Vicissitude and Amelioration

Vicissitude and Amelioration

We had a morning at Manna House filled with the storminess of the changing season, and an occasional glimmer of sunshine. This isn’t just a weather report, but also a telling of how we did this morning, guests and hosts alike. 

Part of the storminess was that we said good-bye to a faithful volunteer, Ann Marie, who is moving to North Carolina. And this was on top of good-byes from several weeks ago to Jeanne and Jena. Knowing that people coming and going is part of the reality of life doesn’t make it any easier when folks go. We’re grateful for the work these volunteers have done at Manna House. Each in their own way brought joy into the offering of hospitality, and their leaving is an unwelcome change. We miss them.

For our guests, it is another type of change that brings hardship. The current change of seasons, from spring into summer, creates a lot of anxiety and unease. As the temperatures and humidity begin to rise, so do tempers. As the number of mosquitoes and other bugs increases, so do the aggravations. And this change, of course, affects us as hosts at Manna House as well. There are conflicts to be watched and sometimes negotiated, difficult guests to be guided, and occasionally, a guest will be asked to leave for the day.

One of our guests who brings a word or two for definition each day came today with two. “Vicissitudes” was the first word for which Larry wanted a definition. Certainly our guests regularly experience vicissitudes in their lives, struggles that they would rather avoid but must try and get through. Right now it is the vicissitude of this change of seasons, on top of the ongoing insults and injustices they endure. 

Larry’s second word was “ameliorate” and both we and our guests could use some amelioration of the current vicissitudes. As hosts we feel the struggle our guests have, and we hope to be a steady and helpful presence for them in the struggles. We’d like to make things better. We’d like to help folks get through not just this change of seasons, but through being on the streets. A place of sanctuary, a hot shower, a change of clothes, clean and dry socks, hot coffee—those all help. But what we’d really like is homes for those who are experiencing homelessness.

On the porch, there was a little bit of Bible study going on sparked by a guest asking for a “verse for the day.” Kirk shared from 2 Samuel 14:14, “We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away a life; God will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from God’s presence.” Vicissitude and amelioration, right there in the Bible verse of the day. 

This Bible verse led to a lively discussion of the Gospel as good news of healing and redemption versus judgment and condemnation. In the midst of that, Larry (not the Larry of words needing definition but another Larry—Larry of the Bible verse), was insistent on sharing a different verse of the day, and one that was not so inspirational: 2 Kings 18:27. I’m guessing it is not a verse often memorized in Vacation Bible Schools. You can look it up.

Across the street from this discussion stood a guest who has been asked to be away from Manna House for a while. He has threatened violence against both guests and volunteers. His anger has been explosive. So, now he’s being excluded by a place that tries to practice inclusion. That’s a hard judgment to swallow, and he’s resisting by standing with a menacing glare for several hours each morning while we are open. Attempts to talk with him, to try and open the door for some reconciliation, have led nowhere. Vicissitude for him, and for us.

I’m not sure how amelioration of this situation is going to take place. We’re trying to live into God’s welcome, and extend that welcome to our guests. It doesn’t always happen. For that we repent, and lean into the grace of God. We trust that God does have a plan to not keep all of us outcasts banished forever from God’s presence.