good morning, welcome to mosaic. pastor of saint mark's and lutheran church. today we'll reflect on our issues of faith and where they intersect in our daily lives and we have an important issue to talk about today. it is the issue of homelessness and how we care for and minister with the homeless. i have two wonderful guests who have vast experience working with the homeless. they are pastor lyle beckman who works for san francisco night

ministry. we'll hear from him in a moment. but i first want to welcome laura slatery. she's the executive director of the gubiel project. how long have you been the executive director there? >> going on seven years now. >> wonderful. i have seen the work that you do. i know you work elsewhere. but first what is the gubiel project. i know it has to do with sacred sleep and sanctuary. what do you do? >> thank you, first, for having me on the show. the project was started about 12 years ago as an experiment. what would happen if we allowed people during the day to feel very welcomed in our church and to then lay down and sleep on the pews. there is a story about the pastor at the time, he went on a trip to the east coast, and in the mill he was in denver and

had a layover and went to the chapel. he was exhausted and wanted to lay down. as he was about to lay down, he saw a sign that said no sleeping. he thought, who am i hurting? and god doesn't mind. that is what i'm doing in my church, i'm allowing people in but letting them get this important thing they need, sleep. he decided to let people lay down. at first it was volunteers and just one person. but there were only 10 or 15 people. now there are probably at any given time 110 people resting on the pews during the day. >> this was during the day and when i was there, there was a mass taking place. so you have men, women, sleeping or listening in this very sacred space, all worshippers are gathered around mass. >> for me that is the part i love the most. we open our gates at 6:00 a.m.

there is usually 30 or 40 people waiting to come in. but by the first time the mass used to start 7:30, there was already 100 people sleeping in the back pews. you had 30 people coming to the mass. it sent a strong message to both groups. one to the people attending mass that their community was much larger, that the body of christ is actually the entire community of people. and for the people that were sleeping on the pews, that they were as important as the mass. they're not going to be kicked out now just because this community is doing something. >> who is coming to sleep during the daytime? what is that about? >> it is people who don't feel safe on the streets at night. some looking forward to talking with lyle about that. we share a lot of the same people. it is people who can't get into shelters. according to the coalition on homelessness there is one bed in a shelter for every five

homeless people. lot of people are sleeping on the streets and always a lot of talk about there are people afraid of homeless people. but when we talk about violence, it is usually the people who are homeless are actually the recipients of a lot of that violence. it is just not safe on the streets. so i love it when people say to me, oh, the gubiel project, there we can sleep with both eyes closed. sleep is so important. >> we should say where you are located. >> so it is the only catholic church, franciscan parish in the tenderloin. >> so most of the people who come in, are they from the immediate neighborhood here in the tenderloin? >> they are. the tenderloin has the largest number of homeless people and there is no shelter in the tenderloin. >> that doesn't make sense. >> no. the latest san francisco homeless count done last year they showed it only a percentage

or two uptick in the homeless in satisfactory yet the tenderloin they had 800 more people on the streets in the tenderloin. >> can the people receive other services, too. >> the ideas we're creating community. there is much healing happening there. it is to address the needs of the people in the moment the best we can. we don't have a big budget. people donate socks. people donate blankets. we have ibuprofen and emergency supplies, tooth brushes and those kinds of things. we have chaplains everyday. our hospitality monitors, those are the people that are greeting and keeping the calm. welcoming and accompanying our guests, they used to be the people that would have the listening ears. with 110 people in the church,

we need to have dedicated people that will just sit and be with and also have some training in really listening to people and helping them navigate the crisis they're finding themselves in. >> the project sounds like a ministry of hospitality that is needed in the tenderloin and we'll hear a bit more about it after we hear more about the san francisco night ministry. we'll take a break right now.

>> welcome back to mosaic. our topic today is homelessness. you are the san francisco night minister. >> that is correct, yes. >> i heard you call it the

church without walls. so what does that mean and what do you do? >> so night ministry is 52 years old and we provide crisis intervention, counseling and referral services every night of the year between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. and we do it in two ways. we have trained volunteer crisis line counselors who answer our crisis line and then we have ordained clergy like myself literally walking the streets of san francisco. so our parish really is all of san francisco or really all of the bay area if you count the people that call into our crisis line. >> do you go into a specific neighborhood? and what do you do when you go into the neighborhood? >> so we're in all of the neighborhoods of san francisco where people are apt to be out. and there are people who are out because they're partying. there are people who are out because they're hanging out. there are people who are out because they work nights.

