Love is in the house, and the house is packed so much so I left the back door cracked
Mama always said it’s a matter or fact
that when Love is in the house….the house is packed!
Toby Mac, “Love is in the House”
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Psalm 127:1-2
A friend’s sister and brother-in-law helped me pack up for Street Church last week. We spoke and he asked questions and they both left impressed deeply with the quality of our ministry and mission and the passion and love by which it is delivered.
We do what we do well with great love.
That last part, well that’s all that really matters. Love you all. Love God hard and your neighbors too.
Last Week’s Update…stay connected!
Logistics
Served: 70+
Last week's leaders: Bryan, Jody, Curtis, Malaree, Chino,
Gifts
Last week's: tee shirts
Next week's: Street Church Tee Shirts
Looking Ahead
VOX Church is providing all the food this week for their City Serve! Check the signup for the next few weeks out to see where you can help https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040849a5ac2aa6f58-street#/
Miscellaneous
don’t forget to sign up for lunches and helping load up!
We will be hosting youth from the Hartford Project June 24-27th downtown during the day. If you have time to join us please let me know!
Service
[update from the previous week; our new friend who went off to rehab did not come back. Let’s take that as a praise that he got into a long-term treatment]
Our dear friend, Sue was with us. She is battling cancer with such strength and love and dare I say joy. She was tired but came and sat and prayed while we packed, and talked about the ministry to her sister and her bother-in-law. I asked her to stick out her finger, and touched a water bottle with it…she had a hand in packing and I let the folks downtown know. They ERUPTED in thanks!
We had an amazing group of family helping out as you can see from the picture. Folks were from four different countries and five different churches and we had four different first-languages. Ruth prayed us out in Creole.
We had a few folks asking for food early, so we made a fuss about it and gave them a sandwich. We really don’t want to do that as word gets out. We simply ask folks to come back in about 30 minutes. My kids wait for dinner they can too. We are trying to teach folks how to live.
I preached on the need and gifting of the Holy Spirit for living out the life we are called to once we are adopted into the family of God. Most folks are taught that the Spirit is power, but not what the power is for. The recovery community calls this becoming a productive and helpful member of society. Paul called it “living out your salvation” in his letter to the Philippian Church (Phil 2:12)
Brother Benson was on communion and it made me so glad to see him there. He is glad to be with us too. The lunch lines were long but pleasant. I encourage you all to take five minutes next time you are there and walk through it to say hello. It will bless you to no end and it’s a great way to learn folks.
Simply outstanding, that’s the only word we all had. The love was thick.
blessings!
bryan
…From the Community Churches
We met last week at Brookdale-Chatfield with the independent living community, the Farmington Gables independent living community, the Farmington Station memory care community, and I preached at New Life Community Church in Windsor on Sunday!
It was such a [full] week of joy! Laura joined in with the lead caregiver and the director of the memory unit at Farmington Station to “act out” motions to “I’ve got peace like a river”. It was an absolute RIOT and the residents and staff alike lost it! Laura and I were talking about it during our mentoring session about what happens to the soul when it is released from fear, judgement, and assessment.
“I was smiling so big my face hurt!
God’s love was in that place!”
As we left we, we passed through a group of residents sitting outside doing a session of word association for the facility and one of them asked “hey, play us a song!” so I slung my guitar off my back and taught them a silly rhyming song I wrote for my kids and neighbors when they were little and we had a blast. At the final line (hey!) I told them to shout and throw up a fist like it was a rowdy drinking song which they did…and the drinking jokes and comments followed so I played “show me the way to go home” with them and they all got rowdy…and then the song has the same chord progression as “this little light of mine” so we worked into that…
I’ve never heard that song before.
What is it?…
We left and went to Dunkin for cold drinks and to debrief when a young woman overheard us and with tears expressed how she has been looking for a Body of Christ that knows how to love like that… we invited her to Street Church
The Clairbridge Community Church @ Brookdale
The Community Church at Brookdale
The Community Church at Brookdale/Chatfield
The Clairbridge Community Church @ Brookdale/Chatfield
The Farmington Station Community Church
The Gables Community Church
The River Ridge Community Church
The West Hartford Health and Rehab Community Church
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