Marcus came to church today...

I had a thought today. I wondered how many churches would today be charging a car battery for someone who lives in a car?
"...He was drunk enough to make the air intoxicating...."

I met Marcus on the walk to church this morning. He seemed pleased to see me and he came along to the service. He'd had too much to drink but he wasn't so drunk as not to remember that we had his car battery and that we'd promised to charge it up for him. He was drunk enough to give a an edge of uncertainty to the service. He was drunk enough to make the air intoxicating. Passive intoxication might not be on the political agenda but it was for us this morning, with two guys from the local detox centre we had to carefully police who sat where!

The service ended. Marcus made himself at home and people made him feel at home as he took many opportunities to tell people that he has been booked into a detox tomorrow. All the time his battery is charging.

The two guys from Grieg House Detox are leaving. Hamish who has more or less finished his detox programme grabs Marcus by the shoulder, looks him in the eye with a look of 'I've been where you are... and I don't want to go back' and wishes him good luck for the detox - "you can do it!"

Church today seems to have been a good experience for Marcus - above all he has had his car battery charged!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Gordon

Have just finished reading "No Perfect People Allowed" good read about creating a church environment for people to come as they are and basically meet Jesus and then the fixing of lives happens in the context of community. You like ourselves endeavour to create this environment even though it often challenges our more traditional folk. Marcus came as he was, and this is how Jesus takes each and everyone of us (thank goodness or none of us would get there) I think for a long time the church expected people to have it all together before they could walk through the doors of the church... so no-one came.

I am glad Marcus has a place to belong.

God Bless

Glenda
3:00 AM
Gordon said…
These comments have reminded me of a church being featured on TV and teh pastor saying "we knew we'd got things wrong when people felt comfortable enough to leave their purses , bags and coats lying around untended"
3:21 PM
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