The Great Benediction

After the greeting in the first two verses of the Book of Ephesians, we read four verses (3-6) that are commonly called “The Great Benediction.” In these verses, the author speaks of blessings—both the blessedness of God and the blessings that God pours out upon each of us. In particular, the author insists that we are blessed through Jesus with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” which is commonly taken to mean “the hope of resurrection, the good news of immortality, the promise of the kingdom of heaven, [and] the dignity of sonship,” as Theodoret once wrote.

The fourth verse begins by speaking of us being chosen “in Christ” before even the beginning of creation—that is to say, that God was working salvation for us long before we sinned or even before we were created. God’s saving love is shown to be so big as to overwhelm sin even before its existence. But, the fourth verse goes on to say that we have been chosen “to be holy and blameless before [God] in love.” Often, this is said to mean that we were chosen by God because we were foreknown to be good or because God foreknew that we would choose God.

Any time we speak of God’s knowledge and/or foreknowledge, we are in deep, theological water, but this verse in particular seems often quoted to support some idea of a capricious God who has chosen us arbitrarily. Jerome offers some clarification in his commentary:

“Paul does not say he chose us before the foundation of the world on account of our being saintly and unblemished. He chose us that we might become saintly and unblemished, that is, that we who were not formerly saintly and unblemished should subsequently be so…So understood it provides a counter-argument to one who says that souls were elected before the world came to be  because of their sanctity and freedom from any sinful vice.”

In this verse then, we do not see an image of a capricious and arbitrary God who punishes us before we’ve even existed, let alone offended, but rather we see a God whose love itself makes even sinners into saints. We see an image of love more powerful than even our brokenness and selfishness–in short, we see an image of hope.

The author goes on to insist in the fifth and sixth verses that our destiny–our innate purpose for existence–is, in fact, to be adopted as the full children of God and for this to be accomplished through Jesus Christ. This is not done because of our efforts or merit, but rather as a demonstration of God’s goodness, love, grace, and mercy. In fact, verse six makes this clear by saying that this is done “to the praise of his glorious grace…” John
Chysostom even argues in his homily on this verse that everything God does is with this end in mind. In short, all that God does gives glory to his innately gracious nature.

Don’t miss that or forget it: we are the children of an inherently gracious God whose great rule of action is grace, mercy, and love. The love of God can and will conquer all things, but it may not do it like you expect. Any other gospel is a lie.

Go in the peace of that knowledge.

 

Conversion

Have you ever seen a conversion happen? I don’t just mean the blessed moment when somebody makes a public announcement of their desire to “be a Christian” or to “follow Jesus.” That’s a moment that we might call the beginning of conversion, but to slap the label of “conversion” on such an instantaneous moment is akin to calling the first celery stick weight loss.

 

No, my question is: have you ever seen somebody gripped by the Spirit and remade over days, weeks, months, and years into the being that God has called them to be? Any conversion is a process that begins perhaps in a moment, but does not relent until that person is transformed. But, conversion is not a word that applies only to altar-walking and blood-soaked hymns in some humid sanctuary. People can be converted into just about anything. Ultimately, it’s a process of transformation, but even though the Christian God is a God of change and transformation, change and transformation are not themselves holy or dominated by the Spirit.

 

Here’s the truth: we are always and forever being converted—what matters is what we’re being converted to.

 

Take the Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke’s Gospel (15:11-32). Often, we rip right through the passage to get to that moment among the pigs where our protagonist, who has first demanded and then squandered his inheritance from his still-living father on “dissolute living” (read: all those things that good boys and girls don’t do. You know, drink, or smoke, or chew, or go with boys/girls who do) comes to a shocking realization. He exclaims to himself, “My father’s servants have food to spare, but my father’s son is dying of hunger! I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll go home and beg dad to forgive my sins against him and God. I’ll beg for mercy and to become his servant so that I might be saved.”

 

We rush to this muddy and noisy place in the story because we’ve been trained to see this as the moment of conversion. Don’t get me wrong, it is! The wayward son has seen the effects of his choices on his life and how his pursuit of the world was a pursuit of death; so, he repents and confesses and seeks forgiveness. He sees what he is and starts down a path toward becoming something else. This is, most definitely, a beautiful picture of God’s converting love.

