The Blessings of Community

Dec 30th

What a great day! I spent most of it with my friend Emeshe who is back for a short time from her mission in Guyana. She riddled me with compliments all through the day and was just an all around bright shining light to be with. It was good seeing many friends that I serve with down at Potters who I haven’t talked to for a while over the Christmas break as well.

After seeing that all the preparation needs were being met I went to the back to talk with a man who is a volunteer from the community. I recently bought a calendar in which one of his photographs was being highlighted. Though I know little about who he is, I know that he is an activist in the community. I peppered him with questions about the new mayor, the Portland and the Olympics. He had a lot to say. He was enthusiastic, energized, and had a great sense of humor. I was blessed just listening to him. Later on in the night I told him that he blessed me. He said that he didn’t want people to think that everyone who lives down here had a crushed spirit. There are lively people with a lot of creativity and joy living in the down town eastside.

Mike Morreli has been leading worship lately at Potters and he is a Godsend. With our two current worship leaders taking on other projects, we knew we were going to run quite thin in that portion of our ministry. Mike has also been bringing down other fine musicians that have never come out before. I can’t tell you how often I have heard people compliment us on our music. We are truly blessed with all the musical talent we have. Oh ya, and he played a song by Arcade Fire to start off the set. Arcade Fire . . . at Potters! I’m breathless and speechless. I wish music could always take me before God this way.

I served the food with a happy heart; smiling and dancing. Blessings from God are contagious. I used to want to hide my joy because I was afraid of being scorned for being happy. I felt guilty about my material wealth. I see now that the spirit of joy is a blessing when God is glorified through it. I don’t receive criticism or rebuke when I hand someone a plate of food with a smile on my face. I look in their eyes and I see the Spirit of God washing over them and bringing out many smiles of gratitude.

I joined a conversation at the end of the night just as things were winding down. Almost everyone had left and the cleaning was almost finished. He was a thin man with kind eyes and didn’t appear drunk or high. His coffee cup was on its side and I could see a residue of coffee grinds all along the bottom and up the side of the cup. I asked him if that was coffee grinds? He asked me rhetorically, what should I do, ask for my money back? He went on to talk about instances where there was a complete lack of gratitude. He was critical of the people in his community. He told us how he had become numb to the squalor. Five years ago when he first came down to the east side he cried when he saw people sticking needles in their arms. Now it’s just normal. I noted that he still had sensitivities to it just by the way he expressed himself. To be aware of you losing contrast is to still have contrast. I couldn’t be specific but he definitely made comments that led me to believe that he had a faith in our Lord. I was blessed talking to him too.

This reminds me again that I would like to experiment with field trips. In the summer I would like to take people out of the eastside and take them somewhere like Burnaby Mountain or Belcarra beach and just have a picnic and play Frisbee and Bocce ball. While I think it should be our mission to regenerate the community I think some need to be pulled from the community because they are hypnotized by the endless pacing up and down five blocks of road trying to scrape out a life. I think a field trip would provide some contrast to the everyday life that some of them think they deserve. It might help them dream or have vision for a different sort of life.

The last couple times at Potters I have encountered many sober men who spoke coherently and intelligently. My conception of what this community consists of is eroding. While I expected to run into eccentricity due to mental illness and chronic drug use, I did not perceive there to be a thoughtful, intelligent and insightful population that still remained in the community. This has become a bit of a puzzle. Why does someone who is straight and sober and has a well functioning mind stay in a community that appears so dirty and dilapidated?