A downtown church in our community started a ministry to the homeless and marginalized in 2014. It was forced to stop following damage from Hurricane Michael in October 2018 while repairs to the building were made. Then Covid interfered with starting back. But now it has resumed and is once again a bright spot for many on a Saturday morning.
What’s it like to minister through hospitality and fellowship at Saturday Community Breakfast? It’s a lot of things – cooking, serving cereal-coffee-juice-plates of hot food, sharing clothing-shoes-toiletries, offering food boxes, cutting hair, assisting with computer access needs, hosting the shower trailer, sharing in prayer or singing, distributing take out bags of snacks or other items, and more.
One Saturday a few years ago I sat down to get acquainted with a gentleman who was living in a tent in the woods. He’d come to get a shower, some clean clothes, and breakfast. He signed up to get a haircut, too. We can only accommodate about a dozen with just one barber/stylist.
When I asked him about other needs he said, “Can you get a splinter out of my finger?” I told him I thought I could. I had a small promotional nail set in a leather packet in my car with large clipper, small clipper, and tweezer that I retrieved, as well as an antiseptic wipe that I keep in my car, too. I cleaned his finger, which was quite red and we set about removing the splinter. After some winces and teeth gritting, it was out. He squeezed it to let blood flow and finished cleaning it well with the antiseptic wipe. I gave him the leather nail clipper set. Tears welled up in his eyes and he hugged me for helping him, tucked it in his back pocket and said he would take special care of the gift.
Later, after breakfast, I saw him clean, with a haircut and neatly trimmed beard. His eyes looked brighter. He came over and showed me his finger. It was already considerably less red and he said it no longer hurt.
One never knows what little adventure in friendship and service God will provide at these Saturday morning breakfasts, now in their third year of weekly hospitality in the name of Christ. Bring what you have. God will use it!
There is always a divine appointment if one is seeking to find God at work among us.