You don't know Chad. He's a friend of mine who is traveling the country, meeting homeless people and loving them. And trying to learn from them, and how best to help them. He blogged this today:

But when I was walking the streets of Chicago today, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who are completely neglected and in total need. There’s thousands upon thousands of humans who are living in the streets and begging for a way out. We walked by one man who was on his knees begging for someone to help him. His face was in complete horror. Tears were surely falling down his face. I had no more food because I had just given my whole bag of food to another man I met earlier. I had no money because I had given it all away. What do I do? What am I supposed to do in a situation like that?

Then there is yesterday for me. I spent the last two days working in a community in Southwest Detroit. Yesterday while leaving a restaurant with three others, we were approached by a woman. She told a long story about needing to get to Arkansas and several other things that, according to those who have worked with homeless people for lifetimes, would seem to suggest a bit of falsities to earn money. But then again, how do you know? I do know this. The whole deal made me feel awful. Awful that there are thousands in my city who need help, that I haven't helped, that I don't even know where they are. And awful that this woman needs a help that I can't provide. Pray that God will speak through the addictions.

From Helping the Homeless:

Each person has such immense value to Him that He gave his life in the ultimate sense for each and every one of us. That is the value He tells us to place on every person in the world. It may be difficult to comprehend, but the longer we live the more we are able to see that we live in a world where we are all affected by and responsible for each other’s welfare.

Bam. A sucker punch to the gut. Discuss.

It has recently been brought to my attention that my blog is the first thing that comes up in a Google search of "Detroit homelessness" (same with Yahoo). As a website owner, it's always cool to discover keywords that bring readers to your blog, but I would much prefer that the search terms had less of an ethical, moral, and personal relevance. Simply put, my post that was little more than a rehashing of resarch done by the Detroit Rescue Mission hasn't changed a single life (at least not to my knowledge). The reality is that there are thousands of kids, adults, seniors, disabled, military veterans, single mothers, and orphans on the streets of Detroit. It's horrifying. They are real people, and yet we almost always step over them or walk across the street because we are afraid of them. Or more realistically, we're afraid of having to love them.

Which brings me to Chad and Marjorie. Their story is told on thier website here. It is a story filled with intrigue, sadness, dozens of characters and takes place in many of the worlds largest cities. But the sad part is, it's all true. They visit cities and live with the homeless to show them love. Just recentlty, Chad wrote:

As we sat with him (Pops, a homeless man in New Orleans), hundreds upon hundreds of people walked by, unashamedly starring at Pop, almost looking offended that a dirty man would set up shop right near a sidewalk that tourist frequent often. On more than one occasion, I made eye contact with people as they were walking by, and though no verbal communication happened, their eyes were asking me, “what in the world are you doing there? are you in danger?!”

When Chad shared this with me a few days ago, it crushed me. I personally am not familiar with New Orleans, never having been there, but I know Detroit and its people. And I know that there are tens of thousands of Christians in the greater Detroit area who stand up every Sunday and profess the Creeds. But what about Matthew 25:40:

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

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Detroit, my beloved city, has been suffering for decades and is in need of many good people to serve in a plethora of ways. One of the ways is spiritual, in that we need a spiritual revival in the city. To this end, a prayer gathering for the city will take place July 14. A website for the event is here. It would be great to have many local Christian leaders take part in this event as an ecumenical vehicle to get more church-based involvement back in the city.

I've included the prayer for cities from the BCP below. I believe it is imperative for Christians to take part in ministering to their city/town/community, for we have lost the importance of the community church as was once commonplace.

Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of that holy City to which the nations of the world bring their glory: Behold and visit, we pray, the cities of the earth. Renew the ties of mutual regard which form our civic life. Send us honest and able leaders. Enable us to eliminate poverty, prejudice, and oppression, that peace may prevail with righteousness, and justice with order, and that men and women from different cultures and with differing talents may find with one another the fulfillment of their humanity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

According to Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries:

• In the Detroit area, there are at least 3,700 people in need of emergency shelter on any given night. To meet the need, there should be 1,400 more beds available.

• There are less than 940 transitional housing beds for over 5,086 homeless men, women and children per night.

• Over 2,000 people live on the streets each night in abandoned buildings or “double up” with family or friends.

• Over 10,000 families in Wayne County will become homeless at least once during the next year.

• Families now constitute 26% of the number of homeless persons per year.

Heartbreaking. Let's figure out how we can help fix this.

I picked up the book Under the Overpass today and am reading it quite intently. Long story short: a guy and his friend decided to give up everything and live as homeless in several of America's big cities to learn, grow and understand. More importantly, they wanted to answer the question: "What if i stepped out of my comfortable life with nothing but God and put my faith to the test alongside of those who live with nothing every day?"

I'll let you know what I think. So far, it's very eye-opening. I hear that the author is coming to the Detroit area in a few weeks to speak on the topic.

Back in January, a group from our church traveled to the Gulf Coast to participate in some mission-based home/life repairs for many that are still suffering the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes. As a result, the missionaries have been inspired to bring back the spirit of Christian service to our area, which brought together a group from our parish pursuing this plan this afternoon.

I am very excited about the idea of helping those in need of home work. Yes, there are the Extreme Makeover's out there, but the reality is that there are homeowners barely hanging onto their properties who can't take care of it, there are the physically disabled, the injured military veterans, the elderly, the widowed, the single parents and so many others. With our group, the bottom line is promoting and living Christian service and charity under the banner of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.

Short term, we need bodies, contacts (at agencies to find people we can help), tools, materials, etc. Wanna help? Send me a message through the contact page and let me know.

One of the few high-points in the Detroit ecomony today is Mexicantown in Southwest Detroit. In an underprivledged, undereducated area, investments by native residents have led to developments such as the Mexicantown International Welcome Center that opened in October 2007. And in the midst of all of that, I-75, the main freeway through the area, is closed until December 2009. Here's hoping and praying that projects like Detroit Cristo Rey High School can bring some extra light into the area until the construction is done. As to Cristo Rey, the Michigan Catholic weekly had this to say:

The Easter season is a time for Christians to celebrate new life in Christ — and new life is exactly what administrators of Detroit Cristo Rey High School are sensing. In fact, more than one person involved in the new coeducational Catholic high school have described the school as "a phoenix rising from the ashes."

Perhaps that phoenix will be yet another catalyst to the revitalization of Mexicantown and greater Detroit.

Spike and Al Roker (no joke) produced a show called DEA about federal drug enforcement officials in my city. Worth checking out, on Wednesdays at 11 pm. Free Press article here.

For those who don't know, Detroit's mayor has been in "hot water" of late after it was discovered that he and his female chief-of-staff were having a lengthy affair. This was discovered after an FOIA request by the local papers uncovered a series of text messages between he and she. Why is any of this important? Well, from the humor standpoint, my favorite local radio station, Sports Radio 1130 WDFN, put up this billboard on several Detroit freeways. I love it.