Then, the King said “I was hungry and you told me that it was my own fault for being
lazy and believing that I was entitled to help from hard working families and that I’d
probably spent all of my money on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs anyway.
I was thirsty and you assumed that I was desperate for gin or vodka, rather than water.
I was naked and you said that I would have more chance of a job if I took more care of
my personal appearance, even though I wore all I could afford.
I was poor and you told me I was a scrounger who just wanted to sponge off the state
and put stories about me on the tv and newspapers, despite knowing nothing about
my circumstances.
I was sick and you denied me any help, told me to go back to work and assumed I was
faking illness in order to scrounge.
I was in prison and you demanded that the key was thrown away and that I was kept
away from all respectable, law-abiding members of society because I was a bad person
who could never change.
I was a stranger and you ran, scared of me, told me to go home, that your country was
full and that I was only there to steal your money, possessions and jobs.
For I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of
mine, you did it to me."
For the last four years my wife Jen and I have been trying to help build community on
our council block in South London. It has
been a long road, but a fantastic
one.
As part of our desire to actually
than just use it as a base, we
rhythms to stop us slidWe were inspired
folks we met
Neigh(www.un
rhythm
they eat a
with some
ate locality.
won’t manage
manage once a
So for the last four
with our neighbours
is the first thing that
few months it was
DWELL in our block rather
knew we would need some
ing into box-set selfishness.
by an incredible bunch of
in Australia called ‘Urban
bours of Hope’
oh.org) who have a
whereby every week
meal at some point
folks in their immediWe thought we probably
once a week, but we could
fortnight.
and a half years we have shared meals
(now friends) on the block. After ‘date night’ it
goes in our diaries as non-negotiable. For the first
hard work. We didn’t get too many return invites, and