Plus having been in ministry, starting anew without an instant ministry to perform is an adventure for us. We have never had to FIND a church or a ministry because it has always just BEEN there. The house was whatever the church provided. The people were whoever was AT that church. The ministries were whatever grew out of those people. Even my individual work was built around the place my husband was appointed.
Now, I have choices. YIKES!
What's an ol' gal to do?
Seems like if you live in a place, you should invest in that place.
So, we have begun to work one day a week at NOAH Project in downtown Detroit's Central United Methodist Church. A church we visited asked for people to help serve lunch. Joe was familiar with it because he had worked there this summer with our grandson, Nik. He said he was going to sign up to work lunch so I went along.
We simply helped serve lunch to probably 200 folk who live on the street or in shelters and then asked if we could make an appointment to talk and see if there was anything more we could do. The VERY day that we went for the appointment, the director said that they had decided they were going to have to NOT hand out mail and hygiene kits because the couple who had been doing it had quit.
We LITERALLY began right that moment.
Felt like one of those 'God Messages' I yammer about.
We have only been there 3 times but it 'feels' like longer. I wish I had the words for how much I wish more people could connect with each other in places such as the NOAH Project.
The stories of these folk are as varied as the stories of any of us. Yes, there are differences in their stories and mine but, as always, I am struck less by the differences than the similarities I share with other folk.
They may have instabilities or addictions or just be down on their luck but they are just PEOPLE, plain ol' people, like me...
...and you...
...and that is ALL there is to it!
One fellow loves music and says he knows every song ever sung so EVERY time he walked passed us he sang a new song to see if we knew it too (we never stumped each other).
One fellow who works there looks like and calls himself Papa Smurf. He fell off his bike and smashed it so asked for money to get it fixed. We gave him very little because it is not our policy to hand over cash; I told him I wanted to see that bike the next week. Still, I wondered if we had been 'had'. First thing he did when we got there this week was show us his fixed bike and thank us and say, "Told you I wasn't lying. I am a lot of things but I am not a liar."
TOUCHE'!
One woman asked me if she could borrow a pen. I said she could not only borrow it, she could have it. She said she wasn't THAT poor. I thought she was kidding so I laughed. She wasn't kidding. She got pissed. I felt badly so I knelt down in front of her so as to see her eyeball to eyeball and said I was sorry cuz' I had NO intention of offending her. She stared at me HARD and then said "Oh, no....it's ok....I misunderstood...I apologize...sometimes, I can be a real bitch!"
One woman has an adorable toddler in a well-worn Tigger snow suit who looks so much like our great grandson that I HAD to show her pictures this week.
And the stories go on and on...just as your stories go on and on...and my stories go on and on.
So, why are these folk living on the cold and snowy streets of Detroit? Will it ever change? Joe and I talked about it driving home. We have no answer.
We know our presence is not changing much for the singer or Papa Smurf or bitchy lady or mama.
But, as I said at the onset, I am struck less with the differences than the similarities in our stories. It is good for me to connect with these people who are just like ME...
....cuz' I like to sing and I am a lot of things but I am not a liar and I try never to be a bitch and I am a mama.
So, you see, we are not all that different.
When I think of it that way, the world is easier to share.
We are all just people. Plain ol' people.
GOD'S people.
And that's all there is to it.
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