I drove up to the parish around 11:30pm on Saturday to get just a couple of things ready for the blessing of our newly renovated Spiritual Formations space, something we have been working on during our summer hiatus. Our formations classes begin in earnest the first Sunday in September, and it was crunch time. I also wanted to spray a wasps nest that had formed in the playground. The wasps are dormant during the night, so I knew I'd have a better chance at not being stung.
As I approached the church late at night, I'm always careful to look for hobos (not the fashionable word, but it gives those folks some semblance of vocation) who sleep up in the top part of Fort William, the name for our children's wooden playground. In most cases I'm careful to let them sleep. I know there are all kinds of issues from a practical point of view, but the minister in me thinks what better place to sleep than an Episcopal courtyard? They are my Jean Valjean.
This night was different. I went up there to kill wasps in the Fort, and the last thing I wanted was for a swarm of wasps to attack any guests we might have sleeping up there. So when I saw a young hispanic couple up there, I told them what I was up there to do, and why I had waited till late evening. The insisted they were just up there to talk and would move along. I went inside to attend to some other tasks.
A few minutes later, nearly midnight, I got a tap at the door. The young man told me through the glass that they indeed had planned to sleep there and did I have a blanket his wife could use? When I told him yes, he asked me also if I might be willing to drive his wife to Taco Bell, being that she was diabetic, had just taken her insulin, and needed to eat something. M thoughts were somewhere between exasperation and guilt. If he was telling the truth, then yes she would benefit from some food (and shelter). If he was lying, as many many many people in their situation easily do, then I could be in danger.
Being called to the work of God, a curate of Christ's church, you never quite lose sight of the idealism that ushered you into such work. You may become distant from it, but you never lose sight of it off in the distance. In those moments of confliction I always try to err to side of believing what the writer of Hebrews said, "to be careful that you show hospitality to strangers, as you may be entertaining angels without knowing it." I just hoped this angel wasn't going to shiv me in the ribs.
I didn't drive them to Taco Bell; but food, a blanket and a pillow we had inside the parish. I retrieved the items, unlocked the door, and with just a tinge of hesitation, gave them to the young man. I apologized about not being able to put them up in a motel, but told them if they were up and away by 8am, they were welcome to sleep in Fort William. He extended his hand and told me his name. I told him mine and said I'd wait to spray the wasps nest early the next morning.
Psalm 82, from this coming Sunday's readings:
God takes his stand in the council of heaven; he gives judgment in the midst of the gods: "How long will you judge unjustly, and show favor to the wicked? Save the weak and the orphan; defend the humble and needy; Rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the power of the wicked. They do not know, neither do they understand; they go about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. Now I say to you, 'You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High; Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.'" Arise, O God, and rule the earth, for you shall take all nations for your own.
