Denver has a huge, not so hidden, problem. It has a lot of homeless people. In 2013 Denver was estimated to have a population just short of 650,000 and just over 11,000 of them were homeless. That’s nearly 6% of the population without anywhere to live.
Considering the work that Bubba has just started it was good to see some of the stuff that is happening to help this forgotten section of society.
As you walk down the main street of Downtown (the 16th Street Mall) you can see lots of the homeless just sitting around. I mentioned this to Nadia and she suggested that we go and hang out with her friend Jerry Herships as he did a homeless communion.
Jerry founded AfterHours Church (www.afterhoursdenver.org), go and read about it, it’s such a great work.
One of the many things Jerry does is manage a daily homeless feeding program with Communion if you want it. A lot of the churches of Denver now take turns in running it. At midday, everyday, many of the homeless of Denver (we gave out about 100 lunches the first day I was there) gather at Civic Park and form an orderly line waiting for their food. I went more than once to help and I watched them gather from about 11am, placing their bags in line and going to sit in the shade to chat or read or hang out. A few minutes before noon the team of workers would turn up. The first time I went it was Jerry who turned up, opened a battered picnic table with the words
Jesus was homeless.
the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
Luke 9v58
on the top. A loaf of bread, a cup of grape juice and a cross were laid out and the ‘service’ began.
It was super simple….
The people file past and are offered communion - most say yes - a little bit of bread is dipped in the cup and handed to them with the words, “A reminder that God loves you”. Some say Amen, some just bow their heads, others just smile and say thank you or God bless you. They move on and are handed a bag of food and a bottle of water (the second time I went there was even dog food). It is very dignified, each person is treated like an individual and loved for who they are.
I helped to hand out bottles of water and each person, without fail, had something nice to say to me. From a simple thank you or a God bless you, to the one that nearly made me cry - “We all appreciate what you guys are doing, not everyone will say it but thank you.”
Then Jerry called me over and asked if I wanted to give out Communion. Having watched I knew what to do but I did ask myself if I was ready for this.
I have lost count of the number of Communion services I have led - I have done services in churches and cathedrals, in homes and hospitals, by the side of the road and in hotels, to a thousand people and to just one but I don’t think I have ever got as close to what I think Communion really means as that lunch time in a park in Denver. It was a simple, beautiful act of sharing God’s love with those who may not get love from many other sources. The gratitude and dignity of the people was amazing. Even those who choose not to take the elements did so in a dignified and polite way.
As I stood there I saw Jesus looking back at me from every face that passed, I’m sure I got more of a blessing from them than they got from me, I was the one being ministered too. One man, when I asked him if he would like Communion, said, “I’m a Baptist”, I said I’m sure that didn’t matter and he replied, “Y’know, you’re probably right.” He took the elements and said amen and I was Godsmacked again.
That simple act of sharing bread and wine (grape juice actually, but let’s not split hairs) was so profound that I know I have been changed by it. I’m not sure how yet, but there was a clunk inside me of as I stood there as if God had turned a key and opened something inside me. As I said, I don’t know what yet but…..
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