Sunday, May 10, 2009

Emmaus Ministries: Day Five

I really enjoyed my first Saturday evening at the Ministry Center. Members of the Laborers for Christ Church came and served our guys food. These people are awesome. They are a small church. They started volunteering at Emmaus two years ago and everything just caught on fire. This little church now serves our guys regularly. They also provide services in training for the whole Body. They did a service on Sexual Healing in South Africa. They just returned from similar work in Turkey and a pilgrimage to Greece.

The group tonight consisted of three ladies, including the pastor and two young men. The men played the piano and between the food, fellowship and music it was sweet.

I was struck by how important it is to create a safe and caring environment. Last night our guys ate with us and then just hung around. They could have watched movies with us but decided to just hang and talk. One was clearly feeling under the weather. Two talked about how crazy their weeks had been. They talked about the anxiety of what was facing them next week. We were the safe port in the storm, a home away from home.

We had another visitor last night. She was a volunteer who has been an Emmaus volunteer for five years. This place gets to people. I suspect that if you stay around long enough it becomes a part of you. That is a good thing.

No comments: