– Kim R. Smith, Sound District Lay Leader
My heart has been worried about something my own church has been experiencing a bit, and as I talk with many of you… some of yours’ are too, fatigue. When there is so much energy to push forward and try new things, it feels almost rude to suggest balancing the push with a pull toward spiritual care.
Yet when you push forward with fewer hearts to do the work, in my mind, we must balance the work with extra efforts to care for their souls first. They are the foundation that feeds the poor, clothe the naked, and reaches out in the name of Jesus. If we are more focused on providing basic needs for the growing numbers of those in need, and we do not balance that work with well… Jesus for both those being served and those serving… what are we doing?
As I was struggling with this, an email came from the Haywood Street Congregation that brought me to tears and empathy. I have visited this amazing congregation in Asheville that has stepped up in many ways to help the growing homeless population there. Visit Haywood Street Congregation, and you will be astounded by the breadth of service and advocacy. They are making a real and lasting impact in their community. Yet this email shared news and rationale for discontinuing the Sunday Downtown Open Table and Worship service. Part of the email read, “Haywood Street is not a social service agency addressing food insecurity. Yet, because of a desperate rise in hunger, we spend far more time transacting a perishable resource rather than living into our calling, “relationship, above all else.” How brave to speak the truth even when it hurts!
I remember asking the woman giving me the tour last year how they kept the congregation emotionally and spiritually healthy with ministries that were both beautiful and overwhelming in so many ways. She smiled and said, “We have a lot of help.” The final paragraph was meant to re-focus. “During this season of lament, we’ll also use this unplanned Sunday sabbath to reorganize around being nothing less than a church every Wednesday, a holy place where we linger in slow conversation and sacred communion at the table of God.”
Mission begins and ends with God. It is God who separates service from mission. It is Jesus Christ who separates churches from civic organizations. If those serving don’t have time to care for their own spiritual selves, it all begins to unravel. Especially in this time of rising poverty and homelessness when we all want to do more as human beings, let alone as Christians. Exhaustion, fatigue, and lack of focus on God can leave us feeling like failures rather than brave and equipped servants in the fields of mission work.
My prayer is that we can all find that balance. That sweet spot where, together with Christ, we can feed the hungry and care for those serving in the mission fields. I pray we can all make and seek “a holy place where we linger in slow conversation and sacred communion at the table of God.” Let’s face it… just as those living in poverty need food to survive, we need to be fed spiritually so that we can continue and the mission work of our Lord and Savior can not only survive… but thrive. Take care of each other. Let everything we do begin and end with the holy spirit that walks beside us here and now. Focus on him.
The above graphic was taken by Kim R. Smith of the Haywood Street Fresco during her visit to the congregation.