Small Things

On Friday night, I and a group from the Rochester Church stayed the night with the South Oakland Shelter at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. Over 70 people from our church worked with St. Philip’s to care, nurture, feed, and share our lives with the 30 or so guests now homeless, trying to get out of the cycle of poverty that is consumes many in the Detroit area.

It was a relatively normal night, at least compared to some of my other experiences. I and two other friends had the distinct honor of pulling an all-nighter—we were tagged security for the night. I learned how to play chess (how I’ve avoided learning this game is beyond me), talked about life, politics, etc.

Three young women were in the shelter with their children. It’s one thing to fend for yourself in those conditions; it’s another to fend for your family.

Charles, Mary, Lucky, Steve, LaKeisha, Justin, Edward, Norma, and Tammy among others. It might seem like a small thing, to give up one night of your week to care for the invisible people of Metro Detroit. But the Gospel is all about the small things. To paraphrase one of Christianity’s greatest ambassadors, “We cannot do big impressive things, only small insignificant things with great love.”