Church on the Street

There was an interesting piece in the Op-Ed section of yesterday's New York Times about churches trying to minister to the homeless. The author, Neela Banerjee, reported on a church in Washington, D. C. the Episcopal church of the Epiphany which holds Street Church on Tuesdays. After the service, the church serves a meal. Epiphany keeps its doors open during the day and on Sunday morning they serve breakfast and hold an indoor service for the homeless. The rector of the church, Rev. Randolph Charles, reports that it takes a lot of energy and effort to train workers, acquire permits to hold services, and deal with problems among the homeless, but believes it's worth the effort. Epiphany was inspired and helped by Rev. Deborah Little Wyman who started this in Boston 11 years ago. UCC Medfield has participated with these services held in Boston Common from time to time.