 

But in our haste to get there, we miss the conversion that happens all around it. Is it not just as clear that the son who repents and confesses was first converted to a love of, and devotion to, something else? In those first few verses, we see a story of conversion from loyal son to prodigal son—from child who loves his father to child who loves his father’s money. We don’t get all the details and we don’t get a speech or exclamation, but we most certainly see a process where he is converted to love of himself and the pursuit of pleasure as his greatest good. He is seduced by the gospel of living for yourself and transformed into something altogether pitiable.

 

Or how about the conversion of his brother who remains home with his their father. At the end of the passage, the older brother is irate that his father has lavished mercy and reward upon the wayward son come home. The older brother cannot bite back his disgust that his loyalty has remained unrewarded while his younger brother’s sins have been forgiven and overlooked. It seems that while younger brother was away being converted to the gospel of this world, older brother was being converted to a gospel of works and pride. His confidence in his own inherent goodness and effort have made him a hard man who cannot celebrate life restored to the undeserving—indeed, he can no longer see that he is truly among the undeserving himself.

 

Conversion is happening every day to everybody. Right now, you are being converted from something and into something. God has graced us with some small decisions to make about who and what we are becoming, but make no mistake: you are changing—you are being converted. The primary question is: to what are you being converted? There are a whole host of kingdoms and gospels to which we can be converted, but if we are being converted to any kingdom except the Kingdom of God, or to any gospel but Christ crucified, then we are being converted to death no matter how defensible or reasonable the cause.

 

So, just who are you becoming?

 

 

The Kingdom of God in a Pile of Broken Glass

In order to respect the privacy and lives of those with whom we are building relationships, all names are changed.

If you took a walk through downtown Danville, you probably wouldn’t notice a small pile of broken glass. After all, there isn’t anything especially noteworthy about broken glass and discarded garbage on many of the tougher streets in downtown.

Even if you recognized the shattered glass near the gutter for what it was, the remnants of a crack pipe, you might not flinch unless it was your first time seeing one. Before it’s broken, it’s nothing more than a thin, short tube that occasionally has a bowl to hold the crack rock.

In Grace and Main Fellowship’s area of focus and intentional, missional involvement, crack is a particular scourge among our beloved. Addiction to other substances is very common as well, given the tendency of crack addicts to indulge in other addictive behavior before and after becoming addicted to crack. If you spend much time downtown with Grace and Main, you’ll have a story to tell about the plaguing effects it has had on many of our neighbors and neighborhoods.

But if you know the story behind this particular pile of downtown detritus, then you’d see the Kingdom of God in that pile of broken glass.

One of our brothers, Eduardo, is one of the greatest bakers and chefs that we’ve ever had the pleasure of getting to know. Ed is a natural joker and laughter with whom it is a pleasure to sit down and swap stories—each story a little bit better than the last. Ed has also been addicted to, enslaved by, crack since long before he met Grace and Main.

This loving and generous man, who regularly opens his home and table to our many other brothers and sisters downtown to provide them a meal from his meager supplies, felt the chains of bondage around his wrists and began to ask us to pray for him so that he might be freed from his addiction. As we always do, we prayed with him immediately and continued to lift him up daily in our prayers.

Recently, one of Grace and Main’s leaders was out with Ed when Ed turned to him and asked once again for prayers. They stopped in the middle of the street near the gutter and prayed immediately.

Ed then surprised us by taking out his crack pipe, dropping it to the gutter, and grinding it under his heel. The pop and scratch of the shattering glass was met with Ed’s thankful prayer, “Thank you, Jesus.” This symbolic moment rang with the sound of chains being broken. Then, stooping over to pick up some of the glass, he asked one of us, “Looks like crushed sin, doesn’t it?”

So, Ed and Grace and Main did what we always do when one of our brothers or sisters finds liberation from sin and death—we threw a party. There wasn’t anything special about the cake, it was just a local grocery store cake and wasn’t anything like the wonderful cakes and pies that Ed brings on some Thursday nights to our community dinner. But, this cake was especially delicious not only because written on it in the loving hand of one of our leaders were the words, “We Love You Eduardo,” but also because it was a testament to our eagerness to celebrate liberation and grace wherever we might find it. So look closely around you, wherever you might be, because It might just be that you can find the Kingdom of God in the midst of a pile of broken glass.

