BBC Radio 4 2016-03-18

BBC Radio 4 2016-03-18

Good morning. The latest figures show that the number of people sleeping on our streets has more than doubled over the last five years. At the last count there were 3,500 rough sleepers, and that is probably an underestimate. George Osborne responded to this in the budget with a package which, including accommodation places for rough sleepers, amounts to £115 million. This has been welcomed by the charities but they say the emphasis needs to be on the causes of the problem as well as responding to it.

I always feel extremely uneasy when I pass someone huddled up on the pavement, a good number of whom are likely to be begging. Apart from the misery of their condition the words of Jesus always haunt me. “Give to anyone who asks” (Matthew 5, 42). That’s clear enough and I know someone who does just that-goes out of the house with a number of £1 coins in his pocket ready to give away. But what happens if you pass scores of such people? And anyway is this really the best way of responding to those words of Jesus? Is it not far better to support those charities working with the homeless to get them off the streets altogether?

What I am quite clear about is that we should open our eyes to that huddle on the pavement. Richard Gear who pretended to be a homeless person for a film he made said simply “No one noticed me.” The least we can do is notice, see that person as a person, someone like me, made in the image of God. Then perhaps a smile or word or even a silent prayer might be appropriate.

In my dealings with those who work with the homeless what has really impressed me is the way they do see them as persons- with a human dignity to be respected. That’s why I like it when someone down, and apparently out, shows real independence of spirit. I remember walking along the Strand early one bitterly cold morning and buying a cup of tea for one woman sheltering in a doorway. “Take it away” she said. “I only drink coffee.”-which I duly bought her. I loved that chutzpah . She wasn’t going to be seen only as someone to whom good was done. And in the first centuries of the Christian Church the poor were not just looked upon as people we had an obligation to help- Though we do have that obligation They were regarded as in some way the treasure of the church. There is a prayer for a newly married couple I like which goes “May you receive the poor into your home that they may receive you into the habitation of eternity.” It is a spirit still alive in some forms of Christian faith.

When the world famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt was in Oxford in connection with the performance of a new piece of his music he was approached by a beggar in the street. Pärt gave him some money then went round the corner, bent his head and asked for the man’s blessing.