People in the Neighborhood

We had an outreach yesterday at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. Usually if we’re downtown we’re handing out groceries or hygiene products, but on this particular Saturday we were there to clean up the neighborhood. With the help of a couple dozen volunteers and about 50 Pathfinders (Junior High Ministry), we hit the streets with trash bags, rakes and lots of energy.

We had talked to some of our neighbors earlier, asking if they would mind if we raked their leaves and trimmed their grass. They were happy to comply and grateful for the acts of service. Our youth were a true representative of Healing Place Church, reaching out with a smile and a helping hand. It was awesome to watch.

Miss Catherine lives next door to the Dream Center. She and her family face struggles with health and finances and, because she’s in a wheelchair, basic yard work is a challenge. She told us she’s lived in the house for several years and has only been in the back yard twice. When we asked if we could rake her leaves she asked if we were joking. By the end of the day she was thanking us and saying her yard has never looked this good.

Down the street is a daycare center. We had gotten permission to clean up their playground and plant some flowers in front of their facility. With the branches picked up, the leaves raked and some pansies in the ground, it looked like a whole new place.

Over on Tuscaloosa a team was working on Miss Jamie’s house. She does her best to maintain her home and yard, but looking after a grandson who has near-debilitating arthritis takes up much of her time. She is genuinely grateful for whatever help we can offer and always has time for prayer. I watched her watching our young people as they pulled weeds and picked up trash. As she sat on the steps with one of our volunteers I wondered what was going through her mind. The look on her face seemed to be one of peace; a look I’ve seldom seen on her before. What a great opportunity to be a healing place for a hurting world.

The corner of 39th and Odell is a happening place. I’ve never driven past there when there wasn’t at least a half-dozen people congregating around a patio table in the yard. It’s an odd sort of gathering; a collection of those seemingly forgotten by society. They spend their time visiting and sipping beverages wrapped in small brown bags. Walking up to the table I could feel the hopelessness and oppression. Small wonder they spend their afternoon drinking tall boys. When asked about raking the leaves we were directed inside to speak to the lady of the house. She was happy to see us and thanked us repeatedly for the Thanksgiving basket she had received. She told us it would be a blessing to have some young people help out with the yard work. When the team arrived on Saturday morning she was overjoyed. By the time they had raked the leaves and pulled the weeds she was almost in tears. She told our team leader that it was the best day of her life. (Selah).

There are lots of jobs more glamorous than picking up trash or raking leaves and I don’t recall a single scripture that commands us to clean our neighbor’s yard. There are however, several places that tell us to go and tell. Sometimes that message is best communicated through our actions. We didn’t send out our youth group with a handful of tracts, and we didn’t tell them to preach hell-fire to anyone they met. What we did was to ask them to change the world by serving one; by offering themselves, a smile and a helping hand.

Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:23

Since we’re in the hedges anyway, we might as well take a rake! All glory to God.