In the south central San Luis Valley, in the city of Alamosa, Colorado, is an unassuming beige house with bright red trim and a gravel front yard. A sign posted out front reads: “La Puente Home, Emergency Shelter, Community Meals: Lunch 12 PM, Dinner 6 PM”.
This was the site for my first youth mission trip in the summer of 2006. My church youth group had made the two-day trek across the country and spent ten days in Alamosa, at La Puente Home, helping prepare and serve the community meals and assisting with various projects around the property and at other mission agencies La Puente had partnered with. No matter what tasks we were involved in throughout the day, we were responsible for being at La Puente at noon and again at six to serve the community meals. La Puente’s mission insisted that those who were serving the community and those who were being served should connect and interact with one another. I remember our guide for the week, John, insisting: “it is so we can see God within each other and know we are not alone.”
When we can see God within each other, we know we are not alone.
La Puente was different from the many other shelters serving this area of southern Colorado. Unlike almost every other shelter in Alamosa, La Puente did not kick its clients out each morning. La Puente allowed unhoused individuals to leave their belongings in their bunk space during the day while they worked or applied for work. And as part of their ministry, La Puente would assist in finding a job, or doing skills training for their able-bodied clients. Many of the individuals who stayed there were either women with children, disabled, or had recently become unhoused. However, about half of La Puente’s population were immigrants, men and women, who had settled in this area and were looking for work, but were struggling to find it because of their legal status and the economic conditions of the time. La Puente believed that stability was key for people to get back on their feet and escape the cycle of poverty and homelessness, and their ministry sought to build a bridge, from despair to renewal, by being that stable environment for many unhoused individuals in the community.
Because La Puente was so unique in this way, we got to know many of the various individuals who made up the La Puente community, especially during our time serving the meals and working around the property. I remember meeting Terry who had come to La Puente over two years ago after having barely survived a relationship marred by domestic violence which left her without the ability to speak. I remember Dan, a former sanitation worker who had lost his hand in a work accident and was denied worker’s compensation, leaving him to lose the livelihood he had known for over thirty years. And I remember Jose and Jesus, the two sons of an immigrant woman, who travelled north across the border as she sought refuge and a secure job and future for her young boys. Over 300 men, women, and children called that place home, each with a story similar to this- it was a community of people who had been through incredibly difficult circumstances, but it was also a community where God was present.
The statement “so we can see God within each other and know we are not alone” has stuck with me over the years. It has been a guide in my personal sense of service and outreach over the past two decades. There are two key parts to that statement. First, “so we can see God within each other”. In service, we bear witness to the humanity and sacredness within one another. Second, “and know we are not alone.” Service necessitates that we see beyond ourselves and our own priorities. It demands that we open our hearts to others beyond our own circumstances. In humble service, we see the humanity in one another and find space for the humanity within ourselves to grow- and in this we realize we are not so different than we may have initially believed.
In humble service, we see the humanity in one another and find space for the humanity within ourselves to grow- and in this we realize we are not so different than we may have initially believed.
In our scripture reading from Luke this morning, Jesus commissions missionaries into service- to go out into the world to do ministry: bear witness to God and in service remind others that they are not alone. In the scripture we hear Jesus instruct, when you get to someone’s house who welcomes you in- bear witness to God already present in their home and community, and then serve those in need. Jesus recognizes that bearing witness to the sacred present within each other and serving with love and humility allows humanity and community to increase among all; and in that, God is glorified.
I am reminded of those individuals I met so many years ago at La Puente Home because their stories are particularly poignant and powerful given all that has occurred in our country over the past weeks and months. We have seen the enactment of legislation that will very likely impact people like Terry, Dan, and immigrant families like Jose, Jesus and their mother, and all of those who call La Puente home. No doubt many individuals in very similar circumstances across our country will be deeply impacted by the continued actions taken by our government. Some may no longer have access to the quality of healthcare that they are in need of, and others may very well lose a child or a loved one because they can no longer afford necessary life-saving medicine, and I know many of you are involved in agencies and organizations that will struggle with additional funding cuts and increased need. We also continue to see families and communities divided as immigrants are sought out across the country, stripped of due process, and locked in cages in deep swamplands and arid deserts, all in the name of safety, security, and “winning”.
I grow increasingly concerned that immigrants are being seen as second-class individuals in our country, a sentiment which directly opposes God’s command to treat the immigrant as the native born, and contradicts the gospel of Jesus Christ. I grow increasingly concerned that in our nation’s quest for wealth and prosperity, we are overlooking those on the side of the road who are suffering and crying out for help. I grow increasingly concerned that the most vulnerable and marginalized among us seem to be systematically targeted through legislation and law enforcement on a scale not seen in decades. I have struggled as we continue to witness such cruel treatment of immigrants in a country which claims to uphold the sentiment “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” I grow increasingly concerned about the direction we seem to be heading in as a nation; but I do not despair.
I do not despair in the face of uncertainty. I do not despair in the face of this new challenge. I do not despair when powers seek to dehumanize and divide. I do not despair in the face of tyranny- despair is what such powers seek. I do not despair today, because I know the gospel has the power to overcome these forces. “Weeping may come for the night, but joy will come in the morning”- Psalm 30 is not only a prayer of praise but it is also a prescription in the wilderness. It is perhaps the most powerful non-violent protest that the church has at her disposal. In the face of forces that seek to bring despair, we praise God in joy. In the face of uncertainty, we praise God in joy. In the face of tyranny, we praise God in joy. When we are worried- we praise God in joy. In the face of death and defeat at the grave, Jesus Christ turns mourning into dancing and sorrow into joy. If we allow the forces of division and destruction to bring us to despair the gospel is not made known in our lives. Instead, like Jesus teaches, we are to protest in peace and non-violence, brush off our sandals, demand justice, and continue on in the work set out before us- caring for those overlooked, for those downtrodden, for the vulnerable, the hungry, the sick, and the outcast. We do not let our mourning become despair; we persist, by praising God with joy and continuing on in our call to serve others in need, bearing witness to the sacredness in every life, and loving others without limits.
Our praise is our service and our service is our praise. Our praise is seeing God in others, in everyone we meet. When we bear witness to God in others, we build bridges that remind us that we are not alone and that God is indeed working among us. Each and every one of us bears the image of God, no matter where we came from, where we call home, what language we speak, who we love, the things we may have done in our past, or what society may label us as- God is working in every story, in every time, and in all things- guiding us toward justice, peace, and love. I do not despair today, because I know the gospel has the power to unite us and bridge us in the love of God made known in Jesus Christ.
Each and every one of us bears the image of God, no matter where we came from, where we call home, what language we speak, who we love, the things we may have done in our past, or what society may label us as- God is working in every story, in every time, and in all things- guiding us toward justice, peace, and love.
La Puente in Spanish means “the bridge”, and the La Puente Home is still serving the community of Alamosa today- where their goal to be a bridge from despair to hope, remains. Their mission to build a compassionate community continues. I don’t know where John may be today, but I thank him for his wisdom to serve “so we can see God in each other and know we are not alone.”
Bearing witness to the sacredness in one another bridges us together in a way that is holy and goes beyond any border, any race, any gender, or any other division our culture may place upon us.
Bearing witness to the sacredness in one another bridges us together in a way that is holy and goes beyond any border, any race, any gender, or any other division our culture may place upon us. And it reminds us of our responsibility to care for one another and to love one another, just as God loves us. “Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat with them, cure the sick, and proclaim God is present.” If the Spirit is there, bear witness- praise and serve. In doing so, we build bridges, show the love of Jesus Christ, challenge the powers of division, and glorify God.
The TASK 
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