Meet Under There

Under There at Under The Overpasses ministers to the homeless who live under an overpass on the wrong side of town. Here's an excerpt from his latest post:

It is my firm conviction that it borders on the blasphemous to use human services as a carrot or a stick for faith. We have our share of atheists and adherents to other religions who stay there. I better not ever find out that they have been treated with anything but equal dignity and respect. I believe our actions present more about the authenticity of the Good News than we can ever say. It is often a delicate balance. We want to invite people to God’s banquet like Jesus did. We never want anyone to feel that they are unworthy or excluded from the grace of God enacted in Jesus Christ. Thank God that Christianity is not some exclusive club. My membership card would have gotten lost in the mail for sure. However, at the same time, we never want to shove it down someone’s throat. Like everything else offered at my shelter, the good news is always freely available, but never mandatory. I meet so many people who have suffered at the hands of people who practiced that type of “evangelism.” The scars still run deep and the stench of religious insanity still lingers whenever Jesus is mentioned. My heart hurts for them and it makes me angry when I think of how someone turned God’s invitation to the community of life and the things that affirm life into something so deadly. It may grieve the Holy Spirit, but it makes me want to kick some terrorizing evangelist in the nuts for making a mockery of it all. I frequently encounter people who have visited other shelters where that type external pressure to “convert” has been applied. They walk in with their game faces on and start spouting off about the “good Lord” or some such thing. The fellows at the shelter call it “God hustling.” It is a special survival skill that many of the homeless have been forced to master over the years. It does not take them long to figure out that simply does not make any difference to their stay at my shelter.

I left this comment to an earlier post of his:

Under There, you do the Lord's work. You build the kingdom. You are a true disciple.

"Lord, when did we see you?" You see him.