…and the Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood…
It is such a joy watching our friends move from the outside of the circle,
to the inside of the prayer circle…
to wearing light up Christmas glasses as friends
Last Week’s Update…stay connected!
Hey Family (from Bryan)
Merry Christmas!
Logistics
Served: 100+
Last week's leaders: Geoff, Bryan, Kenny, Deb
Next week's leaders: Ruth
Gifts
Last week’s: Street Church Hoodies, cookies, snack bags
Next week's: Underwear
Looking Ahead
the next few weeks we are short on food
Service
Merry Christmas Friends!
It was an amazing Christmas Party last week! A huge thanks to friends at the Greater Hartford Chinese Baptist Church (especially Nick and Jennifer Yang) who brought the lunch and soup and a large team to help load up! This church has long been a friend of ours and we apprecite their love, compassion, faith, and muscle!
We loaded up on time and headed out… and there was a slight mishap with the ChickfilA but Daryl got on it and delivered the food himself just before we started. As we were setting up early (lots to due), a tall skinny guy came into our activity, put down the cans he was collecting, and jumped in with crazy amounts of joy…. we learned his name was Jamie, and I remembered I had met him a few months back when he passed out during our service. He was really high on fentanyl and I didn’t have to give him Narcan… anyway we spoke and he has not been around because he is clean! He grabbed the box of ornaments and decorated the tree asking folks to come help, then he went around with candy canes passing them out, and all the while praising Jesus. My mind was blown.
Then this nice girl with magenta hair walked up to me and said “I know you meet a lot of people and probably don’t remember me…” and that always leads to a great story…which it did! She and her husband had had car trouble and since they were living we helped them out. She had come back to say thank you and to fill us in on where they were. “You have no idea what you did by taking a chance on us.” That right there is what Jesus did with me! She grabbed candy canes too and handed them out to people walking by and met a couple who asked what was going on so she told them better than I ever could…
There seemed to be a stead stream of folks who just stopped to say Merry Christmas and bless up for what we do… people who had served with us, some who had heard me preach at their church, friends of friends, bus drivers, security drivers from the library. It was beyond words.
I preached on the scandal of the story being told to the shepherds and how it was scandalous love that had told us too, the ones sleeping out who were called the riff-raff by the high and mighty… well the joke is on them because Jesus says the rich now are really poor.
Kenny led us in communion and Jamie, who had decorated the tree, came forward to give his life back to Jesus with real tears, and the magenta hair girls (I will remember her name later), and another girl, Lilliana who was sitting on the sidelines. Kenny noticed her looking and started talking with her. It was her first day and she had been baptized a long time ago but she said “I just don’t know what to do. How do I pray? How do I live this faith out?
Then we feasted on Chickfila and soup, handed out brand new Street Church Hoodies and snack bags from the kids at Wintonbury Church, ate too many cookies from our Chinese Baptist Church friends….
and the peace was there the entire service.
love to all,
b
From the Community Churches
Mary and I had our final sing-along service for the month with our friends at The Farmington Station. I have to fess. up, it wasn’t really a sing-along… it was more of a sing to… not me to them, but them to Mary and me.
That is the beauty of The Gospel and music, neither of them are affected by age. Even when memory fails the part of our brain that stores music still has recall, and when or memory of God fails, his goodness is not effected either.
I would give them the first word and note and them shake my bells and let them sing the rest. It was lovely.
Then I preached on the Christmas Story and we prayed and took communion. and it was good.
Blessings,
Byan
The Street Church Collective Community Churches
Arden Courts Community Church (Farmington)
Brookdale/Chatfield Community Church (West Hartford)
Clairbridge Community Church @ Brookdale/Chatfield (West Hartford)
Farmington Station Community Church (Farmington)
River Ridge Community Church (Avon)
West Hartford Health and Rehab Community Church (West Hartford)
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Help Us Load Up @ 10am 164 South Street in West Hartford
visit our website thestreetchurch.org to learn more
or feel free to contact us at
admin@thestreetchurch.org
Bryan
Street Church Administrator & Volunteer Coordinator
(860) 578-2961 TEXT ONLY
bryan@thestreetchurch.org