Faith Works 11-17-18

Faith Works 11-17-18

Jeff Gill

 

Sometimes, you just gotta preach

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Look, I am a preacher, but in this column, I do my best to not be preachy.

 

The running topic of "Faith Works" is how faith and belief and religious practice shapes and moves and informs our life together in Licking County, and in general I avoid sectarian claims and particular assertions. You can come hear me on a Sunday or Wednesday if you want, and that's more what you'll get, but here we're looking out across the Newark and central Ohio landscape.

 

But sometimes there are some things I just want to proclaim, to get a little bit preachy at you for the good of your heart, if not your soul.

 

You should be thankful.

 

Seriously, it's good for you. As a Christian pastor, I have particular reasons for thankfulness, but there's a baseline reality that's accessible to us all: we are here, you are reading this, there are options available to us while we have breath, and for that and maybe a bit more, we need to be thankful.

 

I believe that thankfulness is as essential in a longer term way as breathing is for right now. If you have your breathing restricted, your energy and awareness and general well-being can be impacted; if you stop breathing long enough, you will die. On a different timeline, if you stop being thankful, it starts to hit your thoughts and understandings like a blood oxygen level below 95% starts messing with your head.

 

And a complete absence of thankfulness can kill you dead, even if your body is still walking around for a long while after that.

 

There are always reasons to not be thankful. Stuff you don't have, health that's not at what it should be, people who let you down, problems that are coming which can't be avoided. Sure. I've got 'em, you've got 'em, we all have them.

 

This is where service to others is so crucial to having a thankful heart. I have this conversation with people in hospitals all the time as a minister: there's always someone down the hall worse off. It's true. You can dread being in their shoes all night, or you can be thankful for what you have, where you can go, the hope and time you have. It's a choice, really.

 

You may have heard that Scott Hayes and the Licking County Jail Ministry (LCJM) have launched a new ministry of their own, outside of the Licking County Justice Center.

 

It's on S. 5^th St., and it's called Vertical 196 for the address; some of us know it as the old Red Cross building. Vertical 196 is a day center for homeless people.

 

You may not know that, for all sorts of practical reasons, homeless shelters have to ask all their guests to leave for the day, 8:30 am or so, and not return until about 5 pm. The Salvation Army shelter on E. Main St., the St. Vincent Haven on Wilson St., other emergency shelter programs on a smaller basis in the community all have to impose such rules. But where does a homeless, if sheltered person go during the day? Let alone a person who is homeless and unhoused, making their own shelter somewhere by the rivers or stairwells of our city?

 

Vertical 196 is a partial answer to this question. They completed two weeks of operations yesterday, and they have seen 35 to 45 people for lunch every weekday they're open, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

 

Scott is chaplain for the LCJM, and he's excited about how this extension of that ministry is involving even more people to make the meals, serve and sit with the guests for lunch, and help with expanding the outreach program they offer. Soon they'll add laundry and shower services for guests, and with five church teams at work to start, he's hoping to add enough committed volunteers to go to a 9:00 to 4:00 schedule.

 

Their immediate needs, though, are XL sweatshirts and sweatpants. The idea is folks can wear them while washing the clothes they came in with, and take them with them as another layer for the walking and searching and sometimes sleeping wherever they may go.

 

Vertical 196 already has evening programs for a variety of audiences, such as a Celebrate Recovery group with a meal on Thursdays. They also plan to be open as usual on both Thanksgiving and Christmas Day with a meal, and warmth. You can ask questions or offer to help through Scott@JailMinistries.org.

 

If you go there, though, you know what people who are homeless say about it? They are thankful. And I'm reminded to be thankful, as well.

 

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; tell him what you're thankful for at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.