ITEMS OF INTEREST January 15, 2007 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

with contributions from Jane Lampman

DESPITE HAVING A JOB IN COMMUNICATIONS that she loved, Deborah Little kept feeling she wasn't doing what she was meant to do with her life. She also yearned to know what it really means to "love your neighbor"—especially when that neighbor is stretched out on the sidewalk, and makes you want to turn away.

Yet it was several years, she says, before she found the courage to quit her job, enter Episcopal seminary, and explore a new kind of ministry. Ms. Little became a street priest. She began walking Boston sidewalks, hanging out at park benches and subway stations, and sharing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and conversation with the homeless.

Pondering the way that Jesus went to where the people were, she realized one day that church needed to come to those who felt they couldn't enter a church. So on a bitter cold Sunday in 1996, Reverend Little held her first service at the fountain on Boston Common, a favorite bench site for many homeless people. The celebration has continued there at 1 p.m. every Sunday since.

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