Finding the Light of God at West Broadway Community Ministry
Posted by Cody Creed on Thursday, February 10, 2011
We asked folks involved in the West Broadway Community Ministry (WBCM) 2 questions:
Where do you find the light of God/Christ/the Spirit at WBCM?
How is your fiath affected by your ministry/volunteer work there?
These are 2 of the responses.
"The first question is easy to answer. I see Christ everyday in the volunteers who come from the West Broadway community. People who have volunteered at WBCM for years. There are several others that volunteer every day the drop-in is open. Doing what they can to make the drop-in welcoming to all. There are volunteers who come one day a week and do our small part, however it is the Community volunteers that are there every day running the lunch program and keeping the drop-in tidy. These are the people that turly run WBCM and they are the ones that I see as doing God's work.
"My faith is dramatically impactyed by my volunteer work [as] God has allowed me to become much more compassionate and welcoming to people from all walks of life. I am able to find good in everyone; this is a true blessing."
- Art
"I find the light of God or the Spirit in the people who make up the community at West Broadway. I find they care for one another, look out for each other's needs, and generally are aware of the space each person is in. When we are making up emergency food kits, it's not unusual to be told "maybe put a little extra in that bag because..." or "could you talk to her today because..."
" For me the light has shone most brightly in a few peope, volunteers who took on leadership roles in running the community kitchen and lunch program -- Charlie, Sherry, and Gloria, who tried whenever possible to find a treat in the cupboard...to share with guests who came for the afternoon, who managed to squirrel away items all year to be used for gifts to those who came to the drop-in for Christmas. Sadly we had to say good-bye to each of them as they died too suddenly and too young.
"Now, I see light light of the Spirit in Michael, who manages the kitchen and schedules the community volunteers. Over the years we have been blessed with his presence in the drop-in...Now we are blessed by his smile and a pot of tea each day we visit.
"The faith question I find harder to answer as I think what I believed [before] has evolved to what I believe [now] and that will evolve as life and circumstances change. The question I probably answered was 'what have you learned from your work at WBCM"?
"My faith has been impacted as I left my comfort zone here and went out to meet and talk with people in a different part of the city - one I would probably not have visited otherwise and to people whose names I would never have known.
"I have found that we all struggle with pretty much the same problems, just in different degrees, that many of us don't know how fortunate we are. From conversations with a host of people over the years we have learned that we could be just one lifestyle choice, one accident or one illness away from poverty and/or homelessness.
"I struggle most with the appearance of young people there -- youth who should have few, if any, cares but who need to ask for food, or a place to have a shower. What if that was my child? I only hope and pray that God keeps them safe when they leave the building.
"I have learned that we must not just "do for" but "walk with" and each of us share our weaknesses and our strengths. We can learn much from those to whom we minister. The minister at WBCM when we first got involved, Barb Andrews, siad that each sandwich we handed out was really serving the Eucharist (communion), and that we never really knew who we were serving. I don't always remember that piece of wisdom, but I try." - Edith
Where do you find the light of God/Christ/the Spirit at WBCM?
How is your fiath affected by your ministry/volunteer work there?
These are 2 of the responses.
"The first question is easy to answer. I see Christ everyday in the volunteers who come from the West Broadway community. People who have volunteered at WBCM for years. There are several others that volunteer every day the drop-in is open. Doing what they can to make the drop-in welcoming to all. There are volunteers who come one day a week and do our small part, however it is the Community volunteers that are there every day running the lunch program and keeping the drop-in tidy. These are the people that turly run WBCM and they are the ones that I see as doing God's work.
"My faith is dramatically impactyed by my volunteer work [as] God has allowed me to become much more compassionate and welcoming to people from all walks of life. I am able to find good in everyone; this is a true blessing."
- Art
"I find the light of God or the Spirit in the people who make up the community at West Broadway. I find they care for one another, look out for each other's needs, and generally are aware of the space each person is in. When we are making up emergency food kits, it's not unusual to be told "maybe put a little extra in that bag because..." or "could you talk to her today because..."
" For me the light has shone most brightly in a few peope, volunteers who took on leadership roles in running the community kitchen and lunch program -- Charlie, Sherry, and Gloria, who tried whenever possible to find a treat in the cupboard...to share with guests who came for the afternoon, who managed to squirrel away items all year to be used for gifts to those who came to the drop-in for Christmas. Sadly we had to say good-bye to each of them as they died too suddenly and too young.
"Now, I see light light of the Spirit in Michael, who manages the kitchen and schedules the community volunteers. Over the years we have been blessed with his presence in the drop-in...Now we are blessed by his smile and a pot of tea each day we visit.
"The faith question I find harder to answer as I think what I believed [before] has evolved to what I believe [now] and that will evolve as life and circumstances change. The question I probably answered was 'what have you learned from your work at WBCM"?
"My faith has been impacted as I left my comfort zone here and went out to meet and talk with people in a different part of the city - one I would probably not have visited otherwise and to people whose names I would never have known.
"I have found that we all struggle with pretty much the same problems, just in different degrees, that many of us don't know how fortunate we are. From conversations with a host of people over the years we have learned that we could be just one lifestyle choice, one accident or one illness away from poverty and/or homelessness.
"I struggle most with the appearance of young people there -- youth who should have few, if any, cares but who need to ask for food, or a place to have a shower. What if that was my child? I only hope and pray that God keeps them safe when they leave the building.
"I have learned that we must not just "do for" but "walk with" and each of us share our weaknesses and our strengths. We can learn much from those to whom we minister. The minister at WBCM when we first got involved, Barb Andrews, siad that each sandwich we handed out was really serving the Eucharist (communion), and that we never really knew who we were serving. I don't always remember that piece of wisdom, but I try." - Edith
Tags: god west broadway community minisitry volunteers light spirit drop-in
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