Lutheran World Travels
Part 1 & 2
Part 1
Well the journey has begun and is well underway here in the lovely town of Reading, England. I arrived on August 28th 2007 quite tired and completely overwhelmed. As I said my goodbyes to my friends as they headed of to their placements I quickly found my luggage and met up with my supervisor and one of the residents and we were off to Reading and Door of Hope where I work.
In the first month of being here things have been quite hectic, with my arrival and the arrival the newest member to the Hope House family. A beautiful baby girl named Eden Grace was born to my supervisors Jim and Heather. So this meant that I had to learn quite quickly what needed to be down around the house, leaving me little time to sit down and process what it is that I am actually doing for this next year of my year.
One of the things I quickly realized about Door of Hope is that it is very much about family. But this sense of family extends beyond the wall of the house and includes the congregation of Life Spring Church. Door of Hope is a charity that is run by Life Spring Church here in Reading and the congregation is very proactive in the lives of the residents here. So it is not uncommon to have random visits to the house from different people in the church.
Thinking Point
What does it mean to be a part of the Body of Christ?
Part2
One of the things that I have been thinking about lately has been discipleship. In the July-August Seeds for the Parish put out by the ELCA, they had bit about discipleship.
As disciples we called to follow Christ on a life-long journey, imitating the heart and mind of Christ. Disciples are not born; they are formed in a community that learns, encourages, prays, and worships together. This process of spiritual growth and transformation continues as disciples become apostles (those that are sent) on God’s mission to love, serve and witness in the home, community, workplace, and world. God’s presence and promise, given to us in Baptism and affirmed each day, calls us to a “vocation” of discipleship in our day-to-day encounters.
I began to think about my day-to-day encounters. In a normal day I come to Hope House and we have a morning scripture and prayer. Shortly after we attend to our morning business. Through out the rest of the day we may go and do some gardening for the first part of the morning and then maybe in the afternoon we might play a little soccer or walk into town. At around six o’clock or so we all sit down and have dinner with one another and catch up on each other’s days.
As I began to think about it, discipleship is not something that is overly flashy and you don’t get a badge of honour for being the best at discipleship. But discipleship and disciples are formed in a community that learns, encourages, prays, and worships together. This can be found in your day-to-day encounters. For me, it is in the interactions that I have with the guys I work with, the people we meet as we go gardening, the people that stop by to visit from the church, and even at the dinner table as we all come together and share a meal and our time with one another.
Thinking Point
How should we carry out our “vocation” of discipleship in our day-to-day encounters? How do we carry out our “vocation” of discipleship in our day-to-day encounters?
*Soli Deo Gloria
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