'It’s not right to be in the world alone': Homelessness a place of loneliness, isolation

Yesterday I had a conversation with two women who presently have no permanent shelter; no place, like Jesus said of himself, to lay their heads to rest. They have been in shelters, but had no place there as we spoke, nor prospects for any ongoing shelter soon. We spoke together about family, faith, addiction and hope.

As I listened to them and sought to take in the reality of their situation and to hear their concerns, I remembered another conversation. About 30 years ago when I was serving on a seminary faculty, we had a mission trip to a South American nation with a group of our students. One evening in a tiny village we were invited to a family’s home. That family’s parents and children shared with us the little food and drink they had and told us about their everyday life. Eventually we as visitors were invited to ask any questions we might have. One of us asked, “How do you as a people deal with homelessness?” The question was translated correctly, but the response came, “I’m sorry. I do not understand.” And so the question was rephrased, “If there are people here around the area who do not have a home, what happens to them?” This time the response was first to say that this almost never happens. And then this addition, “If a person does not have a home, a relative near or far will take them in.” And our student pressed further, “But what if they have no family living, or living nearby?” Immediately the father of the family answered, “Another family in the village will take them in, as soon as this is known. It’s not right to be in the world alone.”

More Keep the Faith: Seeing faith as a journey at a time when the word is used as a weapon

More Keep the Faith: Summer camp shows each child has different needs, importance of supporting trans youth

This past week United Way reported there has been a 22% increase in homelessness in Worcester over the last year, a continuation of a trend already in place. The size of that increase really hit me. City government and more than a few private groups are at work both to help those who have no place of their own and to move toward addressing underlying causes. It is imperative to affirm that the task is not to assess blame for this hard truth of homelessness, but rather to seek to respond to it with policies and efforts that are ultimately founded on caring love, human to human.

This spring the Surgeon General of the United States released a document that should have our attention. Its focus is on the epidemic of loneliness, of loss and lack of connection, that now characterizes us as a people. The report’s title is "'Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation." I commend it to you if you’ve not seen it yet — Homelessness is a place of loneliness and isolation.

Surgeon General Murthy delineates ‘6 pillars to advance social connection.’ The final pillar is this: Cultivate a Culture of Connection. The women I spoke with yesterday lack the connections that can warm their lives and reassure them of their undying worth as persons. You and I can help to (re)build those connections. For churches and other faith communities, this is quite obviously part of who we are called to be. And thank God for that call!

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a woman who worked to reconnect people even in their last days of life, said more than once that our greatest poverty in the wealthiest nations of the world is a poverty of love. That is, we set boundaries on how far our love stretches, how far our care reaches. Long ago that family who welcomed our seminary group into their home in the southern hemisphere taught me that the boundaries we set on love can be renegotiated, redrawn, radically expanded to include all who cross our paths. If this sounds like the pathway to exhaustion, it can be instead the way to deep and broad connections that reveal new and energetic life. This is, in a phrase, the way to become a truly human being - living for the sake of others.

Many churches have space in buildings no longer being used for the purposes originally intended. But that space can provide new life to congregations and to our society if it is shared with love to become an incubator for reconnection. The enrichment for all will be profound.

We all are a part of this disconnected society. We all long from our hearts for more profound connection. And we all can make it happen.

The Rev. John McGinty serves as Rector of Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church in Worcester.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: Are we home yet?