CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Walk down Washington Street in downtown Charleston, across the street from the post office, and you’ll come to a bronze park bench that wasn’t there a few weeks ago. You may be hesitant to take a seat. There’s a man, who looks to be homeless, asleep on the bench.
Take another look. The man is also bronze, part of a sculpture.
His knees and arms are pulled toward his chest, huddled for warmth. His face is shrouded by a blanket.
Take a third look. The seemingly anonymous man has one identifying characteristic: A hole in the top of each foot, evidence of where, Christians believe, the man was nailed to a cross 2,000 years ago.
“We meet you, oh Christ, in many a guise,” the Rev. Monty Brown said as he consecrated the new statue, “Homeless Jesus,” outside St. Marks United Methodist Church on Nov. 23.
Charleston is the fifth American city and the eighth worldwide to get one of the statues, first cast in 2012 by the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz.
Brown, the church’s senior pastor, said he got the idea to bring the sculpture to the church after hearing of one earlier this year in North Carolina. An anonymous donor stepped up and agreed to donate the money to buy the sculpture.
“I don’t think it’s too bold to say it’s an inspiration,” Brown said of the sculpture. “This really embodies what the people of this church are about in the community.”
Pope Francis blessed a copy of the “Homeless Jesus” statue last year, and a version is currently planned to be installed in Rome.
St. Marks has a courtyard, set back from Washington Street, where Brown said they had considered putting the statue. But if they put it there, Brown said, “that’s just a piece of art.”
Instead, the sculpture is right on the edge of the church’s property, right up against the sidewalk, impossible for passersby to miss.
“Everybody coming out of that post office is going to see it and be reminded of the homeless folks that we’ve got around here,” Brown said.
One of those folks is Joshua Herbst, who is currently staying at Crossroads Homeless Shelter, just two blocks from the church. He was at St. Marks for the first time for the consecration of the statue.
“It was incredible,” he said. “It really touched me the way it reached out to the homeless.”
Along with the sculpture, the church has also kicked off the “Homeless Jesus Foundation,” which it hopes will collect $30,000 to serve the homeless community.
Since the campaign was announced earlier this month, it has raised $3,450.
Brown said that they’ll work with local agencies, like Covenant House and Sojourner’s Shelter, to see how the money can best be put to use.
Brown said that the sculpture is based on the Bible passage Matthew 25, in which Jesus says “As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
He called the sculpture a “24-hour-a-day sermon” to remind people of others around them.
“Here’s this homeless person,” Brown said of the sculpture, “And, ’Oh gosh, it turns out to be Jesus.’”
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, https://www.wvgazette.com
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