Last year I made it a goal to find a way to serve with my children, Miles (12) and Josie (9), in a community outside of our comfort zone. I was primarily focused on trying to give them a little perspective on how privileged our lives are while showing love for our neighbors like Jesus teaches. However, the real lesson we learned was about the importance of community and how we can show love to the people around us. We found that it’s not about privileged vs. not privileged. It’s about connecting with our neighbors and remembering that we are all God’s children.
We signed up to serve dinner at The Dwelling Place in Woburn and were happy to see that there are jobs for everyone — putting out food donated by grocery stores, filling individual to-go containers with that evening’s dinner, handing out dinners, making coffees for guests, microwaving meals for guests who decide to stay there to eat, and chatting with the guests.
We found a welcoming sense of community, with many regular guests for whom the free meal is a big help in their day-to-day lives. Josie described it as, “making new friends even if they’re a little older than you.” Miles said it makes him feel “happy to see people eating when they may not have a lot of food.”
We’ve served dinner as a family a few times now, and each time we come away feeling like we’ve connected with at least a few people who we wouldn’t have met otherwise and played a small role in doing something good for the community around us. While I do think the experience has provided perspective, I think the bigger impact has been in emphasizing the importance of community. At The Dwelling Place, it’s clear that many of the guests are eager to share a smile or a joke and that providing a meal and sharing in these interactions is a very tangible way that we can love our neighbors as ourselves.
I’m so grateful to Rev. Janelle and the Journey to Justice team for organizing the wide range of volunteer opportunities that we have access to at Epiphany. They make it easy for us to connect with the community around us and serve our neighbors without having to do a lot of research or legwork. In this Advent season, it’s another reminder that we are very blessed.
Annie Bing
