On Sunday
night we held our monthly Wesley Love Feast. The Love Feast is intended to be a
time of scripture reading, worship, testimony, and taking an offering for the
poor. For the past year, the offering that we receive has gone directly to
assist people from our community who are in need. This night, we had a smaller
group than normal. With just six of us around the circle, however, the prayer
and testimony time was powerful and real. Tears flowed and praises were lifted
up for over an hour as we told our stories of how God is transforming our
lives.
Of the six there, two are currently homeless,
two were formerly homeless, and one lives in section 8 housing downtown. One
person named Rick who came to The Gathering about a year ago and who had just
celebrated 208 days clean and sober, told the group about his former life. He
said, “I used to hang out with a group of guys who robbed houses. We would pull
up in a van and ring the doorbell of a house. If nobody answered, we would kick
in the back door and steal from them.”
Two weeks after I left those guys, all three of them were arrested and
are still doing time in prison today. Since I have come to The Gathering, God
has completely turned my life around. I don’t have a place to live right now,
but God is changing me. I’ve never been happier in my life.”
The last
thing that we did before ending the service was to take an offering for the
poor. A small basket was placed in the middle of the circle and I invited
people to give as God led them. As I got up from the circle, I noticed $40 in
the basket—a generous offering from such a small group! I spent some time
talking with a few people and then headed to my car to leave. Just as I opened
my car door, Rick came running out of the church. Pastor Carrie, you forgot
something! Don’t you want to do
something with this? It was Rick holding
the basket with the $40 in it. With such a small group that night, we had
failed to follow our usual procedure of designating two people to collect the
offering and place it in the safe.
I thought
to myself, “Here is a man who used to rob houses who because of an encounter
with Jesus through this church is now bringing me $40 in cash—cash that could
have just as easily been put in his pocket. Isn’t it just like God to show
Himself this way? It was as if God was
saying to me, “Just in case you wondered if all this talk about life change is
real, let me show you that it is.”
“Thank you,
Rick,” I said. “Let’s go take care of this.” And together, we walked back into
the church, presented the offering to a member of our admin team who counted it,
sealed it and secured it.
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