On Monday, after a slushy walk to meet a friend for lunch, I decided to shovel the sidewalk in front of our house. Over the weekend we had about 8 inches of snow topped with 3/4 of an inch of freezing rain. By Monday it was a sodden, icy mess. As I walked home from lunch I really appreciated the homes and businesses who had cleared a path for me, saving my boots an unpleasant soaking. I wanted to be a good neighbor so, for the first time in my life, I took the show shovel and cleared the way for others. While I was working a woman from the apartments across the street asked to borrow my shovel. She needed to get to a meeting, but her car was trapped by the snow bank left in the wake of the rare, but efficient City of Portland snow plows. I crossed the street to help her and was soon joined by four other people from our street, all working together to get a stranger on her way. We laughed and worked hard for a few minutes and then went back about our business. I’m thankful to live in a neighborhood in an urban setting where help is never far away. And I’m thankful for the snow and for meeting new neighbors as a result of the fluffy, white stuff.
Evangelism is one of those words that I have struggled with in my faith life. Now I’m at a place where I see it as simply living as openly as I can to others as a way of being present for God. Getting to know and care for the people around me and sharing my life and story in ways big and small are how I practice that every day. It takes an intentionality of looking for ways to live my life that means it’s not totally my own. I didn’t have to shovel my walk, but it was something for me to do as part of this community. I didn’t have to shovel out her car, but it was something for me to do as a neighbor. I didn’t have to talk to her for a bit afterwards, but it was something for me to do as a child of God. This is the slow, steady way to build a church; through love and presence and evangelism experienced on sidewalks in the snow and slush. I have to keep working everyday to choose this path and on the days when I see no fruit it can be a hard thing, but then I get to help someone and I see holy glimmers that are enough until the next time.
May you see glimmers of God as you dig out from whatever storm you’ve been bound in.
-Eilidh
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