Manhattan
On August 25th, 2024, a preacher delivered a sermon in Manhattan. He recounted his father’s dedication to delivering bread around New York City and Long Island as a truck driver, and later a shop steward. The sermon celebrated the rich diversity of New York and honored his father’s remarkable relationships with people from various cultures, ethnicities, and religions. The preacher emphasized his father’s commitment to his vocation by providing the best “bread from heaven” to everyone he encountered, "He made sure the bread was never stale. And if it was stale, he would give it to the homeless people, whoever. "
What do you think?¶
Questions
Audience¶
In addition to the on-site and in-person audience, the service was livestreamed and it remains on YouTube[1]. So the audience is limited to neither time nor space. Among others:
Folks who volunteer or work with the homeless: are they being reminded that the homeless are at least as venerable, if not more?
Folks who were, who are or who will be homeless[2]: are they being affirmed that we all eat the same bread?
Folks who live in excess: are they being invited to alternatives, that that’s not the only way to live?
Hearts and minds young and old: does this serve as a lesson that New York is rich in diversity, which naturally includes everyone, whether homeless or not?
Stale bread¶
Is that the best way to share and distribute resources?
Is excess the only way we can live in?
Diversity¶
Do all the different ethnicities of New York include the homeless?
... if it was stale, he would give it up to the homeless people...
“Everybody” says that all the time, a refrain too common.
Not just homeless people, but
homeless people, whoever.
Who are the “whoever”?
Haven’t we been cheering (and booing):