Last month I had to talk to a volunteer in my organistaion who had given a homeless girl shelter for the night and explain to her that she was not allowed to do this under the organisation’s policy. It’s been bugging me for weeks. Basically the volunteer acted like a Good Samaritan by taking in someone in a very desperate situation with no one else left to turn to. As well as being homeless, she had been assaulted along with, like so many people we see, a myriad of other problems. The volunteer looked after the girl as responsibly as possible, given that it might be a risky situation (just like the original Good Samaritan story). I so feel like a member of the religious establishment telling her off for not doing things the “orthodox way” which would have meant merely giving the girl a number to call in the morning and saying best of luck fending for yourself tonight. Certainly if I was in the volunteer’s situation and followed the official guidelines I would be finding it hard to live with myself right now.
This has got me thinking about the way that the church has developed social agencies which are then funded mostly by government bodies who then put restrictions, like the above, on agency activities. The church feels good because we feel like we are reaching out to people via these agencies. The government feels good because social services are being provided. The only people who don’t feel good are those who are actually in need. Having known someone who has died on the streets of Perth I know that it could have been quite possible that the girl in need could have died or even killed themselves if our volunteer had not stepped in.
I think we have sold compassion to the bureaucrats. As Xns we need to get our hands dirty, we need to take risks caring for people who could rob us hurt us. Of course we need to take as many precautions as possible, but if we wish to leave compassion to risk averse bureaucrats then we have to be honest and say we wish to erase the Good Samaritan parable from the Bible.
This has got me thinking about the way that the church has developed social agencies which are then funded mostly by government bodies who then put restrictions, like the above, on agency activities. The church feels good because we feel like we are reaching out to people via these agencies. The government feels good because social services are being provided. The only people who don’t feel good are those who are actually in need. Having known someone who has died on the streets of Perth I know that it could have been quite possible that the girl in need could have died or even killed themselves if our volunteer had not stepped in.
I think we have sold compassion to the bureaucrats. As Xns we need to get our hands dirty, we need to take risks caring for people who could rob us hurt us. Of course we need to take as many precautions as possible, but if we wish to leave compassion to risk averse bureaucrats then we have to be honest and say we wish to erase the Good Samaritan parable from the Bible.
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