After the first frost of the season, I was up at church betimes this morning, fearful of what I'd find.
Nothing.
No sign of Hamish at all in the churchyard, the pub carpark, the school playground..... (phew...he might really have caused alarm and despondancy there),- so I guess the weight of evidence is that he survived the night.I left a large parcel of sandwiches and a flask of coffee in the church porch, together with a brief note.The church is unlocked all day, so I knew he would have somewhere relatively warm to shelter if he did reappear, and when I returned for Evening Prayer they had gone. I hope they went to someone who needed them. It's another freezing evening...and there is no Night Shelter in Cheltenham as the city fathers, in their wisdom, don't believe we need one. Hmmmnnnn
Glad it turned out pretty well - keep hopeful and feel encouraged. What Jesus would do is something to aspire to, but the limits of humanity and our interactions take a long time to breach - and I know how caring you are, I think you're doing wonderfully :)
ReplyDeleteI hope Hamish turns up and is ok.
ReplyDeleteAbout preaching from Revelation, I'm not good at this either. I think the world can do without my Song of Solomon attempts, too.
Blessings to you. What is a bacon bunty? Like a biscuit (not cookie) with bacon?
St C....a bacon butty is one of the more delicious things known to humanity, and probably the major reason I am not yet a vegetarian...It is, basically, a bread roll (ideally warmed, or even toasted by some)with hot bacon filling. And butter. A cholesterol disaster, much beloved of long distance lorry drivers and hence of roadside food kiosks.Sadly, I had no bacon in the house, so poor Hamish (or whoever got the food in the end) had to make do with very ordinary, middle class ham sandwiches on granary bread...better for you, but not the same at all!
ReplyDeleteOne day, you must come to stay,and we'll eat bacon butties to our heart's content :-)
A pssing thought - do you know of any other churches in your neck of the woods who have thought about how to deal with the homeless folks, whether they choose to be so or not?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a student in Lancaster there was a homeless drop-in centre, which I think had council help while one of the churches operated a night shelter (that a fair few fellow students helped at, including my Good lady Wife) and the college Christian Union instituted a weekly soup run, which for all I know might still be going...
In the meantime we can only but contiune to hope and pray for Hamish and all those like him.
Me, I love the Big Issue seller who has appeared in the nearby prosperous and well-heeled little town. I strongly suspect he is encouraging a lot of people to do some serious thinking about the realities of life...
Great story - what an illustration to go along with your prayer that evening!
ReplyDelete(Bacon butties sound like the most wonderful food ever conceived by humanity. I definitely need some of those.)
Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteIt almost sounds like a folk tale, a stranger turns up asking for help, only to disappear in the morning. . .Wait, that also sounds like the Gospel we have in our lectionary for this week: Lord, when did we see you hungry, or naked, or shivering cold in the church courtyard?
Kathryn, I have a feeling Hamish will be making an appearance in many sermons this side of the Pond come Sunday. I hope you don't mind!
ReplyDeleteWell it's an eye-opener your blog K! A strange world indeed, where the homeless are such an unusual feature ;-) How very Cheltenham! lol!
ReplyDeleteAs for bacon butties, I have to dispute your interpretation. A butty is most definitely a sandwich style with two slices of (preferably processed within an inch of its life, white) bread.
The bread roll, version you describe would be a 'bacon barm'...you may disagree with this, but the entire county of Lancashire will call you a liar ;-)
But then again you're a southerner, who no doubt has never seen a 'chip barm' in her life and in the words of Peter Kay, wouldn't dream of pouring on gravy or indeed "owt moist" onto a good chip supper!
Don't you just love our regional variations? ;-)
Hamish - bless him
ReplyDeletebless your heart too Kathryn :) I thought of your coffee and sandwiches - wondered what happened to the thermos flask lol - and laughed
Hamish felt God's love in your church, bless his soul
as for the talk of bacon butties .... mmm ... when I was at uni in Stirling they served the best ones - they were in soft baps (white rolls)
be blessed :)