I spotted these shoes perched on top of a Surbiton bus stop the other day – spotted them again, that is, as I reckon they’ve been up there for at least a year! Only visible to upper-deck bus passengers they’ve clearly been long forgotten by their owner and – just like me – none of the hundreds of people who’ve seen them on their way into Kingston have ever stopped to pick them up. We get up, we go about our business, we see them, we carry on…
In Kingston we’re finding ourselves increasingly blessed by our friends in the community of rough sleepers that exists around the town. They live by different rules and deal with different pressures than the majority of us – to be honest, they deal with circumstances on a daily basis which to most of us would seem nightmarish. And as much as we may want to help, it is all too easy to become used to seeing them and leaving them as they are while we make our way through the world. We get up, we go about our business, we see them, we carry on…
Sometimes we just don’t know how to help. Last week I chatted with D, a friend of ours who has been street homeless in the immediate vicinity of our venue for more than a year now; he was having a particularly low morning and said, “it’s just hard, people just walking past and they don’t even bother to say hello.” My response? “Mate, sometimes we just don’t know how to help.” D sighed and said, “All I want is a smile.” We can’t save an increasingly turbulent and fractious world, but we can always give what we have – and in God’s economy our little can become a lot: watch & marvel as a small boy watches Jesus use his small parcel of food to feed 5000+ people, or as Peter & John, saying “we don’t have silver or gold, but what we have we give you…”, heal a man begging at his usual spot just outside the gate Beautiful in Acts 3. God wants us to make a difference.
As a church we have a number of opportunities to make a difference on the boil for this coming term, including a CAP course running in Southfields next month, another Cook & Eat course running in Kingston and opportunities to collect food for the Wimbledon Food bank. We’re looking to newer initiatives as well, for example exploring the possibility of partnering with the London Ambulance Service over the Christmas weeks to alleviate the annual extra strain on emergency services in Kingston town centre; there will be other opportunities to support works in all three venues linked to our partners in Doxadeo, Vineyard, Street Pastors, Winter Night Shelter and beyond. Please pray, pray, pray about all that we’ll do before the year ends, and speak to your pastorate leaders and elders, or mail the Everyday Difference team, to see how you can get involved.
Jesus got up, went about his Father’s business (Luke 2:49, NKJV; John 5:19); when he saw them, he had compassion on them (Matthew 9:36, 20:34, Mark 6:34), he stopped (Matt 20:32, Mark 10:49) and then he made all the difference in the world to them. As a church we need to learn to do the same; as individuals we can start today – when you see someone in need, on the streets, at work, in church, in your own families, stop and see what you can do to make a difference. Jesus did, so did his followers, and together they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).
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If you’re a member of the church who works or volunteers in the fields of community development, education, housing, social care, medicine etc, then we’d love to hear from you – please mail the Difference team to let us know what you do! Thanks