and peace to those who are homeless. AMEN.
For each of us who do attempt the work of serving the poor, I would be remiss if I didn’t give you a strengthening prayer, by Alan Paton.
FOR COURAGE TO DO JUSTICE
‘O Lord, open my eyes so that I may see the needs of others. Open my ears that I may hear their cries; Open my heart so that they need not be without succor; Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong, nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich. Show me where love and hope and faith are needed and use me to bring them to those places. And so open my eyes and my ears that I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.’
As we come together to give thanks for the gathering and for what we have individually and what we have together, think ahead to these seven strengths about housing, as defined by the Lived-Experience Coalition, so that we may work off it to better serve the unhoused.
- Security of tenure
- Availability of services, material and infrastructure
- Affordability
- Habitability
- Accessibility
- Location
- Cultural Adequacy
Be well, do good works, love one another,
Don Fornoff, on behalf of the Taskforce
*for whom I am grateful to all 30+ folks who have provided support for the mission and to each other, and for feedback, comments and energy throughout the year.
