Just Who is Being Served?

A night of love, grace, and fellowship. A night with friends -- old and new -- serving at Jericho's Light Club, a soup kitchen of sorts in Franklinton aka "the Bottoms." 

I usually keep myself behind the counter on these service nights, preferring the comfort zone the wood and linoleum structure creates for me. From there, I can be chatty and smile while dishing up a plate of nourishing food or pouring a hot cup of coffee for the impoverished, mentally ill, drug or alcohol addicted.

Tonight, I stepped out from behind that counter -- both literally and figuratively. I took my own plate of food over to a table and invited myself to sit down and eat a meal with a man and woman who'd just gone through the line. It was uncomfortable, I felt stupid, I didn't know what to say. Then I just quite thinking about me and let it roll.

She (Brenda) suffers from MS, has had cataract surgery on both eyes, and is borderline diabetic. He (Melvin) is diabetic and has cataracts in both eyes. She must be about my age; he might be around 55.

We talked about stuff. We sat together in comfortable silence. Christ brought us together through love. I received grace. We shared fellowship. 

Collage o' the night

We served, we sang, we laughed, we prayed.