"We close cases if clients refuse service".
These were the words I recently heard from an Adult Protective Services Case worker regarding a lady that I have been meeting with who is Homeless. I was introduced to her by a Bellflower community resident who has been buying her coffee daily at 8:30am at the nearby Grannies donughts. She is frail with a hunched back and a walker. She speaks of having little feeling in her legs and a shortness of breath. We have suggested that she ought to go to a Hospital to have a doctor to look at her eye injured when someone recently beat her. When I called Adult Protective Services informed me that if she won't take assistance, they close her case. I don't blame them. It's the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink"
I wonder what my role is with Theresa? Should I take the same stance as the Adult Protective Services Case Worker, or am I called to something different? I have found that people who are homeless are so, not because of a lack of resources, but rather a lack of relationships.
I have been wondering what this relationship (without the contingent of an exchange of resources attached to it) looks like? A wise friend of mine commented that Jesus was called to be "with" people. Jesus had a ministry of presence among those he served. How do I do this? We are soo tempted to Cure people. Henry Nouwen speaks of the concept of Caring for people rather than curing them. God lead me!
Any thoughts?
1 comment:
Perhaps Matthew 25:35ff could give us some ideas of what 'being with' might look like ... "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." At the very least these are a beginning.
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