Not just Breakfast...

George (mentioned before here) has got a problem. You see his son has bought a new dog. A Staffordshire bull terrier. Not a lap dog – unless you are brave. It’s caused an issue. The last dog they had went violent and bit a child’s face. George and his wife decided no more dogs.

But his son thought different. The argument got out of hand and the son pulled a knife on him. But what pierced him was his wife’s reaction. Isolated in the family he feels he needs someone to talk to so he is talking to me in our car park leaning on his yard broom.

George is one of the many street cleaners that come in for their breakfasts each day. Not the most creative of church outreach programmes; not that much imagination; I don’t really expect anyone to write a book or create a video discussion pack about it. No people travelling around the world to see it in action. No people ringing up and asking how it works. No international conferences.

It is just breakfast.

But it is so much more. It represents for us another interface with our locality. An excuse to have the church doors open. An opportunity to try and serve and love your community. A chance to be available. George among many others pop in everyday for the cheapest breakfast in our market. Most mornings just a cheery ‘morning!’ Some mornings a chat about the football. Some mornings "Gordon, I needed to talk to a friend!"

How simple is that?

Comments

Captain Andrew Clark said…
sacramental
8:35 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit of sally bashing....

Came across a good bit of Sally bashing over at salvationsoldiers I have to say we try and make sure that everything we raise goes into projects that build local community in Poplar but hopefully if you read this blog you get that sense anyway.
Read more

Lost Voices of Mission...Fred Brown

Image
Along the world famous Oxford street in London's Westend; nestled in among the classy frontage of designer shops there is almost an unnoticeable, unimpressive wooden door. It is more or less alongside The Regent Hall's main entrance onto the busyness of Oxford Street. People pass the wooden door oblivious to the equally unimpressive wooden steps that go up three storey's to what was Regent Hall's youth club. When I was 10 I played on these bare wooden steps totally unaware of the significance behind and upon which I played. Many years later I discovered a university youth work course - as an induction to Youth Work - stopped outside this insignificant wooden door to point out that Youth Work as we know it in the UK started behind this door. ...whether that be the surbanite flower people that flooded the Westend to express their free love; or the hard core drug community this unimpressive wooden door became the 'portal' that blurred encounter between church an
Read more

Types of Christian Spirituality...

Image
It is easy to think and to limit ourselves to a single approach to Christian spirituality. A 'if it works for me it should work for you approach' tends to narrow our appreciation of other ways which actually impoverishes our experience of spirituality. Urban T. Holmes has developed a means of exploring spirituality and helps develop an appreciation through discovering links between spirituality, temperament and predisposition. The diagram illustrates his ideas together with potential inherent dangers. The vertical continuum speaks and helps us understand our relational orientation to God. This ranges from engaging with God through understanding and theological process to a more emotive response. Horizontally speaks of a persons preferred means of pursuing the spiritual life. Kataphtic speaks of affirmation and the need of something tangible in an individuals spirituality- this may take the form of worship, art, even imagination with the use of metaphors, symbols and images play
Read more