This winter, the MCC Washington Office invites congregations to pray, reflect and act for “Secure dwelling places: A home for everyone.” The suggested Sunday is January 31.
Last week, a very large gaudy yellow and red sign appeared across the street and three doors to the right of my house. It announced the date for a foreclosure sale, and the dates when the house would be open for viewing. I have seen no such signs in my neighborhood before now—elsewhere, but not here.
If I were planning worship for this Sunday dedicated to Secure Dwelling Places, I would use this recent event to help me and my congregation grasp the frighteningly intimate closeness of the problem and its enormity.
In this case, I don’t know the people who are losing their home. They moved in during the summer, and then, for a long period of time there was no evidence of anyone there. There are so many ways of looking into the foreclosure itself: were there bad or risky choices by the occupants? Did the owners have personal problems that altered plans for a new home? Were the buyers misled by an irresponsible lending officer?
Then there are the issues around caring for “the least of these”: is intervention appropriate? What are the root causes? Does “fixing things” mean treating symptoms or causes?
In a speech last February in Phoenix, President Obama said:
Our housing crisis was born of eroding home values, but also of the erosion of our common values. It was brought about by big banks that traded in risky mortgages in return for profits that were literally too good to be true; by lenders who knowingly took advantage of homebuyers; by home- buyers who knowingly borrowed too much from lenders; by speculators who gambled on rising prices; and by leaders in our nation’s capital who failed to act amidst a deepening cri- sis. So solving this crisis will require more than resources— it will require all of us to take responsibility.
And there are issues that might affect me. How will this foreclosure in my neighborhood involve me? What if someone buys this property and it is subsidized as low-income housing? What might it require for me to love this neighbor as I love myself?
And there is the much larger picture of how the housing crisis fits into the social malady of homelessness. There are many excellent resources online (see the MCC Washington Office website for a list of these).
The information here and the statistics that are cited can take us easily to a point of hopelessness. The sheer numbers are staggering: estimates of the homeless in this country are equivalent to the population of any one of the following states: Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, Nevada.
This complex issue requires the efforts of the whole village and its government. Chapter 32 of the Prophet Isaiah prophesies this reign of justice:
See, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. Each will be like a hiding-place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land. Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed, and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
So what might my plan for this Sunday’s worship service contain?
There would be plenty of time for singing hymns that remind us of the love of God: a love that surrounds those who have homes and those who have none, a love that is larger than any of our social issues that seem to be insoluble.
Suggestions for songs
Hymnal: A Worship Book
4 Unto thy temple, Lord, we come
6 Here in this place
29 Like the murmur of the dove’s song
77 God of many names
135 God, whose purpose is to kindle
145 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy (esp. stanzas 1, 3–5)
169 I to the hills will lift my eyes
229 Tú has venido a la orilla (Lord, you have come to the lakeshore)
397 God loves all his many people
519 Shepherd me, O God
590 The care the eagle gives her young
Sing the Journey
1 We sing to you, O God
2 Hamba nathi (Come, walk with us)
34 Loving Spirit
Sing the Story
53 Here to the house of God we come
63 Herr, füll mich neu (God, fill me now)
Shirley Erena Murray’s text, Here to the house of God we come, is an amazingly rich hymn, deserving of some time and attention. If I were planning the service, we would first sing it, next have someone (or a small group of people) open up the text for us, and then we would sing it again. The tune name, Khao I-Dang, is the name of an infamous holding center for Cambodian refugees located in Thailand. (Pictures and information are readily found online.)
Suggestions for Bible readings
- Isaiah 32
- Jeremiah 1:4-10 (from the lectionary), on Jeremiah’s call to act
- Psalm 71:1-6 (also from the lectionary), on God’s constancy
- Various Gospel references to Jesus, who was homeless:
- born in a stable while a refugee
- said of himself that he had nowhere to lay his head
- encouraged his followers to “consider the lilies . . .”
- entered Jerusalem on a borrowed colt
- buried in a tomb that was loaned to him.
Given the enormity of the issues surrounding housing, I would make it a priority that we begin the work of creating a modest proposal of what we could agree to do. A thoughtful and reflective approach might well result in making a difference in one’s own community.
The issues will not be resolved in a Sunday worship service, nor in a Monday morning march. But with intentionality and the work of our communities, light can be brought to places of shadows, hope to places of despair. We all need each other to lean on. . .
Additional worship resources available at washington.mcc.org/life.
Ken Nafziger is professor of music at Eastern Mennonite University.
