This is for all the lonely people

I've had an interesting week. I've been forced into the realization that there is huge group of people in the world who, for all practical purposes, are almost invisible.

I am doing a funeral tomorrow for a 67 year old man who died when he was hit by a train. He suffered from Alzheimers and had wandered away from his family. He walked on the railroad tracks for 20 km. before being hit. However the thing that made the biggest impact on me wasn't the way he died, it was where he lived. He lived in a duplex right behind the church that I pastor. I walk or drive by his house every day. He'd lived there for almost two years and I didn't even know that he existed. What makes it even worse was that he was Mexican. One of the things I have lamented about living in Hope was that there is very little opportunity to practice my Spanish. Meanwhile, 50 meters from my office is a family who is speaking Spanish in their home. Yet in the midst of my "ministry", they had been invisible to me. When I asked them if there were people in town who would come to the funeral they said that they really didn't know anyone in town. They'd made efforts to get to know people, but no one seemed to connect with them. They had assumed that it was something wrong with them.

I've been trying to reflect on this experience with some sort of openness to the Spirit of God. I realize that I can't take responsibility for everyone in my town. There is no physical way that I can meet every individual and help them connect to a social/support network. But I have been challenged. Challenged to look for the invisible people. Challenged to slow down enough to say hello and see what happens. Challenged once again to get to know the people that Jesus called "...the least of these..."