An implausible soap opera...

I listened on to his story of utter brokeness. An implausible soap opera but with the resultant reality of his homlessness.

"Why don't you come and sit down?"

I'd not met Richard before but for half an hour Richard had been telling me his story as Estelle and I cleared the kitchen at Faith House. I listened on to his story of utter brokeness. An implausible soap opera but with the resultant reality of his homelessness. I try to suggest reconciliation, that anger is not the answer that there is another way. We talk about grace being the vicious circle breaker but to his mind there is no way round the fact that Richard is no longer welcome he can only look on as a stranger as his 'family' grows up.

He concludes his impassioned dialogue:

"I've lost everything, absolutely everything..."

There is usually a reason when people talk for so long - they are desperately lonely and need to be heard. There is usually a reason why people prolong their goodbye's and take an age to leave Faith House - they don't want to return to the street from which they have come.

For an hour it was good to sit an listen to Richard.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Richard spoke to Chris on wednesday and asked her to pray with him at the end - some listening has brought breakthrough's.
8:19 AM
Gordon said…
That's great Estelle.
7:42 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit of sally bashing....

Came across a good bit of Sally bashing over at salvationsoldiers I have to say we try and make sure that everything we raise goes into projects that build local community in Poplar but hopefully if you read this blog you get that sense anyway.
Read more

Types of Christian Spirituality...

Image
It is easy to think and to limit ourselves to a single approach to Christian spirituality. A 'if it works for me it should work for you approach' tends to narrow our appreciation of other ways which actually impoverishes our experience of spirituality. Urban T. Holmes has developed a means of exploring spirituality and helps develop an appreciation through discovering links between spirituality, temperament and predisposition. The diagram illustrates his ideas together with potential inherent dangers. The vertical continuum speaks and helps us understand our relational orientation to God. This ranges from engaging with God through understanding and theological process to a more emotive response. Horizontally speaks of a persons preferred means of pursuing the spiritual life. Kataphtic speaks of affirmation and the need of something tangible in an individuals spirituality- this may take the form of worship, art, even imagination with the use of metaphors, symbols and images play
Read more

Lost Voices of Mission...Fred Brown

Image
Along the world famous Oxford street in London's Westend; nestled in among the classy frontage of designer shops there is almost an unnoticeable, unimpressive wooden door. It is more or less alongside The Regent Hall's main entrance onto the busyness of Oxford Street. People pass the wooden door oblivious to the equally unimpressive wooden steps that go up three storey's to what was Regent Hall's youth club. When I was 10 I played on these bare wooden steps totally unaware of the significance behind and upon which I played. Many years later I discovered a university youth work course - as an induction to Youth Work - stopped outside this insignificant wooden door to point out that Youth Work as we know it in the UK started behind this door. ...whether that be the surbanite flower people that flooded the Westend to express their free love; or the hard core drug community this unimpressive wooden door became the 'portal' that blurred encounter between church an
Read more