Creating space

We don't invent structure for structure's sake.  Structure in a classroom creates space for children and adults to express ideas, explore, and learn freely.  In a worship service, structure can create a space in which people are invited and freed to connect with the Spirit that is in an around them.  At the Community Table Food Pantry, we've discovered that structure can provide room to connect, to create, to rest, and to be.

At the December distribution day at the Community Table, more families showed up than ever before, and most appeared before our doors opened at 10:00!  The whole operation had just moved into a new, larger room in the church and we had some new folks at the registration table.  On top of all that, 10:00 came and went and we were not ready!!  Eventually, we got going and mucked through it, and served more families than in months past, but things were chaotic and volunteers scrambled all morning to stay on top of things.  As a result, most of the families waited a long time and most did not receive much intentional personal connection with other folks.  Two of my favorite people, a recently married couple, were around for around an hour and I remember running past them several times, hurrying on to take care of something and offering some kind of quick greeting, but I never even stopped to really ask them how they were.

In early January, some volunteers gathered to ask the questions, "How can we make things run more smoothly?", "How can we offer a more hospitable space?" and "How can we make this a really great experience for people?"  With lots of careful planning and preparation, the January distribution day was a completely different experience.  I spent most of my morning talking and laughing with people, hearing about their work or kids, offering coffee and cookies, leading little ones to the play area and bigger folks to the craft table where they could make cool beaded key chains, or to the clothing where they could look for something that fit.  I complimented a man on a handsome jacket he tried on, I helped kids with their beads, I chatted with people there alone or visiting for the first time.  It was a wonderful morning!  We fed just about the same number of people as the month before, but this time, we had prepared for them.  We had fixed up the room just right with them in mind.  We did not need to rush them through the process because they were honored guests and invited to stay as long as they liked.  And many did stick around!  The structure we have designed and redesigned and reshaped and adjusted has created a space for us to welcome one another and to be with one another.  Just to be with one another--that is a gift.

New

Several months ago, a young man came to the Community Table Food Pantry with his small child.  They had just arrived in town the day before and had no food or gas, he did not have work, and they were staying with the only person here they knew.  I welcomed them to our little town and enjoyed our conversation as I prepared their food box and drove them to their home.  This little family was coming out of a very tough situation and was looking to start anew. 

Today I ran into this same young man in his place of work (the same job he had been hoping for when I met him).  We recognized one another and he and came to say hello and shake my hand and Eric's, telling my husband that he had met me at "the church."  He has work, his child is well, and they just moved into their own home.  Things are great, he said.  He smiled, said he needed to get back to work, wished us well and walked off.

As I turned, my eyes welled with tears of gratitude for having had the opportunity to meet this lovely person during a difficult time, then be able to see the goodness that showed up in his life later.  I give thanks that he was indeed able to start a new life in this community.  Though many come to the church once and don't return, I am reminded that faith communities that seek to extend God's love and welcome have an impact on people that is not soon forgotten.  And even if it is forgotten, we have still played a small part in their lives and in the work God is doing in them, as they have also played a part in the work God is doing in us!  What a gift. 

May each day in this new year be a new start for all of us.