So, a core topic of debate in this hurting world is who really worked at McDonalds? More than knowing who worked at McDonalds as a teenager for a job or as an adult for a photo op; I want to know who worked at a soup kitchen or a food pantry at any point in their life. I want to know who has a clean blanket in the trunk of their car so they can pull over and offer it to some shivering soul on a frigid night. I want to know who pulls all their potted plants inside at the first frost warning, but never thinks about people left out in the cold all night. I want to know who has holes in the bottom of their shoes and blisters on their feet from working at low or no wages. I want to know who will spend a small fortune on a Broadway ticket or a ball game, but not one dollar for a down payment toward someone getting a cup of coffee.
As for you, I want to know who among you won’t even look at a homeless person, and who will help fund the free barber shop, mobile shower unit, or soup kitchen at my church. I want to know if any of y’all sleep standing up. And yet who among you are part of the many who claim that I am “enabling the problem” by letting unsheltered people sleep on the front steps of our church.
As for me: I cannot even begin to imagine what I would be willing to do if my children or grandchildren went without food, water or shelter for more than a few days. At this sacred moment of pissed-off reflection, I don’t want to know about your policies or affiliations. I want to know about your love and mercy. Because with that, everything else that is good is possible, maybe even probable. Without it, good luck.
In the end, what matters most to this imperfect soul, is that when someone was hungry, I fed them. When they were naked or shivering underneath thin clothes, I was prepared and willing to help. When someone was sick, I led them to sources of healing. When they were in prison ~ whether a prison cell with bars on the window and door, or the prison of addiction, loneliness, or the tyranny of injustice and any form of discrimination ~ I visited them, if only in my heart and in my actions. I ain’t no saint. I don’t want to live or die a martyr. But I have, long ago, been unemployable, even by McDonalds. There were people and institutions that never gave up on me, even after I had given up on myself, and helped me to become a better version of myself. And with whatever strength and resources I can find ~ I seek to serve. It’s the least I can do in response to what has been offered to me.
Peace,
Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter
Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter
Congregational Church of Patchogue
(631) 891-9908
dwight lee wolter 