At our Church service today, the Sermon was about "Why do we need a Church". During the sermon, I couldn't help noticing the parallels regarding the need to physically attend a Church service and the guests we serve at n2n. Terms such as safe place, being welcomed, not judgmental, be around other people, radical love, hugs and we are broken. Each of these can be overlaid on n2n. Jesus said "feed my sheep". At n2n, we do that with our food service. Implicit in that charge is to feed the heart, soul, mind and spirit. Without a welcoming environment, those goals cannot be accomplished. The sermon also mentioned the congregation as a team, to help others. That made think of one of Greg Parr's (n2n Executive Director) analogies he uses in our in person presentations. A farmer had a blind mule, Bessie. He and a friend had a particularly heavy load for her to pull. He said, "pull Annie, Bessie and Susie". Bessie successfully pulled the load. His friend asked why he used the other names as there was only Bessie- he said that if Bessie thought she was by herself, she couldn't pull the load - with help, she could.
That is what n2n is all about - radical love and hospitality. As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter this year, we are a family together. When we are told - "I am so glad you are here - I don't know what I would do without you", that is validation Jesus is with us.
We have overcome many obstacles and we still survive and we still serve. God wants n2n to serve his people. Our guests are no different than those that attended the first church service - we are not pretty, we are not clean, we don't live in comfortable surroundings but we know God is with us. I say "we" as I cannot stand the derogatory term of "those people". That is what our n2n family is all about. We are a family. We thank God for that blessing.
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