When the Church is the Church

I haven't posted anything for two weeks. For the last 10 days our church has been providing overnight shelter for the homeless in our community. It's always a busy, tiring, emotional, exciting, etc. time. So for the last day or so I've been processing some of the things I saw and experienced.

The way I would describe the week is "This is what it looks like when the church is the church."

We housed around 40 homeless guests each night and provided them with 3 meals a day for 10 days. We partnered with our local government, para church groups and other churches to provide this service from Nov. through this morning. Our goal was that no one would die from exposure to the cold.

But when the church is the church it always finds a way to go above and beyond the goal. And that's what our church did this week. Our volunteers truly saw our guests as just that - guests.

While I did not see everything that happened this week I did see our church be the church, and it occurred to me that we did that through little things. Things like:

-Floy and Carrie being at the registration table every night, knowing everyone by name.

-Mike and his team in the kitchen on the first night. They not only had a blast serving but set the bar high for the quality of food for the rest of the week.

-The small group who showed up every morning to make lunches for the next day.

-Chris Sole who just signed up to be a driver and ended up being there every night and not only drove but literally did every other job there was - always ready to do what ever needed to be done.

-The Duncan's small group who, on Sunday night, seated our guests at the tables, gave them menus, took their orders and then served them steak with the works and homemade milkshakes. Can you say dignity. Many of our guests have not sat and been served in a restaurant in years.

-Jeremy our team leader who may have missed his calling because he was a better social worker than the actual paid social workers who were there. I was so impressed with how he handled every situation with calm and ease and always treated our guests, even those ready to throw punches at him, with grace.

-People like Cathy, Jamie, Alice, Mike, David, and just about everyone involved sitting and having conversations with our guests. Not small talk but real eye to eye conversations.

-Jeff and Jamie who in the middle of a major family crises found the strength to continue serving and leading.

-Elise and her team that did foot spas and manicures. It was such a hit they had to come back a second night.

-Carolyn and her team who mended people's clothes.

-Danny and Jen who had the original vision for our church caring for the homeless three years ago. And even though they could not be there this year, they were at home every night with their two newborns praying for our guests and volunteers.

-The 11-4 and 4-8am shifts. Those guys are a little crazy. You'd have to be to find as much joy serving at that time of the day as they did.

I couldn't be more proud of our church for the little things we did this past week. God says in scripture "Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in little things, now I will give you greater things."

That's what happens when the church is the church.

Reaction vs. Acting

I was reading Mark Batterson's Wild Goose Chase this morning. He framed a truth in a way that really grabbed my attention. He basically said many of us act like Christians but we don't always react like Christ. "How we react says a lot about who we really are." Wow. As I look on my own journey I can see how it's easy for me to generally act like a Christian but when I get "bumped" in life, sometimes my reaction is not so Christ-like.

Great food for thought. BTW - I highly recommend Wild Goose Chase.