When the Roll is Called Up Yonder

When the Roll is Called Up Yonder

“Who’s got the list?” “Do you have the list?” “Can I get on the list?” “Where am I on the list?” “Is there still room on the list?” “Is the list full?”

            I can imagine St. Peter at the pearly gates hearing those questions on a daily basis as new folks arrive. Right now, I hear those questions every morning at Manna House. I have no idea what St. Peter’s list looks like. At Manna House the list is a spiral notebook on a clipboard. St. Peter’s list is very important to be on. It means you get into heaven. The list at Manna House is not quite that important. If a guest gets on the list, they either get a shower and a change of clothes, or socks and hygiene (which includes a fresh shirt off the rack and with colder weather, hats, gloves, scarves, blankets).  

            Even though the Manna House list is not about salvation, both volunteers and guests see it as sacred. The list represents a kind of covenant between Manna House and the guests.

            Manna House promises that there are always twenty-five slots for men’s showers on Monday and Thursday (each man can only shower once a week), fifteen slots for women’s showers (they take a little longer), fifty-one slots for socks and hygiene on Monday and Thursday, and sixty slots for socks and soap on Tuesdays. Manna House also guarantees that if a guest arrives before 8:30a.m. on a Monday or a Thursday, they will get on the socks and hygiene list even if there are fifty-one or more already signed up.

            The guests, for their part, give us their names to get on the list (and it is usually their actual name). They also faithfully (most of the time) listen for their names to be called. They also patiently wait (most of the time) to go into the clothing room only when their name has been called.

            The list at Manna House got its start through the suggestion of guests. When we first opened Manna House ten years ago, guests stood in line for showers or for socks and hygiene. One day a guest said, “Why don’t you take our names and then call us?” Good idea. A list is not a line. With a list, people can enjoy some coffee and each other’s company while they wait to hear their names.

            The list has also functioned to help us get to know the names of guests. I am not so good at remembering names, so I appreciate working the list. Taking names and calling names helps put them in my memory.

            We save the old lists. A spiral notebook lasts about six months before it is filled. Sometimes we go back over the old lists and see names of people we have not seen for a while. Sometimes we see names of those who have died. We also see how long some of our guests have been coming to Manna House.

            I like to think St. Peter might keep his list a bit like we keep ours. Our list is a way to organize our hospitality. Our list helps us welcome guests by name. We do not require any identification. As I said to one guest who was starting to take his I.D. out of his wallet, “You don’t need that here; you’re a child of God.”

            Maybe St. Peter keeps a list just to welcome people. He does not ask for any identification beyond “child of God.” I imagine his saying that is a mighty grace-filled moment and there is both laughter and tears of joy.

            I am not trying to minimize judgment, which is to say, accountability, for wrongdoing. I have some hesitation about what is called “universalism” in which everyone goes to heaven. There have been a few (very few) guests over the years who have so violated hospitality that they are no longer welcome to get on the list at Manna House.

            Likewise, in the Book of Revelation, we get this judgment scene, “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds” (Revelation 20:12).

            But beyond judgment, I know that we all need God’s grace to make it through this life and into the next, and I cannot imagine God’s hospitality being any less than ours. I can, however, imagine that God’s hospitality is quite a bit better than ours.

            Our list at Manna House for showers and socks and hygiene is, I hope, a sacrament of God’s hospitality. This hope is what made me think of the parallels between St. Peter’s list and ours. It is the same hope I hear in that old Gospel song which confidently sings, “When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.”