The Hub continues to produce some interesting conversations, and I have even begun to invite a couple of 'regulars' to go for a coffee afterwards. But my reflection this week has really been on the transient nature of the Hub. Yes we are having conversations with people, but its not the same people who are in every week to establish a 'group'. Last week we gave out little stones and the leaflet talked about symbolically placing the stone in a place that was hard. This really seemed to connect with people, and some moving stories emerged. I had just walked in the shop and a lady was paying at the counter as I started to set up - still with my coat on. I gave her a leaflet and a stone, she read it and burst into tears. 'This is just what I need today' she said. She didn't go to church, and the conversation didn't even include God, and yet I found myself praying with her. She is not that local, and no one has seen her since, but that connection, and conversation - were hugely significant. My husband had a similar experience in the homeless project, and would love to carry on supporting a young lad who has run away from home and refused to go with the Barnado's people who are part of our team. As I have reflected and prayed for the lady and the boy since, I wonder how they are doing, and whether the situations they described have got any better. The question arose in my mind - do I want to see them again for my benefit or theirs?
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We long to carry on the support and finish the story. But perhaps the more we 'do church' in a transient setting, the less likely it will be that we embark on a longer term ministry. That is hard. Most of our church conditioning has taught us to look for outcomes - bums on seats and spiritual development. The temptation is to only go for the things that may provide such tangable results. I remember grappling with this very issue on the online assignment, where our group was discovering what church in a shopping centre might look like. If emerging church is about forming a group and allowing something to emerge, is this kind of encounter what we should be looking for? But I am also left thinking if I had not been there, would the lady have had the opportunity, on the very day things had all blown up for her, to talk. I believe in that moment God had placed me where she was, and if I never see her again, I have to trust that I was a small part of her journey toward God and other people have played other parts. A Salvation Army songwriter Joy Webb once wrote;
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'We pass as ships in the night, my world in orbit of theirs,
But for just one moment of time, I could be the answer to their prayers.'
Emerging church is not neat and tidy church. Perhaps we just need to hand over control of outcomes alittle more often to the One who can truly see the bigger picture!
