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Good Morning. It’s that time of the year again when homeless charities, nationally and locally, are getting ready for Christmas. As the weather turns colder, and the infamous Christmas TV ads begin to dominate our screens, the challenge facing such charities is to encourage us to engage with the sheer awfulness and shocking reality of a life lived on the streets. The 40th anniversary of the first screening of the ground-breaking TV Drama Cathy Come ��ѿ��ý has been marked in a variety of ways. The story of a comfortable, middle class couple [Reg & Cathy] and their young family, sliding from the relative comfort of a middle class existence into abject poverty, without a roof over their heads, still resounds today. Yesterday, on this programme, we heard how homelessness is not only defined by not having a roof over your head. Being somehow socially detached and living in the dark shadows of the rest of humanity is frighteningly framed by an underlying pessimism that there is no way back? When I worked with a homeless charity in the north of England I heard it said, time and time again – “You are only one pay cheque from being on the streets”. And many using this service told me over welcome hot cups of tea that the transition from security to street living was as swift as it was shocking. The whole thrust of Christian theology is rooted in doing what we can for our neighbour. Jesus says, time and again, in his teaching ministry, that the poor and needy are there to challenge our sense of what is important both in our use of resources and in our own priorities for living. At a study day in my own church on Saturday – we spent the day looking at St Luke’s Gospel and asked the question – why is Luke the only one to include the parable of the Good Samaritan? The answer, it was suggested, was because Luke is preoccupied with stressing that this message is for everyone. Existing hierarchies are turned on their heads. Pope Francis invited a group of homeless people to sit in the VIP seats at his Pontifical Mass in Rome on Sunday. It was not a publicity stunt. In their presence, he urged us all not to anaesthetise our consciences so that we fail to respond to the needs of others….. just as Cathy Come ��ѿ��ý, in its day and ours, pricks our consciences and challenges those stereotypes around homelessness which those charities will not doubt address as the winter deepens.