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Churches in the area of Beverly serve free meals to people in need on most days, and Living Faith serves Wednesday and Thursday dinners.

At Living Faith, we have adopted the term “unsheltered” to refer to people who traditionally have been called homeless, because most of these persons do have a home: they call the streets their home. We at Living Faith do our best to serve the many people who are living on the streets of Beverly.

Churches, including ours, will often collect goods for the winter months and distribute these gifts to the unsheltered at Christmas. However, these people are in need during the rest of the year, too, some years ago we started our annual Christmas in July service, which we celebrated at last week’s worship service.

We decorate the church as if it’s Christmas. We sing all the favorite Christmas hymns and read the birth story. For the weeks leading up to the service we collect monetary donations to fill bags with basic needs, including toiletries and socks, to give to our unsheltered neighbors. This is a service people always look forward to. At the Wednesday night after this year’s service, we announced to our guests that we had celebrating Christmas in July on Sunday and that we had gifts for everyone. The excitement was palpable! The smiles on people’s faces gave everyone in the room such a great feeling inside.

We had an unsheltered person who used to live on the church property. I would go out and talk with him and check in on him, as would others from the church. This man, who we will call “Jack,” seemed to have some substance abuse issues and needed help. Jack was hesitant to go into shelters because he did not want to leave his belongings behind. When all you have is what you can carry, it certainly makes your priorities different. Months went by trying to get Jack into a shelter: either a shelter were full, or someone was there he didn’t get along with. Someone may not want to go into a shelter for any number of reasons (which I won’t get into here) but know this: these reasons are valid, and we must respect them. One day, Jack told me that his belongings had been stolen and he truly had nothing. This was a terrible situation, but it seemed that everything was in alignment, and I was able to get Jack some help. He ended up checking into a rehab center.

Weeks went by and I did not see Jack on our steps anymore. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. At this point I was just praying he was okay. One Sunday morning when it came to prayer time in the church a well-dressed, clean-shaven gentleman stood up and asked for prayers. He said, “I want to thank this church because without your love and compassion, I might have been face down in a ditch dead by now. My name is Jack, and it was the love and compassion that this church gave me that allows me to be here right now. Thank you.” He then sat down, and there was not a dry eye in the building. Of course, we all remembered “Jack”—he had changed the life of our congregation.

Sometimes we see someone down on their luck and we may cross to the other side of the road. But you never know when you may be talking to a “Jack”. Sit down and get to know people, hear their story, and show them the love that God has shown you. Have gratitude for just the basics in life. Every day can be Christmas. On the warm July day that “Jack” came back to share his story, it was a Christmas day for all of us.

The Rev. Adam Randazzo serves the Living Faith United Methodist Church of Beverly and Ipswich.

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First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.