More than 25,000,000others have been internally displaced they are forced from their homes and made to walk their countries roads in search of a secure resting place. In our own wealthy county of Monmouth there are many who sleep in the streets or manage to find some overnight refuge from the cold winter weather. Last Monday, in the midst of the storm that wasn t, as we were searching around Asbury Park for a site for our AIDS Housing project we were being shown a building that has been empty for a number of years and saw signs of the people that break in to find a place cold and damp though it may be for the night. Indeed some of our party discovered some folk still asleep in the top floor of the abandoned old hotel. Up until recently the homeless of Asbury could be found during the night sleeping in City Hall but now that door is locked too.
Homelessness is, in effect, tantamount to having no identity.
Without an address, the homeless person usually cannot get a job, receive social security or financial aid. Abram and Sarah were given an identity by God s invitation and promise. Their lives were changed their future secure. Its interesting that in the Gospel, when Peter wants to permatize the situation he wants to build some tents and make a solid place for Jesus and Moses and Elijah to be, Jesus refuses the invitation. Jesus home would not be up high on the mountaintop but in solidarity with those who were poor and oppressed and those who were judged harshly by others.