Teake and I arrived at St. John of the Divine to assist in serving the needy. The church is the largest in North America…who knew? As archaic and gorgeous a structure it is physically, the real beauty was happening in its basement.
Along with about 15 others, we served over 200 individuals a warm meal of spaghetti and meatballs, broccoli, tossed salad, applesauce, fruit salad, cornbread and homemade bread. My job was to greet each person and give them a plate and silverware. I loved my job! I got to look into the face of every person and greet them. My face hurt from smiling J
The response I received ranged from full engaged dialogue to nods. My goal was to get each to respond to me. I was pretty successful. In fact, by the end of the meal, I had even some of the most stoic smiling – yay!
It was a gift to serve. To see people take the time to pray, share communally with others in need, and appreciate the small gesture of serving them filled my heart with God’s grace. I was struck by the following:
-the proportion of men to women. My guess is that in the 200 plus guests, there were only about 10 women.
-the conversations. From a friendly debate about the success of Obama’s first year to the – of course – the possibility of the NY Jets in the Super Bowl, these people are connected to current events.
-the importance of looking right into someone’s eyes. I did all day and saw sadness and hope, joy and despair. I saw people doing the best they can.
The rest of the day included watching football over a turkey burger…dang Vikings and Jets! I am ready for baseball.
1 comment:
Da Cubs!
Post a Comment