Service as an act of worship

When Matt, Haunani, Josh and I started our adventure of planting a church and building a faith community one of our tenets was that we should serve our city and community and that service should become a part of our liturgy of worship. We initially began with a mid-week meal/bible study/watch American Idol /worship time and the rest of our time was spent building relationships within the community and finding places to serve the poor, lonely and hungry.

We now meet on Sunday mornings for a worship service but my battle cry has been that these acts of love (our projects in the community) are also beautiful expressions of worship. The first Sunday of the month (Project Sunday) we do not have a traditional worship service instead we devote that time to working on a project together. The project looks different almost every time. Last month we made truck loads of manicotti for a function at the Greenwood Senior Center. The month before we bought new Christmas decorations and decorated the Senior Center (which is also where we meet on Sunday's). We have done a lot of deep cleaning at various non-profits in the city but most of all we have a great time being with each other and worshiping together in a different way. We always eat after our Project Sunday and we enjoy that as well!!!

When we first began, approximately three years ago we approached a local alternative high school and asked them how we could support their vision for the students. This school takes kids who are not making it in the mainstream. All of the kids are eligible for free and reduced lunch program and almost all of the students are minorities. The teachers were first a little suspicious but we kept reinforcing that we were not trying to convert, we were there to support the vision of the school. Over the years we have provided a first day of school breakfast, provided money for an incentive program, took beautiful pictures for the yearbook, collected baby items for pregnant girls, gave gift cards to homeless teens and brought Starbucks drinks for the staff. Two of our members have worked at the school but besides dropping of food and taking pictures none of our members have actually had any interaction with the kids.

In December one of the teachers emailed me and asked if we would be willing to plan a day of community service for the kids to be involved in. They also asked that Ohana Project members be a part of the day. We are stoked that we have been trusted with this kind of opportunity to not only love on the kids but to let them know that they have something to contribute, that their lives have significance and they can make a difference. We will go tomorrow to the Cascades People Center (thank you Ile for getting it set up) where we will clean and do yard work. Only a few OP people can make it on a weekday but we are thrilled that we get to be a part of loving these amazing kids.

I will blog tomorrow afternoon and tell you how it all went.