Martin Luther King Day in Fairfeild Court and Hillside Court
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFXW2e2QA0I
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A few weeks ago we had our volunteer appreciation and community celebration in the East End. It is a time where we welcome new residents in the Fairfield Court Housing Community and celebrate our community volunteers who live there. It is a great time of hanging out, getting to know one another and celebrate what God is doing in this community. It is the truest expression of who we are as Embrace Richmond. (Selfish plug) Also during this time we recognize new community members who have joined the Embrace team with a very stylish Embrace t-shirt. This past time we recognized Trudy as the newest member of our team.
Trudy recently started coming to our community gathering and is there faithfully everytime we meet. She gives herself to the work we are doing in community and has a genuine sprit of hospitality. Trudy has a story full of trials and turmoil but still every week she is there and she gives with a servant’s heart. Her son is in jail, she has no job and her mom is in failing health. She has every reason in the world not to give but she gives anyway. So we gave her a t shirt.
When Trudy got her t shirt, you would have thought she just won a million dollars. She had invited her mom to the lunch to watch her get her t shirt and she beamed with pride as we presented her with her very own Embrace T. Believe me when I say the t shirt is cool but not that cool, it was about something more and bigger then a t shirt. Maybe for the first time in her life Trudy felt as if she belongs to something, she is a part of something. Perhaps she feels that she is a part of something that is making a difference in the world and that she is a valued part of that. Whatever the reason she cherishes that t shirt and she belongs with us.
There is something powerful about belonging, about finding a place where you fit, in fact most of spends lots of time and energy finding places to belong good and bad. It is so beautiful when we find a place that fits us and we fit it. Everyone is longing to belong to something; there is something primal about the need for and the desire to have community. A place where we are known and that gets us, the church should be that place. The truth is however most churches are not, we have to pretend, we have to put on our Sunday best, a t shirt would never do. We miss the simple joy of belonging because we are afraid people will not like what they see. Here is the good news Jesus was all about giving t shirts to people who just showed up, granted there were often strings attached ( no pun intended) like go an sin no more and such but the people to whom he offered most of them took the t shirt- the chance to belong. Let us not miss the invitation to invite people to belong because who knows it may be the first time they have ever been offered a t shirt most likely they will be thrilled for the chance to belong.
Here is an exaple of what it looks like when belonging to the the Kingdom looks like when it is lived in real life. A video from our last Blessing day at Embrace Richmond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFXW2e2QA0I
Trudy recently started coming to our community gathering and is there faithfully everytime we meet. She gives herself to the work we are doing in community and has a genuine sprit of hospitality. Trudy has a story full of trials and turmoil but still every week she is there and she gives with a servant’s heart. Her son is in jail, she has no job and her mom is in failing health. She has every reason in the world not to give but she gives anyway. So we gave her a t shirt.
When Trudy got her t shirt, you would have thought she just won a million dollars. She had invited her mom to the lunch to watch her get her t shirt and she beamed with pride as we presented her with her very own Embrace T. Believe me when I say the t shirt is cool but not that cool, it was about something more and bigger then a t shirt. Maybe for the first time in her life Trudy felt as if she belongs to something, she is a part of something. Perhaps she feels that she is a part of something that is making a difference in the world and that she is a valued part of that. Whatever the reason she cherishes that t shirt and she belongs with us.
There is something powerful about belonging, about finding a place where you fit, in fact most of spends lots of time and energy finding places to belong good and bad. It is so beautiful when we find a place that fits us and we fit it. Everyone is longing to belong to something; there is something primal about the need for and the desire to have community. A place where we are known and that gets us, the church should be that place. The truth is however most churches are not, we have to pretend, we have to put on our Sunday best, a t shirt would never do. We miss the simple joy of belonging because we are afraid people will not like what they see. Here is the good news Jesus was all about giving t shirts to people who just showed up, granted there were often strings attached ( no pun intended) like go an sin no more and such but the people to whom he offered most of them took the t shirt- the chance to belong. Let us not miss the invitation to invite people to belong because who knows it may be the first time they have ever been offered a t shirt most likely they will be thrilled for the chance to belong.
Here is an exaple of what it looks like when belonging to the the Kingdom looks like when it is lived in real life. A video from our last Blessing day at Embrace Richmond. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFXW2e2QA0I
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)