Resurrection is an action not an idea!
When six Churches get together they can make a difference. That’s what happened in 1989 when Sarasota’s Church of the Redeemer, First Christian Church, First Congregational Church, First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church and Grace Fellowship Church created Resurrection House.
They did so following the initiative of the Vestry of the Church of the Redeemer, who had been inspired and moved to action after ministering to a homeless woman who was sleeping in their grounds.
Resurrection House is a day shelter for homeless people, working to give them a “hand up” rather than a hand out. Each weekday between 80 and 160 people come through the doors.
Inside this bright, clean, air conditioned building (with a historically listed Mediterranean Revival style store front) homeless people are able to:
Have clothes laundered (we do about 60 loads a day)
Take a shower
Eat breakfast
Purchase reduced price bus passes
Get job and housing counseling
Get clothing and work shoes
See a Doctor (one a week)
Get a renovated bike (if the guest has found a job)
Register Resurrection House as a legal address to get mail
Work with staff to get a photo’ I.D.
Relax without being hassled.
Them's the facts, but it's more than that!
I have been volunteering at Resurrection House since June. I am usually there on three mornings each week. On Monday and Wednesday mornings I am the laundry intake and shower assignment person. I love this as it gives me the opportunity to listen to and chat with forty to fifty individuals. I know many of them by name, and I am always blessed by our encounters.
I wear a badge identifying me as “Pastor Michael” and I wear a big cross (courtesy of Common Cathedral, Boston). Then in quieter times I am able to pray with people in the little chapel, or shoot the breeze with them in the outdoor smoking area.
On Thursday mornings I lead a prayer service in the Chapel.
We usually find a brief bible verse (e.g. Jesus said “I am the light of the world”) and repeat it out loud four times. Then we say it over and over again in the quietness of our minds.
On the Altar I have placed a pretty tray with tea lights on it. After the quiet, those who wish light a tea light, and say for whom their prayer is lifted.
Next we say the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and end by singing “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place”.
That song has a line which reads “I see glory in each face”. As we sing that line, we look into each others’ lovely faces, seeing God’s glory, often as tears roll down our cheeks.
If this is not “Church” then I do not know what is!
They did so following the initiative of the Vestry of the Church of the Redeemer, who had been inspired and moved to action after ministering to a homeless woman who was sleeping in their grounds.
Resurrection House is a day shelter for homeless people, working to give them a “hand up” rather than a hand out. Each weekday between 80 and 160 people come through the doors.
Inside this bright, clean, air conditioned building (with a historically listed Mediterranean Revival style store front) homeless people are able to:
Have clothes laundered (we do about 60 loads a day)
Take a shower
Eat breakfast
Purchase reduced price bus passes
Get job and housing counseling
Get clothing and work shoes
See a Doctor (one a week)
Get a renovated bike (if the guest has found a job)
Register Resurrection House as a legal address to get mail
Work with staff to get a photo’ I.D.
Relax without being hassled.
Them's the facts, but it's more than that!
I have been volunteering at Resurrection House since June. I am usually there on three mornings each week. On Monday and Wednesday mornings I am the laundry intake and shower assignment person. I love this as it gives me the opportunity to listen to and chat with forty to fifty individuals. I know many of them by name, and I am always blessed by our encounters.
I wear a badge identifying me as “Pastor Michael” and I wear a big cross (courtesy of Common Cathedral, Boston). Then in quieter times I am able to pray with people in the little chapel, or shoot the breeze with them in the outdoor smoking area.
On Thursday mornings I lead a prayer service in the Chapel.
We usually find a brief bible verse (e.g. Jesus said “I am the light of the world”) and repeat it out loud four times. Then we say it over and over again in the quietness of our minds.
On the Altar I have placed a pretty tray with tea lights on it. After the quiet, those who wish light a tea light, and say for whom their prayer is lifted.
Next we say the Our Father and the Hail Mary, and end by singing “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place”.
That song has a line which reads “I see glory in each face”. As we sing that line, we look into each others’ lovely faces, seeing God’s glory, often as tears roll down our cheeks.
If this is not “Church” then I do not know what is!
Amen, Michael, amen. And I can't tell you how blessed I have been through my own ministry in this area, inspired largely by you while at St. James and hearing you talk about the Outdoor Church there before I got involved. Thank you for modeling for me what it is to really live out the Gospel!!! Just got home from helping to serve dinner at the Peachtree Pine shelter here in Atlanta... the work continues!! Thanks be to God!
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