The snow has begun to fall and often, I would be excited about an impeding large storm. I am getting the weather alerts and various advisories. Kim is doing her shopping and Fiona will soon be going to her grandparents’ house. She will have a great time riding out the storm with them. Yet I remain blue. Some of it may be the sadness at the passing of my aunt. Some of it may be reflections about the homeless.

Last Tuesday, I went to two memorial services for homeless people that died during 2010. They were touching services and I think about those who will struggle through the storm without a home. I pray they may find shelter and warmth.

At the first service, the minister talked about how since we are created in God’s image, that means homeless people are too, and we need to remember that as we treat them with care and dignity. She spoke about seeing the face of God in homeless people.

The second service echoed this idea, and took it even further. It was at the Episcopal church in Middletown, CT. When it came time to greet one another, a ritual where Episcopalians shake one another’s hands and say ‘Peace’, the minister talked about a Bishop that had visited from Africa. He had decried the sterile manner in which the peace was passed. In his church, he said, instead of saying “Peace”, they say, “I love the face of God that I see in you today.” Wow!

So, we greeted each other that way, or at least some of us did. For the homeless person who is invisible to too many of us, it must be quite an experience to have someone look them in their eyes and talk about love and the face of God. I hope both the homeless and who currently have homes were blessed by such exchanges.

For me, I had a slightly different experience. Behind me was a man from the American Legion. I had overheard him speaking about gathering food at The Legion that he was going to bring to a local food pantry. He had asked the executive director of the food pantry, who was next to him at church about a good time to bring the food over.

I turned towards him and he greeted me “Hello”.

I used the words the minister had suggested and told him I loved the face of God that I saw in him that day. He looked a little uneasy and shrugged it off. Yet his words about finding time to bring food to the homeless echoed the voice of God whether or not he chose to acknowledge it.

Next to him, the executive director of the food pantry beamed. It seemed as if he has spent much of his life seeing the face of God in those around him, both in the homeless people that come to receive food, as well as in the faces of guys from the American Legion dropping off food. He seemed happy, perhaps even relieved, that people could name and join in on this wonderful vision that he is privileged to see so often, but perhaps does not look often enough in the mirror to see it there too.