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Why I'm looking forward to Port of Grace

Port of Grace is about mission and relationship. The following two excerpts come from Wilsonian, a friend at POG.

The city has a huge festival every August long weekend, celebrating its heritage. The streets are closed off, the vendors are lining the sidewalks, the stages are in place and more than twenty thousand people are preparing to participate.

Each year our church has sought to show the love of Christ in action, so that others might know God and follow Him. Our downtown store-front church is right in the middle of the action.

Our doors will be open. The space is filled with tables and chairs so folks can sit for a while or eat what they've bought from concession stands in a bit more comfort. They can get a free cup of coffee or lemonade. We host a team of buskers who will get into and out of costume, hang out between sets and rest.

And then there's the toilets.

Yes, I said toilets. The most tangible way we have found to love folks this weekend will be to make our washrooms available and clean, sparing them from having to use the blue chemical toilets dotting the streets.

There is power in the throne. People are grateful when they know you had their comfort and well-being in mind. And when we're asked why we do it (refusing all donations), we get to tell them that Jesus is crazy in love with them. And they listen.

and then after the event...

There were highs: -seeing a fellow from our past who said he was going to church now, because of a memorial service we did for a friend in common last year. He liked the Jesus he saw there. -having an impromptu birthday celebration for one of the street performers. It was a off-key rendition of Happy Birthday... but the cake was good :)

There were lows:
-leaving the festival for a while to sit with a friend coming off coke, and while she made plans to go into rehab the next day... only to have her disappear in the night.

At the end, I cannot express how wonderful it is to say "No, we aren't taking donations. Really. We're here to bless you" a hundred times. Nor can I express how surprising I continue to find it when people are shocked that "Christians" want to do something, asking nothing in return.

Does that give you an idea why I'm excited and feel incredibly privileged to go pastor this church?

Posted by ed