Services for the Poor

A characteristic of my urban ministry in particular was services for the poor -- funerals, weddings, special services for the working class, and so on. In fact the Church itself gained a fond reputation for ministering to the poor. Naturally, we waived all fees. But these were inevitably services with a difference. The people involved tended not to have a culture of speaking in turn, or of coming on time. In the case of funerals, the deaths were often unnatural, and therefore more traumatic and emotional. And the services were likely to involve some turmoil. In one service there was a fist fight at the microphone, and another fist fight at the gate.