Cooking With the Fallen One's
"Cooking With the Fallen Ones!"
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????????"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels, with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come you who are blessed by my Father and Mother; in inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
??? 'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you? clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give me something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothes? When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?'
And then the King will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"And they will go away into eternal punishment, but for the righteous into eternal life."
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????For the past nearly thirty years, I have been "cooking" with the "fallen ones" in San Francisco beginning on Polk/Haight, and other areas where our unhoused friends are pushed to,? "meals," of food and always "proceeding forward" in "love." Giving everything for love is the true religion of love madness, surrendering everything to the love of God; following the example of Jesus, "who was lost in love of God in the River of Divine love for all of creation."(Rumni)
??? The ones I serve are never noticed, and seen as "losers"; they are the broken body of Christ. People walk by, never seeing the one in front of them.
??? There is a film I remember vividly seeing many years ago about a small boy who learned to walk on his hands instead of his feet. It is a story about the pressures toward conformity in our society. He first learned to walk on his hands. The little boy's strange behavior had the most amazing results for him. Walking on his hands gave him a radically different perspective on the world. He could smell the flowers without bending down. . He was so close to the earth that he would see vividly the beauty of grass, and he met the butterfly eyeball to eyeball as it skimmed along the ground. But his parents were deeply distressed. Their beautiful child was a misfit! As a result, they took him first to a medical doctor, then to a psychiatrist, and then to a social worker. All of the newest theories were employed to change the little boy's behavior. Gradually he was made to learn to walk with all other humans--on his feet. The parents were relieved; the doctors, the social workers, and others who had helped were proud of their success. But now the little boy began to see the world as others saw it: dirty, ugly, polluted, and filled with persons obediently doing what was expected of them. The short-lived posture that had enabled him to appreciate more easily the beauty of the world was eliminated. Now he was like everyone.
??? Mental illness results in not being able to live in a certain environment, the environment of the accepted culture. For example, I remember growing up in a conservative environment where my whole life was surrounded by a way of living that was harmful towards me and others; if I had remained the questions remain: would I be racist, and still in the closet? It is scary!
??? Te-Netsi Coates comments: "The streets transform every ordinary day into a series of trick questions and every incorrect answer risks a beat down, a shooting or a pregnancy, none survive unscathed."
??? Psychiatrists and counselors often diagnose youth especially older homeless as "feral", meaning "a wild person, outside of the culture."
They find it difficult to live within the culture of the majority.
??? I have had the honor to be diagnosed as "feral" when I came off the streets, and in many eyes today still am. So I am proud to be called "feral" today, for me it symbolizes following the "Wild Goose", the Holy Spirit. The streets changed me in so many ways, and one way it led me back to walking with the "Fallen Ones".
??? Bonhoeffer tells us never to hold human beings in contempt of who they are, and what they do but as "loving children of God."We must be image-bearers of God!
??? Greg in our photo, was born of parents who lived on the street, the streets are all that he knows, and earns money by selling little images of comic figures made with newspaper, shellacked over. It is nearly impossible for him to conform to an environment outside of the street.
??? Seeing people on the street, and how each one is treated brings to mind the "Slaughter of Innocents"(Matthew 2:13-23). They are pushed aside cruelly. I see the Divine within each of us, the Divine that calls us to treat others as we want to be treated.
??? Sunday was the "World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation" and my observation is the way we treat others is the way we create our natural environment. I was led to become a vegan because many of my Haight Street kids expressed the harm to our environment and to animals that result from eating meat. I remember in my first years in San Francisco, seeing robins and blue jays, but not now. A fifteen-year-old said to me: "We are like our birds and animals, humanity do not give a d'. .m about us," and in many ways that is true. Life and our natural world are beautiful, and some days often think how glad I am for my life shortening because I will not see more pain and destruction.
??? Tomorrow, September 4, I am standing in front of City Hall displaying a sign:
"Homeless People Are Made in God's Image!
Come and Serve in the Desert of Compassion!"
Come and join me in front of City Hall, taking a step into the Desert of Compassion, and saying loud and clear with your presence:
Life is Beautiful!" Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
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May we become "Story Catchers" and:
May the work of
“figuring people out”
Never replace the work of knowing people
And loving people
And giving them room
To confound
And inspire
And surprise me
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Dr. River Sims, D.Min, D.S.T.
Prayer:
Jesus of Nazareth
You were born in the home of people
Whose names history has forgotten.
Presumably, they lent clothes and clothes
To your internally displaced parents.
We bless and honor all
Who show hospitality
They make the message of belonging
Relevant for everyday
People in shelters, refuges,
People in the welcome centers at prisons,
In the waiting rooms of health centers.
People on the streets whose door is always open
For the neighbor who needs a tea and hospitality.
We bless and honor them.
We bless and honor them.
Because this is where? you are
And are every day.
And you
Bless and honor them
The ones who give and the ones who receive.
Amen.
May the work of
“figuring people out”
Never replace the work of knowing people
And loving people
And giving them room
To confound
And inspire
And surprise me. Amen.
#spirituality; #gay;homelessness#poverty