 

Finding Your Own Calcutta

The following is a story and reflection from one of Grace and Main Fellowship’s leaders, Matt Bailey, who is active in a variety of ministries in downtown Danville, including being a founder of our “Roving Feast,” which he mentions in his reflection. Names have been change to protect our brothers and sisters downtown.

During the spring of 2009, leaders of Grace and Main were feeling a call to spend more time with the individuals Jesus identified with, those who are neglected by respectable society. That is to say, with the poor, the homeless, prostitutes, and drug addicts. So, we went where they were. We began simply to walk the streets and alleys of downtown Danville—streets that are lined with abandoned buildings and derelict houses; littered with trash and overgrown with weeds. Streets abandoned by many and desperate for grace and mercy. We heard stories of abuse and addiction, of job loss and poverty, of homelessness and hopelessness, of hunger and pain. We were privileged to join the storyteller in their story for just a little while. We learned to listen.

On one occasion, I happened to be walking around downtown alone, carrying sandwiches and snacks for our homeless, near-homeless, and poor brothers and sisters. I turned down Jefferson Avenue to where I thought my friend Andy lived. I came upon a large stucco apartment building whose faded paint and neglected courtyard were more than a little ominous. I was planning on going up to Andy’s apartment, but I couldn’t remember which one was his, so I decided to ask one of the group of guys hanging around the courtyard. As I walked up, the men stared at me suspiciously. I felt uneasy, but it was a feeling that I had become accustomed to ignoring. But, this time the feeling was stronger, and so at the last minute I turned and continued down the street—in the opposite direction I needed to go to get back to my car.

I was pretty new to the downtown area and so I didn’t know many of the back streets yet. I was stuck; I had to walk back by the building no matter how much I wanted to avoid it. As I approached the stucco building for the second time, the same tense uneasiness came over me again. Only this time, the fellows standing in the courtyard started walking en masse toward me. I kept my head down, stared at the pavement, and prayed for protection. They came out to the sidewalk in front of the courtyard and lined up shoulder to shoulder, glaring at me. I didn’t dare look in their direction. Heart pounding and scared silly, I continued on to Main Street and made it safely to my car. I didn’t know whether the men standing in front of the stucco building meant me harm or were just hanging out, but nevertheless, I vowed never to return to that building or street again.

However, God had other plans. During one of our walks downtown, Steve and I began talking about Mother Teresa. We were reflecting on her words: “There are Calcuttas everywhere. You just have to have eyes to see.” Steve pondered aloud, “I wonder where a Calcutta in Danville would be?” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, we looked at each other knowingly. And knowing that we were both thinking of Jefferson Avenue and the stucco apartment building, I said, “No!” But there was a soft, loving peace I felt as we walked on in silence. Months went by, and we continued sharing lunch with our friends downtown. I continued to be careful to avoid Jefferson Avenue. We made friends with people we met at the library, on Main Street, and in the park on Green Street. They began coming to Grace and Main’s Thursday night community meals, and we began spending more time with them, sharing lunch, going to the library, taking walks downtown, and simply getting to know one another better.

Then one day, our friend Tyler invited us over to hang out. When asked where he lived, he replied, “Do you know the stucco building

on Jefferson?” My heart began racing. “Yep, I know the place,” I answered, remembering my first encounter on that street, at that building. Steve and I glanced at each other. “Let’s go then,” Tyler said joyfully. We walked and talked with Tyler about how long he had lived there (several years) and who else lived there. He began mentioning names of many of our friends we had met downtown: Tutu, Darius, Jones, and David. I couldn’t believe it! God had been forming a connection between Grace and Main and our brothers and sisters at the stucco building without our knowledge. Even as I planted my feet and said “no,” God was planning for my eventual “yes.”

