Did You? Have You? Could You? Would You?

Did you attend the going away reception for Fr. David?  Wasn’t it a great time with delicious food?  Could you help with another fellowship event on October 30?

Have you donated shoes to THRIVE Peninsula so that people in third world countries could have jobs and shoes?  Have you baked homemade cookies for Jered Benoit and Matt Deller to take on their Kairos weekends in October and November to share God’s love with those incarcerated? 

In the past, have you volunteered to help with PORT when we assist a home church receive the homeless, and provide the guests with dinner, shelter for the night, and breakfast?  Have you brought in items or donated money for Turkey Sandwich Day when we provide 500 bag lunches for the homeless in our community?  Have you been part of the “beehive of activity” as we assemble the lunches?  Have you participated in our youth’s hometown mission trips to help those within and outside of our parish who need our help?

Could you give away your possessions and live in a box culvert beneath a busy street in any U.S. town?  Could you live with those who frequently camp out in the cloverleaf of one of our interstate intersections?  Could you sleep in a box over one of the air grates in our cities with subway systems?  Could you be a PORT “guest” for just one night?

A Methodist minister in El Paso, Texas, took a three-year leave of absence from her church, sold her home and car, and even renounced her salary so that she could experience living on the streets and try to understand the plight of the homeless and needy.

We receive requests for help almost every week from charities we know and even more from those we have never heard of before.  We receive drop in visits and phone calls at the church for financial assistance.  We will be doing much the same in upcoming newsletters as PORT, Turkey Sandwich Day, and other vital outreach ministries present themselves.  I often tell the staff that I feel guilty about all of the requests I include in the November and December issues of our newsletter.

Did you?  Did I?  Have you?  Have I?  Could you?  Could I?  Will you?  Will I?

We are in the process of filling 1,000 little bags to make children happy on Halloween.  The kitchen freezer is slowly filling up with homemade cookies for Kairos.  We are looking for turkeys to go on sale – we need 45 to 50 of them.  We recently took four bags and two boxes of shoes to THRIVE.  Margie Holt and Joy Johnson have volunteered to coordinate our support of PORT in December, and Matt Deller and Louise Ragland are coordinators in March.  And, in December there will be the collection for Warm Fuzzies – blanket sleepers and other items for babies whose parents cannot afford them.

Some did.  Some have.  Some could.  And, some will continue.  Thanks be to God for all of the little blessings we share with others.

Bill Wilds

Liturgical Assistant