For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’   – Matthew 25:35-40

My wife and I have always talked about why more churches are not opening their doors to the homeless. We have so many buildings within the community yet few actually open their facility for homeless to stay – even if it were during the winter months. Now, my wife and I are probably just young, dumb, and a bit naive. But there actually are churches serving the least of these and opening their doors on a weekly basis to shelter homeless families!  These churches are networked through something called “Interfaith Hospitality Network”.

Colorado Springs’ Family Promise help homeless and low-income families get their feet off the streets. Family Promise is the “umbrella” over Interfaith Hospitality Network here locally, which finds churches within it’s community to house homeless families for 1 to 2 weeks at a time.

As we served families a home cooked meal, sat with them and heard their stories, the Kingdom of God became alive right there before our very eyes. There’s just something about sharing a meal that makes you equal with others – sitting and looking into their eyes. The walls of differences are torn down. Heaven touched the earth in that moment and how I desire for other people and churches to experience the life in serving others.

In caring for those in need, we discover that our acts of compassion for the needy are the same as if done for Jesus himself; and how difficult it would be to walk away from serving Jesus himself and not be changed.