so all of those people are folks that we get a chance to talk to and get to know. but, of course, in just about every neighborhood whether we know that or not, there are people living on the streets. so half or more of the people that we tend to talk to at night are people living on the streets and struggling with poverty and homelessness. >> and there i'm sure you're probably particularly focussed on the homelessness on the streets. what do they use you for? why might they speak with you? >> so a lot of folks, just like you or me, we have bad days, we have bad nights, we have things on our mind. we can't sleep. so we can help folks think things through, process things. we can be a dispenser of information. a lot of folks who are new to the streets don't always know where they might go or how to

best access social services that the city and county of san francisco provide. or they don't know about the non-profit organizations that do so much work with that population. >> like the gubbio project. >> exactly. so we become dispensers of information. we also can talk with people about matters of faith. a lot of folks, believe it or not, are really deeply spiritual and religious, and so when they see someone in a clerical collar, they're reminded of how important maybe their faith had been at one time in their life and so it is a good opportunity to talk with them about the importance of maintaining some spiritual or faith-like practice while they're going through so much struggle and suffering and pain. >> you also offer worship services out in the open again. >> we call them open cathedrals. and it's a way for us to gather

people together who might feel a little bit uncomfortable about going into a typical church or mosque or temple in san francisco, and because people have some issues, perhaps, with church, or when they're living on the streets or they're poor or they have a mental health issue or they have stuff literally stuff that they bring with them, they're not always easily accommodated in typical congregations, nor, do they sometimes feel comfortable with the rhythm, the sitting, the standing, the liturgy. people know what to say and how to say it. >> so what is a typical -- >> visitors don't often know, so they shy away from places like that. our open cathedral is outside. we have two. one in the civic sent and one at

16th and mission b.a.r.t. station. some sit and others stand or wander around. we let people just be themselves. we have very few rules and regulations about behavior. as long as we respect each other and participate, whatever level they can participate in, is fine. and it's a regular worship service with some readings, some singing, great praying. not so bad preaching, and but it is the gathering of folks together, and in that gathering we see that people really respond well to a simple message of god's care for them, god's love, and that sense of community that we're trying to build on the streets of san francisco. >> or they feel truly welcome. >> exactly. >> i want to go back to your experiences in the tenderloin. i know you're also known to go in and out of bars as part of your ministry, too. why? >> it is a good place to meet

people, right? and why do people come to bars? but to create their own community. sometimes people are in bars when they're trying to deal with their own issues. maybe they're grieving, maybe they're struggling with something in their own life. and so perhaps when they see a night minister, well, they might figure this might be a good person to have a conversation with and often it is. >> where do you see hope in your work? >> well, i listen to the stories of people and we get to know people over a period of time quite often, and we see that things happen in their lives. and it is not just that acity service comes in and helps them with all of their problems all at once. but little by little by little, we see people to see some value in themselves. we see them responding with gratitude and grace and courage and faith and hope themselves

and that continues to give me hope that what we do is important for so many people in san francisco. >> thank you for sharing that with us. we're going to hear now from both laura and lyle about their work in san francisco with the homeless. thanks for joining us.

,, welcome. i am back with pastor lyle beckman from san francisco night ministry, laura slatery, director of the gubbio project. both are involved with the homeless in san francisco. pastor beckman, we were talking about the night ministry and you wanted to share another thought. >> the idea is that so often people talk about the homeless as if they're a problem or as if they can just be ignored or we don't know what to do with them.

well, they're human beings. they're people with names, with stories, with troefts, with gift -- with interests and gifts and abilities, with ability to show compassion to one another. they are in many cases decent people who are just maybe broken, or going through a difficult time, and i wish we could talk about the homeless in a more human way and treat them as if they were brothers and sisters and not part of a problem. i just wanted to share that idea. >> that's important when you take time to know their stories, get to know them. we are them. they are us. and you see that. >> i really appreciate that, lyle, because that is exactly what i'm writing my annual report right now and i was saying there has been so much discussion in san francisco from the sweeps of the super bowl and

