And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
– Matthew 8:20 NRSV
Perhaps one of the more frustrating things about modern “evangelism” efforts is the notion that churches try to reach only stable families, with a male bread winner ideally, to bring in the dough as well as add to children and youth ministries. The homeless, the not-well-to-do are seen has having no agency in this life, and so therefore, the church treats them as charity cases. I know that the word “charity” has become anathema to many folks such as myself dedicated to “justice” but I have yet to see sufficient evidence that this critique is invalid.
Perhaps one of the amazing things that Booker T. Washington’s story brings is inspiration to the lowly and the refugees of this world, as someone oriented towards helping others. The best view is not from the top, but from my perspective, it starts at the very bottom, with people who have suffered the worst that the world and satan and death and oppression have to offer.
Granted, Booker was a moderate-to-conservative politically, but he was not so an individualist that he was anti-federal government. Far from it, he even saw it was the Federal (central) government’s duty to educate the freed slaves (page 83).
Booker’s perspective was one that came from the margins, as a former enslaved African and as a homeless person. In fact, as as student at Hampton in Virginia, he would walk the streets, and slept on the sidewalk (page 49). Washington dealt with many financial problems as he strived to better himself through education. The fact is that BTW was flat broke at the end of his undergrad days at Hampton, but he would go on to earn a spot on the Honour Roll as the commencement speaker for graduation (73).
Have you passed by a homeless person lately? Did you objectify them as a thing to receive your sympathy? Or did you see them as a person to learn from?
