A great place to hang out!

Soup kitchen projects are probably the most popular service opportunities with Resurrection volunteers. I’m not sure why but my guess is that serving and sharing a meal is a comfortable way for people from different worlds to connect.

The Splendid Torch

I love this quote by George Bernard Shaw:

 

“This is the true joy in life — the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being a force of nature instead of feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. 

 

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got ahold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” 

 

So what does this quote have to do with my involvement with FaithWork and my spiritual journey? Namely this: that when I quit spending countless hours merely studying the Bible and instead “did” the scriptures by serving those in need, my faith went from a smoldering flame to a splendid torch.

 

Jesus said that whomever loses his life for Jesus’s sake, truly finds his life. This isn’t a pithy saying. I’ve experienced it and found it to be true. Suddenly, the One who I have claimed to follow for years has become very real to me. Why? Because when Jesus was alive, He spent much of His time hanging out with the downtrodden and ministering to them. Where can you still experience His presence today? You guessed it, with the downtrodden.

 

I’m not saying that you won’t experience Jesus in the ‘burbs. I will say, though, that He is hard to miss in the inner-city. So why do a bunch of well-heeled Johnson Countians spend so much time in the urban core serving on FaithWork projects? For a lot of us, we can’t think of a more exciting place to serve.

    

What about you? What experiences have caused your faith to come alive? Have you caught glimpses of God’s Spirit at work?

 

Welcome to the conversation!

   We are a community of Christ followers and Christ seekers from Church of the Resurrection and Kansas City. Our desire is to regularly step outside our comfortable suburban world to serve the poor and help contribute to the good in our community.

Cathy Swirbul, a Resurrection staff member, is the primary blogger but all are welcome to contribute. We can chat about social justice, experiencing Christ among the poor, racial reconciliation, the issues related to poverty … whatever is on our minds. So grab a cup of coffee and join in the conversation!

Note about the photo above: I’m not crazy about including a photo of myself on this blog only because it seems kind of arrogant. However, I do want to make this blog warm, welcoming and personal and including a photo does seem to further that goal.