I once read that the best way to get to know someone is to serve together, and I’ll admit that that’s what I had in mind the afternoon that I first volunteered at Renovo. I was brand new to Bloomington, didn’t have cable or internet, and I had run out of minutes on my cell phone. Starved for human connection, I walked up to some people at church and, with heaven-sent boldness, told them that I was looking for some friends. When they mentioned that they were going to serve lunch to homeless people that afternoon, I jumped at the opportunity. Making friends AND serving God in a tangible way? Sign me up.

Two hours later, I walked into Renovo. It was a bit of a whirlwind that day: wrapping silverware, serving food, eating and chatting with guests, listening to stories and music, doing dishes, wiping tables, and praying. But it was indeed the best way to make new friends—I was amazed at the unity that comes from joining together to serve God by serving his people. Friendship takes time to develop, but when I was working with the other volunteers I was struck by an overwhelming awareness that we were already a family—brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’ve come to Renovo pretty consistently in the eight weeks since I moved here, and the friendships I so desperately wanted are beginning to grow. But I’ve been surprised by a different kind of friendship too: friendship with our guests. It took a few weeks for me to begin recognizing the faces in the lunch line, but now I look forward to finding out how one woman’s week has been, or how one man’s important meeting went. When a guest I’m expecting doesn’t come, I worry and pray. When I missed a Sunday, a guest wondered where I had been, too. We’re friends.

For some reason, that mindset is a new one for me. My parents taught me to help and serve those less fortunate than myself, and when I became a Christian I learned that serving “the least of these” is like serving Christ himself. I love to serve, but somewhere along the line I began to believe that there was a fundamental difference between me and the people that needed help. “Homeless” and “destitute” came to mean “foreign” in my mind. It wasn’t a conscious bias, but God knew that it needed to change.

Serving at Renovo I’ve realized that we’re all just people. Some of our guests have life stories just like mine—one even grew up in my New York suburb. Each person that we serve is just trying to make it through life, one day at a time, as best as they can. So am I. If there is a difference between us, it’s not that I have money and they don’t. It’s that I know a God who loves me, protects me, sustains me, and gives purpose to my every move. If they don’t know Christ, I do have something to offer my new friends. We can be family, too.

If you’re new to Bloomington, if you are looking for a place to serve, or if you just want to meet some new people, I invite you to join us at Renovo. Send us an email at renovo.ministries@gmail.com.
~Beth O., Volunteer

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Renovo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.