Social Impact Theme: Homelessness

On Thursday 9th November, the annual service at St Martin-in-the-Fields commemorates the 100+ people who have been homeless who have died on London's streets in the last year. The art in the centre of the cross says 'Here I am Homeless/ I am not moving'.

I'm going to tell you how St Martin's, overlooking London's Trafalgar Square, got involved with homelessness and known as the 'Church of the Open Door'. It began with Revd Dick Sheppard's opening St M's doors to soldiers coming back in World War I from the Front to Charing Cross Station, and of course to other homeless people.

In Dick's induction sermon given to eleven people gathered at St Martin's on a cold November day in 1914, he said

...there may be some one of you probably who has little to offer, who is thinking..."Have I anything to offer?" To you most of all, I would say that you have wonderful things to offer.

Before Dick's return from Flanders he had a vision of what St Martin's could be:

I stood on the west steps, and saw what this Church would be to the life of the people....I saw it full of people,...never dark...often tired bits of humanity swept in...And I said to them as they passed: "Where are you going?" ...They spoke to me two words only, one was the word "home" and the other was "love".

Dick's vision became reality from 1914 to 1926, with St Martin's overflowing, people queueing up to the Coliseum on St Martin's Lane to get in. Dick at St Martin's did the BBC's first full religious service broadcast in 1924, ending his 1925 Christmas Broadcast with a 'Vicar's Appeal', starting the almost 100 year tradition of the Radio 4 BBC Christmas Appeal. The funds go to organisations like the Connection at St Martin's in central London and others across the UK, working in local communities to support people facing homelessness.

How does telling about Dick Sheppard's impact with his message and actions on 'home' and 'love' link to the the 9th November service at St Martin's, the 'I Am' commemoration? The link is we are being present to the lives of others, we are hearing their 'I Am'. In the service, we hear the 'I Am' names of the 100+ people who have been homeless who have died in the last year.

We also hear stories of some of the people by those who knew them.

• Reginald Walker, 'Reggie's tribute by Tilly Abu-Hableh of The Connection at St Martin's tells us of his death aged 31, and that he was known at The Connection as a baby when there was a mother and baby unit. "Homelessness didn't define him, he lived life on his own terms, underneath funny and loyal, always felt safe with him. He rebuilt a relationship with his mother, brothers and sisters. Reggie transitioned into a flat, the week before he died. He said to us, 'Thanks for everything.'"
• Esther Rosenblatt's tribute by her colleague, Nathan Rosier of The People's Recovery Project, painted a vivid picture of her as a funny, anarchic, tattooed, trainers-wearing woman who didn't hide where she came from. She didn't hide her challenges and kept working on her own recovery. As a support worker and later leader for service users Esther was a reluctant but inspirational leader. Nathan added, 'she helped me through stress, had an extraordinary ability to know when to reach out. She overcame addictions, homelessness and became a leader. One person whom Esther helped said of her, 'She was a cool lady, kind, helped me out, moved me to the seaside, made my life work.'

Then we hear the sermon by Rt Revd @Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, the Bishop of Willesden, originally from the Republic of the Congo, who reminds us of the Presente Movement, the Latin American way to commemorate those killed by death squads, their loved ones being 'presente' -- present, attentive-- calling out the names of the dead. 'Here I Am is the suggestion that all want to be all in....Here I Am, Presente is a lament, a protest against the present time and a promise of future, a new order of the world. ... Lament and hope are twin sisters walking together hand in hand...It's a fellowship of the unlikely, each given a name. Each of us named. Called from anonymity to wholeness.'

The art by a homeless man sits smack dab in the middle of the cross of flowers and reads boldly, as if the artist is standing there and saying to the world:

HERE I AM HOMELESS I AM NOT MOVING

We are regaled with the joy of singing by two choirs of people who have been homeless, 'The Choir with No Name' and 'Streetwise Opera'. As we process in the church to the front we hear Gavin Bryars with The Music Group , playing 'Never Failed Me Yet'. Gavin recorded a homeless man singing this song he made up, set it to music and we sing along as we walk in our vigil for the 100 homeless:

'Never failed me yet, never failed me yet,

Jesus' blood never failed me yet,

there's one thing I know,

for he loves me so..

Jesus' blood never failed me yet.

As we walk to collect a card with a person's name to remember throughout the year, I think of how close it is for some people to become homeless, how we have at St Martin's our Sunday International Group for refugees and asylum seekers who have no recourse to public funds, how each Sunday up to 75 of them have a meal, a shower, their clothes washed and a home for an afternoon, guests and hosts in a moveable family. I'm 'presente' attentive to the hundreds in the church, 'presente' to the names on the cards, each of us will receive and remember for the year.

I receive the 'Here I am' card, I read her name, Michelle Baldwin, and I hold it, I say her name, I am 'presente' to her.

As we sit in the church after the service, I am presente to Dick Sheppard who died in 1937, who was a friend and inspiration to so many people. A man of great opposites and extremes, who achieved things and did things others would not attempt, yet saw himself as a failure and was described as "the loneliest man in London". His friend Ellis Roberts wrote:

'Dick was one of the great organisers; he was that rare genius, a man overflowing with ideas, plans and schemes; who could carry them out, and who could inspire others so that they too believed more than they had dreamt, and did more than they believed even in dreams to be possible. Throughout his life he believed that Love was enough - the love of God - and he lived Love.' (Tribute to Dick Sheppard by Kath Lloyd, 20 May 2001. Kath originated the 4 days Pilgrimage from St Martin's to Canterbury we walk every year, the second May Bank Holiday, 'homed and homeless', a community on the move. Join us by contacting @EugeneLing at The Connection at St Martin's.)

There is no silver bullet for homelessness, it's an issue of complex needs. Data from the Ministry of Communities Housing and Local Government shows that for every 10 people sleeping rough in 2010 there are now 12. Dick Sheppard and many others opened doors to churches and other buildings, chipping away at this challenge. I wonder what Dick would be saying if he were in the gallery at St Martin's, looking down on the people there, each one holding an 'I Am Here' card, the homeless and homed, activists and fellow travellers, doers and seekers. Would Dick even admit he had inspired others to follow the words of 'home' and 'love'? Just remember you too have something to offer, perhaps not to homelessness but to another social impact issue that matters to you:

..there may be some one of you probably who has little to offer, who is thinking..."Have I anything to offer?" To you most of all, I would say that you have wonderful things to offer.