*First posted at the Radical Hospitality Blog
I was going to write today about Loeb Properties and their decision to festoon the businesses in Overton Square with “No Panhandling” signs. I am angry and disappointed by this decision, and I don’t believe the corporate-speak that promises that panhandlers will be directed to helpful services and not be arrested or otherwise hassled. I will continue to boycott all the businesses in Overton Square until the signs come down. This will probably mean I won’t be going to those businesses ever again.
But instead of focusing on Loeb Properties and their racist and classist ugliness, I want to focus on the beauty and goodness of the guests who come to Manna House. Today was a typical Monday morning at Manna House. We offered showers for men. Twenty three men took showers and left wearing clean and well-fitting clothes. Another fifty-one men and women came into the clothing room for “socks and hygiene.”
Meanwhile, a hundred or more came through the house and were served coffee, took the time to read the paper, or talk with friends, or play scrabble, or catch a quick nap on one of the couches. They were people from a variety of places and backgrounds, some white, some black. They weren’t all perfect, some used bad language on the front porch and had to be told to stop, some were a little impatient making their way through the crowded house. But nobody acted like a jerk or got violent or even raised their voice in anger. And this is the way things usually go. Our guests, as Kathleen says, “give us their best.”
At various times in the morning a completely new guest came in, looking lost, and asking for either Pete or Kathleen (word on the streets lets people know who to ask for). One needed a pair of shoes (which he got). One needed a complete change of clothes (which he got). Another just needed a pair of socks (which he got). From time to time we “transcend the rules” to welcome somebody new, and then we tell the guest how Manna House typically operates so if they need something in the future, they need to “get on the list” for either a shower or socks and hygiene.
As the morning progressed I was asked for “the word for the day.” The word for the day came from Ephesians 6:10-13:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the Lord’s mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
The responses to the reading from guests:
“I know about those powers.”
“I need that strength.”
“The devil is alive and well, for sure.”
“That armor sounds good.”
And though I’m not writing about Loeb Properties, I couldn’t help but think of the legacy of “No Panhandling” signs that have been part of the vagrancy laws that came into being following slavery. Vagrancy laws were directed at freed slaves and poor whites, both of whom were out of work and relied upon handouts to survive. Vagrancy
laws sought to either move them along or criminalize them. The struggle truly is “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” And it is the beauty and goodness of our guests that affirms where God stands in that struggle.
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