Many are aware that this past weekend our church did
something unusual. Instead of worshiping
in our regular way, we “gave it away”.
Approximately six hundred people went out on Saturday and Sunday to
serve the community in mission instead of gathering in typical fashion in our sanctuary.
One of the most powerful aspects of this healthy
disruption to our routine is that we can experience the harsh reality in which
so many around us are living. At the
same time, we are reminded of that transforming power of love.
My family and I had the privilege of working at a local
ministry called “Mercy Moms”. This is a
residential home that houses several mothers who have been living on the fringe
of life. Some are recovering from
substance abuse, others have different struggles. But they all have babies. The problem is that they have never learned
how to be moms. So this ministry houses
them and their children and teaches them the basics of parenting, finances, and
other general life lessons.
It is led by a young woman named Ashley. I was building some shelves for the moms when
Ashley told me her story. It is a story
which she yearns to tell and has told many times. At sixteen she was pregnant and had an
abortion. She entered into a downward
spiral that resulted in a drug addiction and a second pregnancy at age 23. She kept this baby but didn’t know how to be
a mom. She told me that she had simply
decided that this was her destiny. She
figured she was just a drug addict and that she would never be anything else.
But then, someone from a local congregation took her
in. The family loved her and accepted
her and as a result, she accepted Christ. They mentored her and provided life
lessons that she had missed. Her life is
so different now. She is healthy,
strong, and speaks with such passion and love.
And now, she does the same thing for other mothers who need that love,
hope, and Savior.
Ashley finished the story and I was finishing the
shelves. But then, several young women
walked in, returning from a morning of worship at their church. It was clear that their faith was as young as
the babies in their arms.
I can’t say much for my carpentry. The shelves were adequate, but not
beautiful. But that picture on a Sunday
morning, of those women carrying those babies, returning from church, well, it
just doesn’t get much better than that.
I am holding on to that one.
Sometimes we church folk forget how powerful our own
spiritual ammunition really is. When
love starved people meet the real thing, and Jesus is the real thing, they soak
it up. That means that when we love
people in tangible ways in the footsteps of Jesus, we have the privilege of
being a part of that thing that really works, that really changes people.
This weekend, as a veteran church person, I had the
privilege of stepping out of the routine and being reminded of why we do what
we do. Jesus really loves people, and
Jesus really can change people. When we
hook into this same love and this same Jesus, we get to witness this wonder
time and time again. Thanks be to God!
We are going to speak some more about this in worship this weekend. See you there!
Pastor Pete
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