The fifth station on the Good Friday Ecumenical Prayer Walk was His Place Ministries, a multifaceted outreach ministry, designed to touch lives with the love of Christ. The center provides a number of services, including Cold Night Shelter.

Homelessness continues to be a problem in America. When I read that homelessness is higher among veterans than among the general population, I think of the women usually standing along one of the main roads in Titusville. Her sign reads, “Please help. I’m a homeless veteran.”

The following report highlights some information on homelessness in America:

The nation’s homeless population decreased 1 percent, or by about 7,000 people; it went from 643,067 in 2009 to 636,017 in 2011. There were a decreased number of people experiencing homelessness in most of the subpopulations examined in this report: families, individuals in families, chronic, and individuals. The only increase was among those unsheltered.

The largest decrease was among homeless veterans, whose population declined 11 percent. The number of homeless veterans went from 75,609 in 2009 to 67,495 in 2011, a reduction of about 8,000.

A majority of homeless people counted were in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, but nearly 4 in 10 were unsheltered, living on the streets, or in cars, abandoned buildings, or other places not intended for human habitation. The unsheltered population increased by 2 percent from 239,759 in 2009 to 243,701 in 2011, the only subpopulation to increase.

The number of individuals in homeless families decreased by 1 percent nationally, but increased by 20 percent or more in 11 states.

(http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/the-state-of-homelessness-in-america-2012)

The prayers at this station challenge us to do something about homelessness. Two years ago a five-year-old was with his mother on the walk. He saw the blue exercise mats which serve as beds. When his mother explained to him what was going on, he responded, “Mommy, we have to do something about that this.”

Lord Jesus, we are searching for you.  Where are you suffering today?

All:  Look for me among those who sleep on the hard ground, or on a rubbish heap, or in lonely places where they live in fear of the elements, physical attack, rape, arrest, or eviction.  Look for me among those who are struggling with addictions and compulsions which result in self-destruction and alienation from their families. Look for me among those who misunderstand the causes of homelessness and place blame, judgment and condemnation as a result.  Look for me among those working within the systems and structures that create and then support the scandal of poverty and homelessness.  Look for me in homes filled to overflowing with furniture we never sit on, in rooms we never use.   Look for me in those drowning in consumerism where the line between want and need is completely blurred.   Look for me among those who call jail or prison “home.”  Seek me there and you shall find me.

The concluding prayer is also powerful:

Lord Jesus, Son of God, Son of Man, God-made-Man,

 even you had no place to lay your head.

You and your disciples relied on the grace of Your Father,

 bestowed on you through the goodness and generosity

of the holy people who provided for you

as you traveled the countryside on your mission.

In a world where so many of us live in spacious, comfortable homes,

warm in winter and cool in summer,

with locks on the door to provide security,

we recall that you chose to fellowship

with the most unfortunate and forgotten in society.

Still today, you meet them in their tents, in their doorways,

in shelters and displacement camps, in rat-infested tenements, in abandoned houses and automobiles.

Shouldn’t we, who call ourselves Christian,

fellowship with the poor and voiceless?

 Shouldn’t we, who call ourselves Christian,

work to end the atrocities of poverty

and the misery of homelessness?

We ask that you might give us the grace to passionately pursue

an end to such desolation and agony.

We ask for the grace of zealous, caring and generous hearts

towards those who, like You, have no place to lay their heads.

And so together we pray,

All:  Lord Jesus, slain and resurrected, hear our prayer for the poor.