E NEWS 14TH APRIL 2023
I hope you all had a blessed Easter. Well for me Easter was indeed a very busy time. The Maundy Thursday Passover meal was well attended we had 22 people from our church participate. Good Friday service was incredibly special with fourteen reflections and meditations prepared by members of our church. They were very moving and touching and so much thought and preparation had gone into each station of the cross. Easter Sunday was also well attended and it was an opportunity for us to reflect on the main challenges of Easter as an opportunity to help us to identify resurrection moments in our own lives.
On Thursday afternoon I found myself down in the reception office helping out Christine our Parish Administrator with the photocopying as there were 3 orders of service including Passover to print. At about 4.30pm a homeless woman entered the building. She had just gotten off a bus from Opotiki and all the agencies WINZ, homeless shelters were closed. I found a women’s shelter in Manners Street and drove her over there myself. At 8.30pm at our Passover meal, she reappeared and we invited her to join us in the Passover meal. According to her the shelters were all full she said she had tried two. Interestingly she just happened to be Samoan although she didn’t want to admit it to me, but I knew. What do you do with a homeless woman at 9pm at the beginning of the long Easter weekend when everything is full and closed? I took it upon myself to take her with me to my home as there really was no choice or options available during a long weekend public holiday. She enjoyed my hospitality for 3 nights and slept most of the time. On Sunday she came to church with me and disappeared before Sunday worship had begun. I looked and looked for her in the congregation but she was not present, we had a shared lunch and she did not attend that either. I came to the conclusion that she had done a runner and returned to the streets without so much as a thankyou or goodbye. As I was getting into my car to go home, she reappeared. Anyway long story short, we had words and she had an attitude and seemed to have a sense of entitlement and played the victim with me. At this point, my eyes opened and I realised that I did not need my privacy and my personal space intruded upon anymore. I offered to pay her to stay at a backpackers for 3 nights in the city. She had no ID so they wouldn’t take her. I then arranged for her to stay at a motel in Lower Hutt using my ID which the motel accepted. She didn’t want this either. I then picked up one of our church elders who lived local to me for support. I was at the point of no return, I couldn’t accept her back at my house as she had disrespectful and was not transparent. When this elder told her she could not return to my place she was rude and aggressive and seemed to resent the fact that a third party had entered into the equation and she could no longer try and manipulate me. I was grateful for the support of that elder. She then asked to be dropped off back in Wellington City which I did. It poured with rain for 2 nights, she was street savvy as she had been homeless for at least 6 months, but I still felt guilty.
I was mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted perhaps even shattered from that unplanned experience, it was not something I had envisioned for my Easter service preparations. It has taken me a few days to get my equilibrium back again.
When we are challenged to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and we want to do the right thing by our neighbours and welcome the stranger into our home as Christians we believe this is the right thing to do. However, in reality, it is easier said than done. I didn’t sleep that first night as I had a stranger in my home and not knowing anything about her or her background was for me taking a huge risk. At the end of the day, she was shrouded in secrecy and gave me a false name, no ID. I could not trust her any longer. My question is, what would you have done if you were in my situation? I feel a bit naïve in retrospect and that I’ve been played for a fool but I did what I felt was the good Christian response to someone in need. Talking about it is one thing and when it is thrust upon you when you least expect it that is another thing altogether.
Anyway, I’ve shared it with you all now, it feels like a cathartic exercise writing about it in E News but I think it’s important that you get to know some of the things that one can experience as the minister of St. Andrew’s on the Terrace. I think we need to put a strategy and policy in place should this happen again in the future.
We have six people attending the movie “Alleluia” at the Lighthouse Petone at 10.45am this Monday 17th April and we will have lunch afterwards. If you want to join us then please ring the Lighthouse and pre-book yourself a ticket or let me know asap and I’ll see if there are any more tickets left.
This Sunday we explore “believing without seeing” as opposed to Thomas needing to see and touch in order to believe. I look forward to seeing some of you on Sunday. Have a blessed weekend. Fei
You can read the full E-news here: https://mailchi.mp/85d35ddab010/this-weeks-newsletter-from-st-andrews-on-the-terrace-9338395
