ROMANS 12:9-13

We often think of “hospitality” as a spiritual gift—some have it, others do not. And we often think of it as a “feminine” gift. Yet, this passage commands all believers to practice hospitality. According to Christine Pohl, the Biblical understanding of “hospitality” has nothing to do with creating a welcoming and cozy environment for our families and friends. In the early church, the Spirit’s gift of hospitality was understood to be the provision of secure shelter for the poor wanderer. (Making Room by Christine Pohl, 1999).

Questions for Reflection:

1. Why do you think Christians have shifted their understanding and practice of “hospitality?”
2. How can you challenge a “gendered” understanding of hospitality?
3. If Ms. Pohl is right, what might hospitality look like for your faith community?

First, the Chicago Housing Authority was chastised for sitting on Housing Choice Vouchers (aka Section 8).  Then, under pressure, the CHA activated their waiting list and released thousands of vouchers–giving recipients 90 days to find an apartment.  That sounds easy, but given Chicago’s tight rental market and history of housing discrimination, 90 days isn’t always enough.  Just ask Kiya Powell and Sandra Edwards.  Because they missed the 90-day window and were denied an extension by CHA, they lost their vouchers.

Read the full story HERE.  And if you want to see what people think about Housing Choice Vouchers, read the comments.  How do you respond to Powell’s predicament?

ACTS 2:42-47

One of the immediate impacts of the presence of the Spirit in the early church was a distribution of resources so everyone’s needs were met. The new believers also saw their homes as a place for blessing other with food and fellowship.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How does this passage compare with your experience of the Spirit’s presence in your faith community?
2. Why do you think it is so difficult for many people to open their homes to others?
3. How could you use your food and/or your dining room to make sure others are fed physically and socially?

ISAIAH 32:14-18

When the Spirit is present on the earth, there is justice and fullness and abundance. The result of justice is safety, rest and stable habitation. People facing housing instability or homelessness experience physical sickness, mental illness, stress, domestic violence and shorter life expectancy.   They are not experiencing peace, security or undisturbed rest—the very environment God promises.

Questions for Reflection

1. “The persistent condition of homelessness and housing instability in our city indicates that the Spirit is not present.” Would you agree with that statement? Why or why not?
2. Is there anything you and your faith community could do to increase the Spirit’s presence? If so, what?

ISAIAH 58:9-12

God promises blessing for those who “do away with the yoke of oppression” and who “spend themselves” on behalf of those who are vulnerable. And because of their work to create safe and stable communities, they will gain a reputation for “repairing broken walls” and “restoring streets with dwellings.”

Questions for Reflection:

1. How have you personally been involved in creating safe and stable communities for those who are vulnerable?
2. Does your faith community have a reputation around advocacy for housing?
3. If so, what are you known for? If not, what could you do to get a reputation?

FOR A NEW HOME by John O’Donohue

May this house shelter your life.

When you come in home here,

May all the weight of the world

Fall from your shoulders.

May your heart be tranquil here,

Blessed by peace the world cannot give.

May this home be a lucky place,

Where the graces your life desires

Always find the pathway to your door.

May nothing destructive

Ever cross your threshold.

May this be a safe place

Full of understanding and acceptance,

Where you can be as you are,

Without the need of any mask

Of pretense or image.

May this home be a place of discovery,

Where the possibilities that sleep

In the clay of your soul can emerge

To deepen and refine your vision

For all that is yet to come to birth.

May it be a house of courage,

Where healing and growth are loved,

Where dignity and forgiveness prevail;

A home where patience of spirit is prized,

And the sight of the destination is never lost

Through the journey be difficult and slow.

May there be a great delight around this hearth.

May it be a house of welcome

For the broken and diminished.

May you have the eyes to see

That no visitor arrives without a gift

And no guest leaves without a blessing.

The Irish poet and priest John O’Donohue (1956-2008) shared this house blessing in his book To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings (Doubleday, 2008). It not only names the hopes and dreams we have for our homes, but the function they play in creating a space in which our lives can flourish and our humanity can remain intact. While the marketplace imagines homes simply as commodities whose value can be assessed on the basis of supply and demand, our experience of having and making homes for ourselves and our families provides us with a different way of understanding their value.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How has your home been a source of blessing in your life, and how has your home been a source of blessing for others in your life?
2. In whose homes has your courage, healing, and growth been nurtured?
3. How are neighborhoods and communities blessed by the presence of stable homes?

Submitted by Rev. Erik Christensen, Pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Chicago

Blair Kamin, the architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, covered the Plan Commission meeting on Thursday, February 18, highlighting the opposition to the Lathrop Homes plan and adding his own questions about what he called “the social architecture” of a plan that does not adequately address the loss of units for low-income families in a desirable north side location. Read his article HERE.

2 KINGS 8:1-6

In this story, a Shunamite widow and her son leave their home to avoid a famine. Upon her return 7 years later, she finds herself at risk of homelessness (the circumstances around her home and land are not explained) and she must go to the King for a decision. Fortunately, the King restores everything that belonged to her, but it might not have turned out so well without her relationship to Elisha, the prophet.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How do you think the outcome of the story would have been different if Elisha hadn’t been involved?
2. Who would become more vulnerable to displacement or housing insecurity without your involvement?
3. Do you or your faith community have a connection to the King that has power over housing in your community?
4. If not, how can you build a connection to better protect those who are risk of losing their homes?

There is no devotional for Sunday, February 21.

To get to the subway, I walk under the Kennedy Expressway overpass at Belmont and Kedzie.  Correction.  I walk through the bedrooms of dozens of men and women who call the viaduct ‘home’.  Every time I pass by, I feel uncomfortable–like I’m invading their privacy.  But I also feel deeply disturbed and angry.  These people are literally kicked to the curb. And they are routinely harassed by the police, treated like criminals and their belongings confiscated.

I often hear people say, “They should go to a shelter.”  FYI.  There are NO overnight shelters located in the 60618 or the 60647 zip codes–the area surrounding the viaduct.  There used to be shelters, but the city cut funds for homeless services.  And just yesterday, the Mayor-appointed city Plan Commission just approved the elimination of 525 units of public housing at Lathrop Homes, 12 blocks away from the viaduct, replacing them with almost 500 units of housing for the wealthy.  It makes me ask who the real criminals are.

ISAIAH 5:8-10

God announces judgment on the land due in part to the ways that those with wealth and power have expanded their property portfolios. Isaiah indicates that property expansion results in a breakdown in personal and community social structures by taking “place” away from others.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How do you see people today “adding house to house and joining field to field”?
2. Why do you think people aspire to purchase time-shares, vacation condos, winter homes in Florida, summer homes in Michigan, downtown weekend condos, etc?
3. Do you own extra property? How could you use it to “give place” to others?