We continued on, and when we arrived at the stucco building, I was nervous but still very much in awe of the Lord’s fingerprints all over this “coincidental” connection. My fears were immediately dispelled by the welcoming smiles and cheerful greetings we received from the friends we knew and the ones we had yet to meet. Once again, I felt the soft, loving peace I had felt the day Steve and I remembered the wisdom and words of Mother Teresa.

The word “Calcutta” may bring images of filth, despair, poverty, and hopelessness to mind. But I think what Mother Teresa found in Calcutta was that appearances are deceiving. Calcuttas aren’t places of hopelessness; they are places that are hope-filled and love-filled and beauty-filled. But they are neglected and under-nurtured. They are the abandoned places of our world. And that is exactly what we found on Jefferson Avenue—a community of beautiful people who are hope-filled and love-filled. People who continue to show us daily that Jesus is there with them, He has been all along, and He will be always.

And so we continue to spend time together, reminding each other of Jesus’ love and presence within each of us by sharing lunch, planting flowers, and sharing stories. And Jesus continues to remove the scales from my eyes to see, not the Calcutta the world sees, but what He sees—a place of hope, beauty, and love in the stucco building, a beautiful little Calcutta in downtown Danville, Va.

Sunday Worship – Waking Up

Some of the people involved with Grace and Main Fellowship–an intentional, missional, and Christian community in downtown Danville, Virginia–gather every Sunday night to worship and pray with each other. The worship is contemplative in nature. That is to say, they try to do more listening than speaking, and they try to vary their forms and habits from week to week while still taking comfort in the consistency of tradition and homespun liturgy. Usually, some of Grace and Main’s leaders will select a passage of scripture from the traditional passages assigned to a Sunday and build worship around that passage and any themes found therein.

On Sunday night, the passage selected was: Mark 13:24-37

“But in those days, after that suffering,

the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

We took time this First Sunday of Advent to to light our first Advent candle and to contemplate together what it means to anticipate Jesus’ return by looking to the past–how telling a story of what was can set our eyes on what will be.

We spent a while discussing the intricacies of this passage and others (Isaiah 64:1-9 and 1 Corinthians 1:3-9) and we raised the questions that rested on our hearts and minds.

But, eventually our prayers, thoughts, and worship fell upon the question: what does it means to be awake? We wondered aloud together about how we might not only “wake up” but how we might also “keep awake” in a world that so desperately wants us to rest comfortably in the status quo–in the “good enough.” We plotted together about holy mischief we might make in downtown Danville to help each of us (and our brothers and sisters) to wake up and stay awake.

Ultimately, the question boils down to one perplexing sentiment: how do we–a people who laud patience in others but don’t seek it for ourselves–learn truly to anticipate the coming of our Lord back to the world that is in such desperate need. In 2011, how do we join with the prophets of old to speak of a time when all shall be made right and just by telling stories of what has happened already in the midst of darkness and death.

Eric, John, and Brandon

Grace and Main Fellowship’s regular Thursday night dinner is a “can’t miss” event. Over the last few months, we have been growing and expanding as we continue to try to be a community of discipleship and mission in downtown Danville. We never run out of food—that always seems to work out just fine thanks to the generosity of so many—but on some Thursday nights we get so busy that we start running out of bowls, spoons, and plates. As we inevitably start running out of bowls or plates, we switch over to paper, and as we run out of silverware we switch over to plastic. However, on a recent night we served two different kinds of soup: a vegetarian three-bean chili and some Brunswick stew donated by a member of a local congregation. Before long, bowls and spoons were in short supply. It was so busy that the last person through line ate his soup with a measuring spoon.

As one of our younger members, Eric, walked toward the tables and his mom, he veered to one side and decided to sit with somebody else. Sometimes, six-year-old Eric prefers to sit with some of the adult leaders who will play games with him and who have made him feel welcomed on Thursdays and Sundays. But this week, Eric pulled out a chair on the other end of the table and hopped up into it between two other adults: John and Brandon. John has been homeless or near-homeless for 19 years. He has said on more than one occasion that Grace and Main has been a haven for him where he feels welcomed and “human.” Brandon is a recovering alcoholic (28 days clean as of the writing of this) who is separated from his own children because of his history with his addiction. That night, though, John and Brandon watched after Eric. At one point, I overheard Brandon saying to little Eric, “You need to eat two more bites of your meat, and three more bites of your broccoli before you can have dessert.” That night, John and Brandon became friends with a little boy named Eric who didn’t see any reason to fear them or avoid them. For one brief dinner, John and Brandon had a “nephew” they could care for and Eric had two more “uncles” to get to know. Sometimes, hospitality pops up in some odd places, but we know that it’s experiences like this that change lives no matter what the age.

