Everyone Is Welcome

Beloved:

People going through a rough patch sometimes stop in a church asking, “Do you ever help people?"  Jesus called them our friends, so the answer is always, “Yes.  That’s what we’re here for!"   My magnificent assistant personifies hospitality, and a little flock of said friends seem to know exactly what time she arrives, despite her never working the same hours two weeks in a row.  A cup of coffee or a bus ticket with a side of conversation usually sends them on their way, but once in a while the patch is not so easily smoothed, and the word privilege comes to mind again.

If you don’t have insurance or an address, there’s nothing we can do for you, the healthcare office told the couple.  He’s hurting and in need of care.  They’ve been to the emergency room.  Now they need a doctor.  They did as they were told and were humiliated for their trouble.  Of course the system isn’t perfect, and most are doing the best they can.  But one imperfection of the system is it works unequally at both ends.  I called a different healthcare office where the gatekeepers know me.  On my word the gate was opened.  These new friends have an appointment and a plan.

I’m not special.  I’m just at work.  And it’s what friends do for friends.  Still, something nags me just a little.  I leveraged my reputation to go around the system.  Because I could.  It’s business as usual most folks would say and wonder why I need bring it up at all.  Because it makes me itchy and uncomfortable – but not so much I’d not do it next time.  I’ve done it since, in fact.  I’m sure I will again.

I’m not naïve to the politics of work and wealth, the need for business to make a profit and for systems to have rules.  None of which precludes that all of us are human beings; friends was Jesus’ word, remember.  It bothers me enormously that decency and justice ride on who is willing to be a friend when some friends have it rough.  I suppose it’s just another reason God made church:  so we’d hang great, big signs out front that say, “Everyone Welcome!"; so friends in a rough patch will know where to go to ask, “Do you ever help people?”