Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

This past Monday night one of our neighbors without shelter found an unlocked door at St. C's, and let themselves in for the night. This person didn't damage anything intentionally, but was not in a condition to take very good care of our kitchen, bathrooms, or children's carpet area, where they were sleeping upon discovery Tuesday morning. One of our Jr. Wardens, with the help of others, woke our guest and called the necessary help. Then yesterday we assessed the damage, decided on a cleaning plan and it was executed, including replacing all of the textiles in our children's carpet area. 

So first, I was overwhelmed with gratitude at the response from those of you who were aware and responsive to this situation. No one spoke of our guest with anything less than compassion and kindness. No one complained about cleaning. I am humbled, as usual, to serve a community as loving and generous as all of you. 

This experience has me thinking about uninvited guests - the people who show up in our lives in ways that are inconvenient, uncomfortable, and sometimes even invasive.  We deal with this a good amount at St. C's, because we are located in a part of South King County that is not high income and because as a community we engage in actions that position us as a source of help and solace for our neighbors who are vulnerable to food scarcity, addiction, homelessness, and poverty. We are constantly balancing the desire to help with all the complications that come right along with helping - risks to our property, fears that our help is not effective, a desire to protect ourselves that is always in tension with the desire to connect in life-giving ways with our world. 

These complications are real, as our experience with one uninvited guest this week has reminded us. Equally real, however, is the call of our gospel to show hospitality to the stranger, (Hebrews 13:2), and to treat the least among us as if they were Christ's own self (Matthew 25:40). We will do a better job securing our building going forward from this. And, sometimes we are sent angels unaware, opportunities to care for and clean up after the chaos of a vulnerable life that intersects with our own. I hope we can continue to view these moments as  opportunities to care for our vulnerable Jesus -who is most certainly present and discoverable in the ways we respond to moments like this, and to all of our guests: the ones we are expecting and the ones we aren't. 

Thank you for being part of St. C's. It is a joy to be your priest.

with care and gratitude,

Alissa