Now that the election is over, there seems to be a stillness here at the office. People seem less frenzied, less preoccupied – and once again there is time to reflect.
October was a crazy month around here. Frankly, I only remember it in flashes of image and color. In my mind’s eye, when I think about last month I see a whole lot of orange.
If you are a member or a neighbor of Hillside Christian Church, then you understand the orange thing. Our life has revolved around (or at least it has been framed with) pumpkins. Lots and lots of pumpkins.
Basically, the entire month of October was a grand experiment: bring in an enormous truckload of pumpkins, pull together a wide variety of church volunteers, step outside the church building, invite the wider community to come have some fun…and then see what happens. It was an exercise in trust, in hope – a hope that we might become more like the Kin-dom of God if we met our neighbors outside of the church walls. And you know, I think it worked.
At the very least, the experiment started us on the right track. Though we were raising money for our youth mission trips, we also got the opportunity to interact with families who live near the church or who come to the church for food assistance (and to interact with them in a different way). Our volunteers saw parents beaming as their children danced and bounced through the pumpkin patch, families gathered in that sea of orange for an autumn family picture, teenagers meticulously searching for the perfect carver…these neighbors of ours, who sometimes have been seen simply as mouths to feed, became real multifaceted people. That alone is enough to call the experiment a success.
But there was more. One of our wealthier neighbors who often disapproves of our signage and activities, fell in love with the vibrant display spread across our lawn. She went so far as to send us a letter expressing her gratitude for our presence in the neighborhood. Local grocery stores started sending customers our way when they ran out of their own pumpkin stock. People looked out for us, and we experienced a complete lack of vandalism and theft, though the pumpkins weren’t guarded during the night. We all became neighbors.
And at the end of the month, when we set up for our annual Trunk or Treat event, our neighbors came back. They came back in droves. We served hot dogs, chili, cocoa and candy to a thousand people that night – and we recognized those who had come earlier in the month, even though they were in costume!
As a church, it is our calling to take seriously those two greatest of commandments: Love God and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself. But it is downright impossible to love our neighbors if we don’t have the slightest clue about who they are. With the help of a few hundred pumpkins, we’ve begun to figure that out. It’s making a difference already, sending ripples of hope throughout our area. And it’s given me hope, that maybe all this work we do really is pointing to something (and Someone) greater than ourselves. Maybe, just maybe, we’re laying some foundation for the Kin-dom right here along Vivion Road.
If that’s the case, then around here hope is orange.
Serendipity Soiree 