Advent Shelter: Devotion #11

SHELTER: The Example of an Innkeeper – by Claire McIlveen

 

‘Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood

When blackness was a virtue, the road was full of mud

I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form

Come in, she said

I'll give ya

Shelter from the storm                               -Bob Dylan, 1974

These days, when we think of shelter, the first thing that comes to mind is literal shelter: a place of refuge from wind, rain and snow. 

A home.

Or is Dylan’s hero seeking a place of refuge from the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” as Shakespeare’s Hamlet puts it: somewhere away from the challenges, contradictions and occasional strife that can preoccupy us in our daily lives?

Sometimes shelter is warm and comforting: a mother’s hand upon an ailing child’s forehead, a lover’s embrace, the camaraderie of old friends, the neighbour’s gift of a casserole after a death in the family.

It can also be spiritual shelter in the form of a welcoming religious community or even a political philosophy where we can safely explore ideas and live in hope of a better world.

But we can’t find refuge from daily life, human warmth or spiritual enlightenment without a home.

Home is where personality is born and resilience is fostered, dreams are incubated and progress is imagined. Without home, we don’t have much, other than a gnawing anxiety about how to put a roof (or in the case of too many, a tent) over our heads and where our next meal will come from. You can’t imagine a better life if you are hanging on to the present one by non-existent fingernails.

In a society where shelter - an absolute need in Canada - is sold to the highest bidder and many just can’t bid, the outcome is catastrophic.

But as Christians, we have the example of the innkeeper to follow: we can do what we can to help.

We can push the issue of lack of affordable housing to the forefront of public discourse. We can support movements and political parties that offer genuine solutions to the problems of homelessness and push against solutions that seek to move the problem - and the homeless - out of sight and out of mind.

We can donate to movements and charities that help the homeless where they are now and to find homes.

Our church’s investigations into redeveloping the property to provide some low-income housing is an important initiative that we can support.

As we move into Advent and celebrate the innkeeper who gives Mary and Joseph a roof over their heads for the birth of Jesus, let us give thanks for all the kinds of shelter in our lives and work towards a time when everyone in the world can share in our abundance.

 

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