sweeps on division street, to all of the valid initiatives and the new homeless department, right? and so there is so much energy and discussion around homelessness and solving homelessness and fixing homelessness, right? but we can fix the problem but we don't fix people. right? we accompany people. and if you're going to say that like we're all in need of healing, right, in one way or another, some maybe it is bigotry i need to be healed from or something else, but when we separate ourselves and say they need healing and we don't, or they need fixing as opposed to the problem needs fixing, the people need to be walked with and in community with. >> since you mention the city and all of the initiatives coming out of the city, what the city is doing, what the city is not doing, what would you say the city should be doing to address, work with, solve, if it

is solvable, this brokenness? >> that is a great question and there are so many parts to an answer. i think again if the city would simply take a better look at its resources and begin to streamline maybe some of the processes that need to take place in order for something to happen, and realize that we can probably put people in safe housing if we made that a priority. because so much of the housing is not safe for people and is not really suitable for folks. so if we make that a priority and try to get away with as little red tape as possible, i think that is the beginning of solving much of the housing issue in san francisco. >> yeah. and that's very diftd than a shelter where we're just warehousing people basically. it is supportive services for

people. laura, what are your thoughts. >> i agree with that. making it a priority and taking away the stigma and criminalization. the city is complicit with the rest of california and the nation in criminalizing our brothers and sisters who are poor. so it is the criminalizing of poverty. if we can step back and look at those laws we have in the city, that criminalize poverty, and so some of the valid issues do that just. and there are already laws on the books. that is what i would say. and to support and encourage more projects like the night ministry and gubbio project. we're not only in the tenderloin, we're in the mission. we have a second church there, st. john's who has been opening its doors and allowing folks to sleep. they don't have pews there, they sleep on mats. >> same thing. >> so we have 70 people busting at the seams there at st. john's

and 100 people busting at the seams at the gubbio project. they can talk with us and partner with us and open their doors as well. in the old tradition of the churches having their doors open, they can keep their doors open. >> that is a challenge and radical thought that churches should wrestle with the gubbio project has what? >> we talk about it being the church's night shift. >> i'm sleeping and you're working. >> my -- your colleagues are sleeping at night and we're out there and taking care of the spiritual needs not just of christians, but anyone who has a spiritual need and we're willing to hold them into our care at night. but then we want to know that the rest of the faith community in san francisco supports us and our work, as well.

so pray for us, and help us to put as many volunteers on our crisis line as we can and as many night ministers on the streets as we can. >> these are two wonderful ministries that put names, faces, stories to our homelessness community, worthy of our prayers and support. i hope you will do so. we'll be back in a moment.

we're back with pastor lyle beckman from the san francisco night ministry. one of the things the two of us have in common is that we are both lutheran clergy, members of the evangelical church in america. october is the month where we think about octoberfest. we think about halloween. but it is also reformation. and we are beginning the 500th anniversary celebration on norring the reformation, martin luther. and mart luther has gone mainstream. a playmobile of martin luther. in his hand is not a sword, but

it is a pen and a bible. martin luther wrote prolifically translating the bible into the common language of the people in germany, and so he literally put the bible in their hands. they had not had access to the bible translating it from latin to common-day everyday german. so that they could read the bible themselves. that is one piece. i love our play mobile of martin luther. we've gone main stream 500 years. it is not often that one gets to celebrate a 500th anniversary. not just celebrate because so many people think of the reformation as a schism between protestorses and catholics. i want -- between protestants

and catholics. >> it is a movement within the whole church. it is a good movement and a movement that continues today. the whole idea of reformation is one that every church can grab hold of and use as a -- as they think about how they do their work together in worship, and their work in the world. >> right. i mean, luther's focus was restoring the gospel, god's love, into the center of the life of the church, something that he thought had really gone astray at that time. he posted those 95 theses, we hear it about it on the castle church walls, 1517. now 2017, 500 years later, we're continuing to recognize the church needs ongoing reform focussing on the gospel. and the ministry that flows from

the gospel. but, you know, luther did so much. he didn't do it by himself. there were other reformers, there were other colleagues, other church bodies formed beyond the lutheran. luther would roll in his grave if he knew a church was started and named after him. he really wanted -- he focussed on the word evan gel lick cal. what does that word mean? >> it is living its life because of what jesus christ has done for us. god through jesus christ in our case. and so it is living a gospel-centered life all the time. >> if you go into a lutheran church, you experience gospel, grace, welcome. go into a lutheran church especially on reformation sunday, the end of the month in october. and, remember, remember this legacy of luther. i had a wonderful show with my

two guests, on behalf of all of my colleagues at mosaic, thank you for joining the mosaic community this sunday morning's blessings.

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