Siblings in Christ,
In 2013, Grants Pass adopted a plan to criminalize sleeping, or camping, in public with tickets, fine, and jail time. A group of homeless individuals sued the city and the case, Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson, ended up before the Supreme Court. Today, the court announced their decision to uphold the camping ban. This ruling is likely to have a nationwide impact. Read Presiding Bishop Eaton’s response.
Let us pray for everyone affected by this decision. Especially, those in Grants Pass without homes, those working to support them, and Sister Jennie and Pastor Jon Myers at Calvary Lutheran.
The challenges facing our communities around housing are not new to us here in Oregon. Touring the synod in my first months as bishop in 2019, my staff and I heard that the number one issue facing every part of the state was housing affordability. Many of us are fielding questions from friends, family and fellow church members about how we address this crisis.
As I think about thoughtful, faithful responses to questions that often arise as we move to come home together in Oregon, I’m finding the ELCA’s 1990 Social Message on Homelessness helpful, if a bit dated. The social message reminds us that Article 25 of the United Nation’s “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” states that housing is a fundamental right, related to the inherent worth and dignity of all. The message acknowledges that the collective policies and practices of our government and economic institutions are not adequately responding. The social message also provides guidance as together we pursue just, appropriate and sustainable solutions that uphold human dignity. The systemic issues surrounding houselessness are complex, and addressing our state’s lack of affordable housing will take layered efforts. There is much work to do.
I give thanks for those of you involved in the Leaven Community Land and Housing Cohort, a partnership of the Oregon Synod. You are faithfully and creatively joining with other faith communities across the state, listening to your impacted neighbors and discerning ways to steward faith land toward solutions like sheltering, safe rest and tiny home villages, and affordable housing with wrap-around services. You are advocating for policies and funds at local and state levels that create safe spaces for others to come home and thrive. You are making a difference in the lives of our siblings and in the unfolding of the Kin-dom of God!
Scripture reminds us over and over again that ALL people bear the face of the divine, and that our Loving Creator hears our deepest cries.
Lutheran tradition and Christian teaching do not offer simple or cookie cutter solutions to the crisis, yet we are called as people on the Way of Jesus to accompany those who are without homes in their struggles to live with dignity and respect, and come home to one another in the process.
May we continue to seek the face of God in all humans, especially those our society would discard!
With you on the Way
Bishop Laurie L. Caesar
