Another Day,
Another Millennium

Elaine Kennedy works for Edges Magazine.
She also manages Our Drop In Centre.

After the outrageous remarks reported in the press just recently, degenerating the homeless and soup kitchens, I wonder if a more appropriate title wouldn't have been "Pilgrims lack of progress"!

That educated people are still, at the close of the twentieth century, uttering disparaging and unchristian remarks about their fellow men, is depressing beyond measure. It proves yet again that human understanding of self and neighbour has not evolved at the same rate as the human capacity for material development. My old mum used to say "The more sophisticated people become, the more misguided they become". There's a great deal of truth there, I fear. On the eve of the millennium celebrations the new gigantic ferris wheel overlooks a large part of central London. It is to me the epitome of what my mother meant. The wheel is a masterpiece of engineering, a credit to human constructive capabilities, yet with people going round and round like hamsters in a cage, looking out onto the buildings of the past, yet afraid of changing anything; afraid to shape the future beyond the comfortableness of old slate roofs - never daring to seize the opportunity to break free from the cage; from the safety of going round in the blindfolded circles of life.

Beyond the wheel is the future within the framework of the past on which the sun will rise and fall as it has done since creation. But we as humans don't have to be stuck in the same old ways, always using one part of our talents to build physical edifices and build on new and amazing discoveries yet ignoring the spiritual discoveries which are there for the taking. Spirituality is trying to reach a level at which we are more comfortable about the inevitability of death. It is looking for a smoother road to travel through life and meeting God in greater or lesser degrees. We all fear death, that is why we hate the thought that we are the same as every other human on the Earth, because that is terrifying! Other people have disasters, they end up homeless, very ill, alone, they suffer terrible mental anguish, and they die! We can't face that, can we? No matter what anyone does or says, it is the one thing that each and every one of us has in common: death. No escape! No amount of face-lifts or Viagra will change our ultimate destination. There are unaccountable numbers of broken people whose spirituality is latent and un-channelled. Because of this they are looking for something to block out the inevitability. This can take the shape of hysteria over the shape of an idol (refusing to believe Elvis is dead!); accumulation of wealth, power, material possessions, self-adoration, and most common of all: denigration of those who have nothing. These people are stuck fast in the cage of their Ferris wheel, stranded at the top until the day it will crash to the ground - these are the people who denigrate soup kitchens without ever having set foot in one. They are so afraid - so afraid. It's so frightening to know that no one comes into the world with a guarantee of immunity against disaster; look at Princess Diana. The tragedy is that we as humans have the potential within us to improve not just our lot, but that of the whole of the human race, if only we would break free from that cage on the wheel. The past always sets up the present and the future; it has done since the invention of the wheel! We need to make a positive attempt at steering our present and shape it for a better future. Ending a century which has seen the atom bomb, horrific wars, etc, it is soul destroying to hear an educated person advocating "sweeping the homeless off the streets". The homeless are not dirt to be swept under the broom of blind bigotry. They are part of our human race; individuals who have not lost their humanness along with their belongings - they have a brain, a personality, a talent, a past, a story to tell and they have as much of Christ in them as every other human on Earth.

To the person who advocated the closure of soup kitchens I should like to say this: after your expensive party beneath the Dome, after the fireworks, caviar, and champagne, stop and remember why and what we are celebrating. We are marking 2000 years since the birth of Christ. Also it is 2000 years since he chose the simple sharing and giving of food and drink as a means of reaching Himself out to us all for evermore in order that we might communicate with him and with one another and be able to come back to him time and time again, and lay before him our worries, needs and hopes. The need to feel forgiveness must never be overlooked either.

When we open our door every day here at St Anne's, this is exactly what we are remembering. By giving food freely to people who come to us we are not only feeding them physically, but spiritually too. When they feel reassured and comfortable with us, they are then able to communicate their many other needs - over the years we have helped people find accommodation, medical help, education; - a huge range of needs have been fulfilled following the initial sharing of soup and bread. For some the brokenness of life is beyond repair. For them, a hug, a shoulder to cry on, and a cup of tea is all we can give them. Henri Nouwen said once: "they come for a moment of warmth in the vastness of devastation". It's all we can give. Thank God they keep coming back. Two thousand years ago the message was simple: Love one another. It is still the same message.

What a sad indictment of our society are these sweeping statements made recently. The irony is that time and time again, we at our own drop-in centre have felt such a to-ing and fro-ing of healing spirituality from people most passers-by would cross the road to avoid.

This was said to me by a young boy who was living under a tree in a car park and whose past had set up his present chaos - but whose faith was very beautiful: "When life is reduced to a sleeping bag and a fag end found in the gutter, then there is no clutter to come between you and God."

A thought for the millennium maybe?