I stopped by the bank the other day to cash a few checks for pocket money. The teller already was having a bad day, I surmised, as she completed a tense conversation with a co-worker while I approached her window….
What I learned about ‘the poor’ by working in a soup kitchen
In 2011, while I was studying as a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, I applied to be the coordinator of a soup kitchen one night a week a few blocks from Queen’s Park. It was called the Gathering…
Why is there still ‘no room’ for so many homeless in America this Christmas?
More than 2,000 years ago, when Jesus was born, there was “no room” for his family in Bethlehem. Likewise, as Christmas 2021 approaches, we have no room for hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans who live in tents, cardboard…
Norfolk Street Choir infuses dignity with a dose of music
No one would mistake the Freemason Street Baptist Church Norfolk Street Choir concert for professionals. But that’s hardly the point. With this group, rehearsals are in large part the purpose. Performance is a byproduct.
Photo Gallery: Norfolk Street Choir
View the photo gallery from the Norman Street Choir.
Paul Ryan and the House chaplain: Proof that prayer works?
The scientific study of prayer focuses on the things for which people most often pray — health concerns, financial difficulties, or societal problems — but the prayers we do not pray are the best evidence that prayer works.
Marginalized are harder to see ― and help ― in tourist towns, ministers say
As just about anyone who works regularly among at-risk populations knows, the disenfranchised are swept under the social rug regardless of what city they are in. But poverty, hunger and other ills can be harder to spot in recreational get-aways.
Flood waters deepen minister’s calling into homeless ministry
Merianna Harrelson was cruising along as pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, S.C., when Mother Nature stepped in with historic flooding in the fall of 2015. The high waters, and the suffering they inspired, drew Harrelson and her husband,…
Sense of hopelessness, as mother takes kids to homeless shelter
It was 6 p.m. when Leticia Harley, her 2-month-old son and 2-year-old daughter could re-enter the emergency homeless shelter in Dallas. They would file in line early, three among many, looking for a safe place for the night.