Urban Survival Bags

Recently, Grace and Main Fellowship undertook a new mission commitment aimed at blessing our brothers and sisters who are sleeping outside at this time of year. In some cases, they don’t have the option to stay at a shelter organization because of the chronic nature of their homelessness and the lack of an adequate long-term homeless shelter or rescue in Danville. Others have a variety of issues or fears about being confined and choose to stay outside for the sake of their own mental health. Regardless, it became clear to us earlier this year that we needed to find a way to offer love and grace to our beloved brothers and sisters trying to survive outside as temperatures drop.

After much brainstorming and planning, we decided that the first step in this new mission commitment to our homeless brothers and sisters who sleep outside is to provide what we’re calling “urban survival bags.” For the prototype phase of this part of the new commitment, we packed four large duffel bags with a variety of urban survival supplies that will enable somebody to live a little more comfortably and healthily this winter.

We’re going to continue to refine the contents of these bags and we hope in the next phase of this commitment to standardize the items once we get some feedback from our brothers and sisters who have already benefited from them.

Each of the bags we packed contained:

• A winter-rated “mummy” sleeping bag
• A heavy blanket
• A thick and reusable poncho
• Chemical hand-warmers
• A pair of thick gloves
• A scarf
• A pair of wool socks
• A “toboggan” (a knit cap)
• A complete first-aid kit
• A complete hygiene kit, including waterless soap
• A notebook (with pen) that includes hours of operation, phone numbers, and addresses for local care organizations and the times and locations of free meals near downtown
• A deck of cards and some candy
• A heavy-duty “Nalgene” water bottle
• A few other small things

We are continuing to receive feedback both from those who directly benefit from these bags and from those who have an opinion about how to make them better. We’d love to know your thoughts, as well.

This commitment was funded in part by the generous donations of individuals and congregations who want to see Third Chance Ministries and Grace and Main Fellowship continue to do ministry and honor its commitments in downtown Danville. The cost per bag for each of these four bags was a little over $115. Please consider donating to Grace and Main Fellowship if you want to help us continue in this commitment to help our brothers and sisters downtown. Consider pledging support to Third Chance Ministries (click on the “Donate” button above or email thirdministries@gmail.com) if you want to fund a missionary pastor for Grace and Main.

“In Spirit Fierce and Free”

Have you ever considered what it means for us to say that we worship the Lord God Almighty, Creator of All that Is? In his book, Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton writes:

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger than we.”

With that beautiful turn of phrase, Chesterton challenges us to believe in a God who “exult[s] in monotony.” That is to say, he challenges us to believe in a God who finds joy and pleasure in the very act of creation—no matter how simple it may be. We are often tempted to believe that God is some distant and aloof grandfather figure with a big, white beard and a permanent scowl of suspicion. But, how does it change our theology, and our perspective on life in general, to imagine God with “the eternal appetite of infancy?”

Would we not be better served by trusting in a God who is intimately wrapped up in the ebb and flow of our everyday lives? Such a thought does not make God little or subservient—it does not do God any harm. Rather, it insists that God is, even more so than any child, “fierce and free” and deeply and lovingly concerned with us—not just our eternal souls but also our everyday lives.

As we are formed and reformed by our creating God, we must remember that God takes great joy in creation–even re-creation of sin plagued souls like ours. The God who is Love continues to insist that love will conquer all in time and that love is, most assuredly, the only thing that gives hope to we who are marked by this world as slaves to other gods. We serve a God who has not given up on the novel and earth-shattering power of grace, mercy, and forgiveness. For this, we must be thankful, but we should also be amazed.

