As we have worked with the community at Transitions through ministrieslab, I have been struck by the number of times I have come to worship and have heard, “Are we having chapel? I wasn’t sure if you were coming.”
At first, there was a part of me that bristled at the comment. Have I not been faithfully showing up? Have I not been clear about when we gather? Until it dawned on me that the comment had nothing to do with me, but expressed a deep sense of need in the person.
As my thoughts shifted, I wondered how many times someone in his life had said they were going to show up and didn’t. I wondered how many times someone in his life someone had said they were going to help and didn’t. I wondered how many times someone in his life had said they had a place for him to stay and didn’t.
These are parts of his story I don’t know yet. There is a whisper in this comment of those experiences. Until he is ready to share those stories, we’ll keep showing up, until he knows for sure we are coming to worship and commune with him and the community of faith that gathers.