Things We Carry

Sitting around two different tables only two weeks apart, two congregations’ Core Team members completed their second session of Houses of Hope’s Discernment Pathway. Aptly titled “Things We Carry,” this session invites Core Team members to bring objects representing the best times of their congregation and the most challenging times. The two congregations I coach through the process alongside my co-coach Rev. Bill Taylor completed Things We Carry almost back to back. Two churches, two weeks apart, sharing stories through objects about their greatest joys and their most difficult challenges.

These two churches are the first I am working with in the Houses of Hope process. Through our work together so far, they have made our process come alive to me in a way that overviewing the curriculum, editing and adjusting sessions as needed, and listening to the stories of other coaches have not. This is especially true about the Things We Carry session.

As my co-coach Bill introduced this activity with our first congregation after the standard check in process, I felt a well of nerves arise in my stomach. I really did not see many objects through the Zoom screen. I immediately began to worry that no one had taken up the invitation. Quietly, someone spoke up: “I’ll share first, but I don’t really have an object to go along with my story…” What was to come could not have been coalesced into any one object.

The first sharer spoke about when she was a visitor to this congregation and the amazing welcome she received. This congregation has a regular rhythm of church potlucks each month, creating space for deepening relationships and flourishing fellowship. During the first potluck as a visitor, one of the matriarchs of the congregation came alongside this Core Team member and said “There are some people I would like you to meet.” The matriarch preceded to take the visitor around to all of her friends, introducing them to each other, saying each time to the people she has known for years, “Meet my new friend, she is someone I’d like for you to know.”

Tears sprung to my eyes listening to this story – feeling the depth of care from a congregation member to a visitor, hearing how this pivotal moment made a stranger feel like she belonged.

“I have a story about our Matriarch as well,” the next person said – sharing a similar story about her own first time visiting this congregation with her husband. They were greeted at the door by the same woman who introduced a different visitor to all her friends with a profound welcome: “Hi, I’m so glad you’re here – we’ve been waiting for you.”

We’ve been waiting for you. “And it wasn’t creepy at all!” Chimed the second sharers husband, with a mix of laughter. “That’s just the heart of who this church is.” The stories only kept going from there. Stories of the joys and the sorrows, with objects representative of them. A mask to showcase the struggles during the COVID-19 pandemic; funeral bulletins representing the grief of those passed on and the joy of having known them; the Pastor’s installation bulletin to showcase the celebration of finding the right fit.

Story after story after story came flooding out. Each one of challenge was balanced by a story of joy, hospitality, welcome, and belonging. And, a week and a half later, when I joined this congregation for their third session in person, the first sharer brought me around to her own friends and community members saying, “This is Cecie, she is someone I’d like for you to know.”

I held these stories in prayer as I prepared for our second session with the other church we coach, wondering what would be shared there – and if they would be similar or different from the stories and objects of our first church. This time I did not have the same anxiety as I had with my first coaching experience, rather I arrived ready and open to whatever would come – knowing and trusting that stories would come. And so they did.

Whereas our first congregation highlighted stories of welcome, hospitality, and belonging, our second congregation highlighted stories of creativity and abundance. One man brought a t-shirt from last year’s Vacation Bible School, sharing the story of how it all came together and the preparation they are doing for this one. He highlighted the connection this congregation has through VBS, so much so that community members seek to get involved. His own son was able to donate through his job a pallet of frozen pizzas for the church’s Vacation Bible School this summer – just because he knows what is happening and wants to help support it. Talk about abundance!

The frozen pizza reminded another person of another instance of abundance, when their local Kroger had to find a place to put a truck full of frozen chicken that was safe to eat but incorrectly packaged for the store. Kroger called the church to see if they’d want it for their food pantry. Absolutely! Another example of creativity and abundance.

Story after story after story poured out from this second congregation. Stories similar to those in scripture, albeit with different objects. Not two fish and five loaves, but a truck full of frozen chicken and a pallet of frozen pizza. Still, the point remains: God showed up. God provided. God’s abundance was made manifest and used creatively by this congregation.

This is the work of Houses of Hope: storytelling and listening, reflection and connection, deepening and nurturing. As we share stories, we see where God has already been present in our lives and in our churches. We notice the ways hope is alive. We are reminded of who we are, and Whose we are – in our joys, and in our challenges. For that, and for these two communities, I give thanks to God.