As Chesterton puts it, “we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger than we,” so we should not be surprised when our God is the one who seems idealistic and we remain overwhelmed by cynicism. Time and time again, our God comes to us with promises of redemption and victory and all we can hear is the story of our own defeat and failure. Yet, if we’ll trust this God who remains committed to what should be and what may yet be, then we will find that we are given our youth again–that we are filled with life more abundant and free.

In the end, love is enough. Love will win. The God who is Love will be the victor. For us, the question is whether or not we can trust the God who makes every daisy alike to remake us in the image of God’s Son, Jesus, simply because our God has never grown tired of the simple beauty of creation and redemption.

Love from the House of Hope

The House of Hope is the local short-term homeless shelter in downtown Danville. Grace and Main Fellowship has an ongoing commitment to provide a lunch for every resident, everyday. We want to provide this support to the House of Hope because we understand their mission and calling to be compatible with ours and because they are loving and caring for some of the members of our community and others with whom we are building relationships.

In the November 2011 edition of the House of Hope newsletter (Vol. 3, No. 11), Stephen Anderson, the director of the House of Hope, including the following two paragraphs in his “Director’s Article of Appreciation:”

“I also want to share with you that the House of Hope is now working with ‘Grace and Main [Fellowship]‘ to reach more people that truly need help! The director of Grace and Main is Joshua Hearne. This group of people, or organization should I say, truly have a big heart for the hurting people of this community! I feel blessed for the House of Hope to be able to partner with Grace and Main to be able to reach out to even more people than we have been able to bless in the past!

What we [Director Stephen Anderson partnering with Grace and Main's already existing 'Roving Feast' commitment] do is go out to help feed the homeless and low income people around downtown Danville. We will go down to the storefront areas of Main Street and people will come by that have come to know us and ask for a bag lunch and a bottle of water. There are two parts to what is going on. We want to feed the hungry and befriend them, to show love and concern for their lives–to let them know we care about them and their future. We also go down to Jefferson Street to low income [apartment housing] and people will come out to greet us when they see us coming. This is a great partnership that has been made between the House of Hope and Grace and Main with one main common goal, to help people that truly need help!”

Grace and Main Fellowship, and Third Chance Ministries (the non-profit that provides support for Joshua Hearne to work full-time downtown with Grace and Main), wants to extend our appreciation and thanks to Director Anderson and all of the good work that he and the House of Hope are doing downtown. You can learn more about the House of Hope by at their website: http://www.danvillehoh.com/. You can learn more about one of our leaders, Joshua Hearne, who is making the transition to full-time missionary status in downtown at http://www.thirdchanceministries.com.

More Lunches

Last Saturday, some of the members of Grace and Main Fellowship gathered before noon to pack more lunches for the House of Hope, our local short-term homeless shelter. The good work they do is so sorely needed among our more short-term homeless brothers and sisters and we are thrilled to be able to partner with them in what they’re up to. In fact, one of our leaders has recently taken a position with the House of Hope to help oversee the shelter on weekends so that the director, Steve Anderson, might get some much deserved time off.

After we gathered at the house to group up, we went out in a group to collect the food to be packed into one of our lunches. Back at the house with cars full of food and brown paper bags, we piled it on the tables where we share a meal together every Thursday night and began filling bags, taping them closed, and piling them in boxes. Each lunch represents one lunch for one brother or sister at the House of Hope. Each lunch represents an afternoon without the anxiety of searching for daily bread. Each lunch is one tiny testament of our desire to love a city desperately in need of care and attention.

All in all, we packed approximately 300 lunches on Saturday to bring our grand total of lunches packed for the House of Hope to 1,050 since May. Providing this small service for the House of Hope, who provides breakfast already and receives food from Danville Regional Medical Center for the evening meal, has become one of the core commitments of Grace and Main Fellowship and will continue in the next year.

As always, it’s the generous donations of our brothers and sisters that enable us to provide love to downtown Danville. We buy the food for this project with money donated by members of Grace and Main, partner congregations, and individual donors. 100% of all money donated to Third Chance Ministries and Grace and Main Fellowship is spent doing ministry in downtown Danville. Please consider donating to either Third Chance Ministries, to support Joshua Hearne as a local missionary in downtown Danville, or to Grace and Main Fellowship, to help this missional community continue and expand its ministry presence in downtown Danville.