Hear our prayer today for all women and men, boys and girls who are homeless this day. For those sleeping under bridges, on park benches, in doorways or bus stations. For those who can only find shelter for the night but must wander in the daytime. For families broken because they could not afford to pay the rent. For those who have no relatives or friends who can take them in. For those who have no place to keep possessions that remind them who they are. For those who are afraid and hopeless. For those who have been betrayed by our social safety net. For all these people, we pray that you will provide shelter, security and hope. We pray for those of us with warm houses and comfortable beds that we not be lulled into complacency and forgetfulness.
Jesus, help us to see your face in the eyes of every homeless person we meet so that we may be empowered through word and deed, and through the political means we have, to bring justice and peace to those who are homeless. Amen.
A little news item in this week’s ‘Big Issue’caught my attention. A Big Issue vendor called Gary Phillips got a bit behind with the rent and he worried about the impact his arrears would have on his landlord’s finances. In early July, Gary, aged 45,chose to leave the rented property, his home for 14 months after becoming two-and-a-half months behind on rent. It was his own choice. He wasn’t thrown out. He said that because of the ‘lockdown’ he couldn’t sell the Big Issue so he thought that it was only fair to his landlord that he left. Landlords have bills to pay too. ‘Some landlords are relying on that money too.’ So Gary went back to living in a tent and sometimes it was difficult because the weather was bad with heavy rain falling. During lockdown Big Issue had given him money and vouchers. I was very lucky to have that and I wasn’t expecting it. Gary who had needs of his own put them aside to help his Landlord. That was true generosity of heart. And it had a surprising result.
He sold the Big Issue outside Sainsbury’s in Saltburn and he was much loved by the locals. Sue and Corina Nicol heard about what Gary had done and his generosity triggered generosity in others. They set up a GoFundMe on his behalf. He was obviously delighted and thought he might get £100 or so because he was well known in the town but, in the event, the fundraising has so far brought in £1,670. Sue Nicol told the Big Issue, “It shouldn’t have to be done but I wanted to help Gary. The response is what I expected because Saltburn is a wonderful place with supportive and thoughtful people’ One man’s generosity became infectious.
This is one of the many good news stories that are coming out of the Pandemic. We need to hold on to this spirit of generosity at these difficult and dark times.
During the lockdown between March and July, The Big Issue supported 1,665 vendors with more than£500,000 in food vouchers, meter top-ups and other help while they were forced to halt street sales to protect vendors.
You can help them in this work by (a) buying the magazine from your local vendor or (b) from The Co-op, Sainsbury’s, McColl’s and W.H.Smith’s or (c) by taking out a subscription via selectmagazines.co.uk. To receive the magazine each week: bigissue.com/subscribe It costs £38.99 for 3 months.
My friend Gill has sent me this photo of Embleton Bay in Northumbria. She has been walking the St. Oswald’s Way and I hope we will hear more about this later….
Today is the festival day of St Hildegard of Bingen, a visionary and mystic as well as a theologian and musician. ‘A feather on the breath of God’ is probably her most well-known saying.
I took this photo of the sky above Newhall in Harlow. Since ‘lockdown’ reduced the number of planes flying into Stansted Airport in Essex, we have been having the most amazing cloud formations. This wisp of cloud fleetingly looked like a feather in the sky and it reminded me of Hildegard and her beautiful words.
Mr G's Ponderings 