Wasted Gifts - Part 2

So, the rest of the story.

We left the 5th and final house after the gift exchange to head back to the Church for parents to pick up their children.

All in all, we blew into 5 homes and left each of them looking like a tornado had come through.  No one volunteered to help clean or pick up at each house.  We just left them a mess.  The 5th house was by far the worst.  There was wrapping paper, broken gifts and dessert plates left all around.  I have a feeling they were finding remnants of that party for the next year. 

::Funny Side Note::
When I actually started my internship in January, the youth director thanked me for coming to the party and then started talking about how much he hated progressive dinners.  He said they were too much work because it was next to impossible to get families to host.  He said, "I can get them to host one year, but they never seem to want to do it a second time."  I wonder why?  ha ha
::Side note over::

We returned to the church a little earlier than expected, so we all stood around in the parking lot waiting for parents to arrive.   The chaperones stood in one group and the middle school youth in another group.  It was a cold and wet December night; not a night for standing around in the parking lot waiting for parents who couldn't break away from the end of the football games to pick up their children! 

It took a while for the chaperones to notice what the youth had noticed almost immediately.  In the corner of the parking lot, up against the wall, laid a homeless man covered in a thin worn out military blanket.  It obviously made the youth uncomfortable because their "huddle" slowly moved from one side of the chaperones to the other, trying to get away from this homeless man.

Seeing the group shifting, the chaperones began to take notice. 
One of the volunteers figured out what was going on, "Oh, that d*** homeless man is back again."
He looked at the youth director, "Want me to go run him off."
Luckily the youth director said no, saying we would be gone soon enough. 

As we all stood there, the adults started sharing their "bad encounters with the homeless" stories.  The churches stairwell was actually outside of the church building, so one man told a story of coming out of one of the doors to trip over a homeless man sleeping in the stairwell.  The kids all laughed as he explained how he went tumbling down the stairs and then lit into the man with a profanity laced tirade. 

Another lady told a story about a homeless man that clearly had mental disabilities.  She made fun of the crazy things he was saying to her.  The youth all laughed. 

Story after story, more and more of the youth came over to laugh and hear the stories.

I was just ready to start "decking" some of the volunteers. (as I type this "deck the halls with volunteers" plays through my head)
We were only about 15 feet from this man.  I know he could hear the stories being told.  I can only imagine what was going through his head. 

He is just trying to stay warm on a cold and wet December night, in the parking lot of a church.   This is the one place that should be opening their doors to him, but he is being mocked instead.

I wish I could say that I was a super Christian and stepped up and said something.  But I did nothing.
I just stood there and listened to the stories.  I didn't add to the stories or even laugh at them.  However, saying nothing was no different than sharing a story myself. 

I stood there infuriated, but afraid to act.  I could feel the spirit nudging me, reminding me that I had a sleeping bag in the back of my car I could share with the man.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the guts to stand out.  I was conforming. 

After all the youth were picked up, I slowly walked to my car, feeling like I had failed.  Many opportunities were gifted to me that night to teach these youth about the heart of God, and I wasted those gifts. 

I got about halfway back to my college when I just couldn't take it.  I turned my car around and went back to the church to give the man my sleeping bag.  Apparently, as soon as we left, so did the homeless man.  Who could blame him?

We preach a message of "they'll know we are Christians by our love" and we showed this man anything but love. 
We preach a message that all are welcome, but apparently only those who are like us, only those with homes who do not smell from sleeping on the streets are welcome. 

My actions that night preached a sermon that does not make me proud.  Even though I only said a few words through the night, those youth went home with a message from me that I wish I could take back.

This holiday season, what sermon are you preaching with your actions?

Are you complaining about projects, test and homework at school?
Are you complaining and acting irritated when you have to fight the traffic?
How are you treating the employees of the overly crowded shopping centers when you do your Christmas shopping? 

I pray for each of you, that you do not conform to how this world tells us we should act.  That night I conformed to the situation, I didn't want to stand out.  I pray that each of you are bold enough to stand out for the Christ Child this year.
I pray that you act in a way that lets people know the Christ Child has arrived.
I pray that the Christ Child is a gift that we do not waste.
It is time to be the Church.