🕊️ A Cry for Warmth: A Prayer for the Homeless

By Minister Dearest Price, M.Ed

Tonight, as the temperature drops, the wind cuts sharper than knives. People hurry from car to doorway, doorway to home, tucking their bodies deeper into coats and hoods to escape the bite of winter. But for thousands of our brothers and sisters right here in Charlotte and millions across this nation, there is no doorway. No heat. No shelter. No escape.

Every corner in this city holds a story.

A tent.

A blanket.

A body huddled under a bridge.

A man talking to himself in the cold darkness.

A woman wrapped in thin layers, pushing a grocery cart that holds her entire life.

Youth curled up behind dumpsters because they have nowhere to go.

And we, the “most powerful country in the world,” stand by and watch.

Other countries are building warming stations.

Opening mass shelters.

Creating tiny-home communities.

Installing heated sidewalks so frostbite won’t steal more limbs and lives.

But America, the land of “innovation” and “leadership”, continues to talk in circles while human beings freeze on concrete.

And in Charlotte, a city that prides itself on banking wealth, shiny skyscrapers, and sprawling developments, we still can’t figure out what to do with the growing villages of homeless settlers squeezed into every vacant space.

Where is the urgency?

Where is the compassion?

Where is the common sense?

Being on the street should be illegal, not to punish the homeless, but to protect them.

To force this nation to act.

To end the cycle.

To build the infrastructure.

To open the churches and the community centers and the buildings that sit empty while people shiver just ten feet away.

We can solve homelessness.

We simply refuse to.

So today, I offer a prayer. A plea. A lament. A cry. A lifting up of those who deserve warmth, dignity, and life.

🕊️ A Prayer for the Homeless

Heavenly Father,

We come to You with hearts heavy for Your children sleeping in the freezing night.

For the mother whose hands burn with cold as she shields her child.

For the elder whose bones tremble beneath thin blankets.

For the addicted, the mentally ill, the forgotten, and the invisible.

Lord, wrap them in Your protection.

Send angels to stand beside them.

Let no frostbite take their limbs.

Let no cold claim their breath.

Let no darkness swallow their hope.

God, touch the hearts of those in power.

Let city leaders, pastors, politicians, and everyday citizens remember Your Word:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

I was a stranger and you took me in.”

— Matthew 25:35

Lord, remind us that Christ walked among the poor, not the privileged.

That He lifted the broken, the outcast, the naked and the shivering.

He never stepped over them.

Never ignored them.

Never turned His head to the side.

Strengthen us to do the same.

Open our churches, Your houses, to become shelter, refuge, and warmth.

Unlock the doors that have remained closed out of fear, politics, or inconvenience.

Place fire in our leaders to build the systems and structures that end homelessness,

Not manage it.

Not study it.

Not speak on panels about it.

End it.

Lord, let this nation finally choose humanity.

Let us see each person outside as someone created in Your image, deserving of all the care we give ourselves.

We ask You, God, to let this cold season be a turning point,

A moment where compassion overrules comfort,

Where justice overrides excuses,

Where love becomes law,

And where no child of Yours ever has to sleep on the ground again.

In Jesus’ mighty name,

Amen.