When you see a person on the street corner holding a cardboard sign, you are confronted with the housing crisis. Is there enough room in the shelter tonight? Is that person couch surfing with relatives? But at last week’s event, “Room for All” held in our church, I learned some startling statistics. For example, wages have increased by about 25% but housing prices by 50%. A keyword I learned about the housing situation today was “attainable.” For young people with a college degree earning a very good starting salary, purchasing a home feels unattainable. And for those friends and family members in lower to middle income earning brackets, even renting their own apartment can seem way out of reach.
The panelists at “Room for All” outlined the complex factors of modern life that make housing unattainable for many: young adults, families, and seniors. And one panelist remarked: “Housing is where jobs go to sleep at night.” Currently, our church is investing in Habitat for Humanity by building homes – with our dollars and our hands – in the Lykins neighborhood in Northeast Kansas City. But in addition to increasing the accessibility of home ownership, we are also learning why the housing crisis exists. It’s far more complex than any of us imagined, and it isn’t just about “them.” It’s about “us.”
A peace settled over the sanctuary last Sunday as 6-year-old Charlee Goering sang, “I want a house with a crowded table. And a place by the fire for everyone.” (Click here to enjoy the song). Nothing could have been more uplifting on Mother’s Day than to hear Charlee’s angelic tone and watch her confident, bright eyes. Her parents, Sara and Alex, beamed as their joyous voices joined her on the chorus. During the first two services, I was transfixed watching them, and in the last service, I watched the faces of the congregation fill with wonder and joy as they experienced the family trio.
Near the end of the song “Crowded Table,” there is a line that says “Everyone’s a little broken. And everyone belongs.” When we gather with family and friends in our own homes around the kitchen table, we know the stories of each beloved person at that table. The spelling test was too hard. The antidepressant isn’t working. The cancer is back. The layoffs are likely next quarter. The marriage feels tenuous. All of us are broken. And we come to the table for taco salad and laughter and genuine conversation. When we enter the Sanctuary or Chapel, we know that we are all flawed and in need of forgiveness. We have done what we shouldn’t and left undone what we wished we had done. So we come to the Lord’s supper to taste the life-saving bread of heaven and wine of God’s transforming love.
Surely God envisions a world where all of God’s children know the peace that comes from being at home and the joy that comes from sharing the bounty of bread and wine with those we love. Surely that ordinary goodness and grace should be attainable for all of God’s beloved. All of us are broken, and all of us belong.
Grace and Peace,
Carla
