The Church of the Week...

... is Peace Lutheran Church Abbotsford. They deserve donations, or preferably volunteer time.

Once upon a time, city council threw up its hands and admitted it couldn't be bothered to do any more to help the poor and homeless than it was already, and hoped maybe the churches in town could help out.

Churches agreed. Peace Lutheran's pastor Christopher Reiners and a group of volunteers have been giving out food in Jubilee Park a few weeks now.

Now, however, council members are changing their minds thanks to complaints from the business association, which doesn't like charity and feels that the homeless should just be ordered to starve to death instead. According to the complaint, "indigent people" should go elsewhere than the park.

Hahaha. Yes, "elsewhere." Every place they go, they're told to go "elsewhere." There is no land, even public land, that we can afford to spare.

Reiners is defying the attempt to suppress charity, to his credit, and points out that there really ought to be housing, detox programs and other necessary social services available - which they aren't.

This one's also funny, but I've used up my sardonic laugh for the day. See, back a few years ago, the deal was, the rich people could have their Olympics, and the poor people could have a large boost in social programs and low-cost housing. That was the bargain under which the Olympics were brought to Vancouver. Guess which side of the bargain couldn't be assed to keep their word?

Be wary of agreements with the wealthy, for they are compulsive liars. - Old Testament, Proverbs 23:1-3