Like every first Sunday of each month, this past Sunday was Austin Street Sunday for our church. Surely you have heard the call for cookies and boiled eggs that come every few weeks; maybe you have provided food, helped separate hot dog buns, or even visited the shelter to help serve.
Serving at the shelter is one of those things that COVID interrupted and has interrupted again. Once again, I found myself driving alone to the shelter to drop off food without the team of servers or the opportunity to experience the joy of serving others firsthand.
On the way down, I was thinking about an obituary I had read earlier in the week of the Rev. Canon. Dr. Jerry Hill in last week’s Diocesan newsletter.
Fr. Jerry, the founder of Austin Street Shelter, passed away on January 30. That obituary led me to this article from D Magazine in 1986, profiling the experience of homeless people in Dallas at the time. It also spoke of those working to care for the homeless, including a few names that might be familiar to us at St. James.
The details of the lives of those experiencing homelessness then and how similar they seem to be here forty years later are striking. It would be easy (but inaccurate) to presume that the work of these saints was in vain simply because we still have people in similar experiences. The article recognizes this with the following quote.
“The veterans know that the lamp of humanity flickers low on the street, that their well-being and often their very lives depend on the selfless work of Father Hill, Bubba Austin, Harry Dailey, Cliff Cornette and others. They are lucky that a rich inner glue of compassion, love, caring and the desire to do the true work of Christ permeates all these people and holds them together.”
This week, our gospel reading includes the beginning of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain” and the beatitudes recorded in Luke. “Blessed are the poor… Blessed are the hungry… Blessed are those who weep…”
The rich inner glue that held Fr. Hill, Mother Bubba, and Fr. Harry together was the understanding of these beatitudes from Luke. That regardless of the standards that the world might hold, the image of Christ is imprinted on the souls of all and that all are deserving of experiencing and are capable of being transformed by the love of God.
As we look forward to returning to serving in person at Austin Street, let us remember those who blazed the trail that we now walk with ease and not lose sight of what called them to live lives of selfless service.
We don’t have to wait until next month to do this. Seeing and serving Christ in the face of all is a practice best exercised each day.
-jared