God with us. God for us. by Mary-Anne Rulfs
God with us. God for us.
It’s Thursday morning. The sun is shining and people are out and about. I’m sitting at a café table in Lakeview, laptop open. Community Connect is well underway. Community Connect is weekly ministry by our community for our community so people might experience God’s love.
I’m surrounded by lots of people engaged in many different conversations. I recognise some people. They’re connected with our church community in various ways – through our op shops, craft group, mahjong players and people who are regular members of our worshipping congregations. (Community Connect has turned out to be a great way for people from 7.30 and 9.30 congregations to get to know each other!)
Then there are people I’ve not yet met. Passers-by who have dropped in, attracted by the pop-up op shop and book swap table near the footpath as well as the coffee cart. They are people from all sorts of backgrounds and socio-economic situations. Some people are drawn into Lakeview by the happy buzz of people chatting inside. There are always people at Community Connect waiting to welcome visitors and invite them to join their conversation. And the exciting thing is that we never know who is going to pop in! The number of times people have come in and discovered they have a connection with someone in our community is amazing.
Let me introduce you to some of the people who regularly help run Community Connect.
There’s Frank, who initiated table tennis ministry and wrote last week’s blog. Frank is great at making people feel welcome by inviting them to join in around the table tennis table. Several men in particular have found a place to belong there.
The two Margaret’s are great hosts.
Margaret S looks after people who stop by to peruse the op shop racks and books. At the moment she’s chatting with a passer-by and showing them a flyer with all our parish activities on it. She’s also a great listener, showing an interest in people who others might overlook.
Margaret L makes delicious scones and biscuits and has a lovely way of moving from table to table, offering people a bite to enjoy with their cuppa.
Cassie is also a great listener and connector, and always happy to chat with people wanting to improve their English conversation skills. Anyone for Scrabble? Cassie will take you on!
Rosemary arrives and takes her place. Rosemary is one of the more senior members of our community and has a heart for listening to people as they participate in meditative colouring in. Rosemary finds this a great way to help people feel relaxed before they open up and share their story. This morning a lady has joined Rosemary’s table who we haven’t seen before. She moved to the Gold Coast a year ago, thinking it might be more affordable than Melbourne. It’s not, and she is needing to move because her room rent has risen to $400/week and she can’t afford that.
Brad is our barista this morning, patiently making coffee for a steady stream of ‘customers’ (payment is by ‘pay-what-you-can’ donation). As he makes coffee he shows interest in each person, helping them feel at home.
Sometimes Jim plays the piano – we love it when he does.
Bowen is around, although he has a meeting online that he steps out to attend to.
Anne is waiting for a couple to arrive who found out about Community Connect at church last Sunday. They are needing some social support and are coming to see whether Community Connect might help meet that need. (Some time later they arrived and had a wonderful time chatting with Arthur and Margaret who offered to meet up with them again. As the couple was leaving, the woman said that she was German originally and would love someone to speak with … and so I introduced her to another of our helpers, Jeff, who speaks fluent German! They spoke happily for ages.)
Anne and Jaap are usually helping, although they’re away today.
So many connections. So many opportunities to share God’s love in practical ways… God with us. God for us.
It strikes me that this is the very kind of space that Jesus frequented. Vulnerable people trying to live life as best they can. Even as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey he was surrounded by fragile, confused people, wearied by life’s changes and challenges. I can imagine Jesus strolling in off Robina Town Centre Drive and feeling at home at Community Connect. Perhaps you would too.
This prayer arrived in my Inbox this morning – the Daily Prayer from Rachel, one of the lay chaplains at Coomera Anglican College …
Dear Jesus,
Your friends were a strange bunch.
Some of them wanted glory – it was all about them.
Others wanted you to kick the Romans out of Israel.
One denied you,
One betrayed you,
One refused to believe you’d risen until he saw for himself.
But you forgave them
And you restored them
And you gave them important missions.
Your death and your resurrection changed them.
And your forgiveness changed them.
May they change us too, as we serve you in one another
Amen.
With every blessing for the week ahead,
Mary-Anne