For our Home Group conversation on December 20 we are looking at Chapters 5 & 6 of Richard LeMieux's Breakfast at Sally's.
As Chapter Five begins Richard writes: A fog had settled over the city. As his homelessness begins to extend and expand one senses a fog settling over him as well. He heads to a shipyard, but doesn't have any particular destination in mind, going the opposite direction from everyone else. He writes of coming to a fork in the road with not enough gas to head north, and incapable of facing what lay to the south.
However, the shipyard does remind him of his former life; he finds himself in a place he would pass through with his golfing buddies, and he recalls for us a particular day with his foursome. They had stopped in Bremerton for breakfast before hitting the links. The chapter concludes with him giving a ride to a young man to Sally's.
Chapter Six - titled The Food Angels - reads a little like a restaurant travelogue, with four different Christian denominations (and five different churches) referenced. Richard and "C" provide a rating for their respective food ministries to the poor.
Some questions for us to ponder:
As Chapter Five begins Richard writes: A fog had settled over the city. As his homelessness begins to extend and expand one senses a fog settling over him as well. He heads to a shipyard, but doesn't have any particular destination in mind, going the opposite direction from everyone else. He writes of coming to a fork in the road with not enough gas to head north, and incapable of facing what lay to the south.
However, the shipyard does remind him of his former life; he finds himself in a place he would pass through with his golfing buddies, and he recalls for us a particular day with his foursome. They had stopped in Bremerton for breakfast before hitting the links. The chapter concludes with him giving a ride to a young man to Sally's.
Chapter Six - titled The Food Angels - reads a little like a restaurant travelogue, with four different Christian denominations (and five different churches) referenced. Richard and "C" provide a rating for their respective food ministries to the poor.
Some questions for us to ponder:
- As Richard remembers his golfing buddies he describes their tastes in clothing - Mephisto loafers, Cutter and Buck polo shirts; Johnston and Murphy, Dockers and Calloway (Page 71). He was leading the "designer life". From whence does the pressure to be stylish come? What perpetuates it? Who in our society are the ones most vulnerable to it?
- How well did the "god of golf" serve Richard? Who (or what) are the "gods" competing for your attention?
- Richard gives a young man a ride to Sally's - we know nothing about him except that his father had kicked him out (Page 75). If you had to create a one-paragraph explanation of the young man's predicament, what would you write?
- Richard refers to young people who work in the Soup Kitchens (Page 79); he says such opportunities enable them to "get a 'warm and fuzzy feeling' from helping the poor." How effective is the promise of a "warm and fuzzy feeling" in recruiting people to work with and for the poor? Why?
- In the very next sentence Richard writes of what young people can learn from helping the homeless. What might we possibly have to learn from the poor? What might they possibly have to learn from us?
- On Pages 81-82 Richard briefly delves into politics. According to him, there are not many homeless and poor who are "Republican". What is his line of reasoning? Is it fair? Why, or why not?
- On Page 82-83 the police show up at The Lord's Diner. After they remove a young man from the room, C comments: This is usually a sanctuary. He must have been a really bad guy. Was "Sanctuary" maintained or violated with this police raid?
- An Episcopal, two Lutheran, one Church of God, and one United Methodist church all served food and provided clothing to homeless people. What, besides the food, does Richard point out as something in common between them all? (Page 87.)
