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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 03.04.2003 |
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| FEATURE: 'Toothpaste for Lake, Razor for Ken' - Vancouver Lutherans' Way of Doing Mission |
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Where Meals are Shared not Dispensed, All Welcome to Celebrate the Eucharist
VANCOUVER, Canada/GENEVA, 3 April 2003 (LWI) - The people gathered around the altar to celebrate Holy Communion on this day are a diverse group. An elderly woman, a lifelong church member from a prosperous area of the city, passes the bread to a middle-aged, rough-shaven, homeless man who struggles with alcohol addiction. A nervous teen-aged girl who has come here with her youth group passes the cup to a stooped, gray-haired woman who collects empty cans to earn her living. Young and old, poor and rich, hopeful and desperate - all are gathered together at a typical Saturday morning meal with the Vancouver Lutheran Urban Mission Society (LUMS).
LUMS aims "to serve God by being a prophetic, "Eucharistic community that connects the church at large with the urban poor." Supported by local congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran in Canada (ELCIC), the organization ministers in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest neighborhood. Homelessness, violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and prostitution are all commonplace here.
In keeping with its mission statement, LUMS provides "physical and spiritual works of mercy, including comprehensive pastoral care to the disenfranchised and marginalized of our society; human and material resources; and opportunities for education and training in ministry."
A Steady Stream of Visitors Seeking Basic Necessities
LUMS is served by a 'street priest,' Rev. Brian Heinrich, an ELCIC pastor. He writes: "Almost daily the door of our tiny office is besieged by a steady stream of visitors for the basic necessities of everyday life: toothpaste for Lake. Ken could use a razor. Oh, and by the way, do we have any shoes? Garth is looking for clean underwear and a bus ticket. Dave, a pair of clean socks and a towel. Band aids. Blankets for the teenage girls on the church stoop who were puncturing their limbs with needles as I walked into the church earlier this morning: 'Good morning, father!' After Eucharist on Tuesday evening I take Holy Communion to Jeff in St. Paul's hospital with infection spread throughout his body due to his long-term HIV/AIDS, then anoint him with oil... Hugging Glenda and her sister-in-law on the street at Victory Square even though they both reek of alcohol. Praying with Howie in our tiny office as he struggles to be [drug free], his second week. Listening attentively to Kevin as he confesses his Fifth Step toward sobriety.
"It is always today's new crisis. The urgency of basic necessities. Why should we bother supplementing the needs of folks who are already receiving public benefits, and granted, not even managing these well? Because the Master seeks to surprise us in these, His 'least' siblings. They are our opportunity to practically incarnate His Gospel in this least place."
People from area parishes, who ordinarily have little or no contact with Downtown Eastside residents, have an opportunity to connect with the 'least' of their brothers and sisters at the bi-monthly LUMS Saturday morning meal - for mutual healing. During the event, church, school, and youth groups prepare a full-course meal complete with home-baked cookies for dessert, and serve it to an average of 300 guests from the neighborhood. Volunteers do not merely dispense food, but sit down to eat and visit with the guests.
A Eucharistic Celebration to Which All are Invited, Not Compelled
The meal is always preceded by a Eucharistic celebration to which all are invited but not compelled. All of LUMS' activities are seen as extensions of Christ's hospitality, described in so many Gospel stories, and embodied in the event of Holy Communion. LUMS extends the open and inclusive welcome of Christ, and sets a table at which all are welcome to dine, creating a healing community in the process.
Heinrich says, "One of the best things about LUMS, I think, and [many people keep telling me] this, is that we are not a big institution. We are a human-sized community, a family. Volunteers who participate in our mission get to know folks from the neighborhood on a first-name basis and develop personal relationships with them. This is one of the strengths and gifts of our community. It is how we have chosen to do mission."
(Contributed by Kristian Wold, a student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.)
* This is the eighth article in a Lutheran World Information (LWI) features’ series on the 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly theme, “For the Healing of the World.” The aim is to highlight the understanding of the assembly theme in the different regional and local contexts of the worldwide Lutheran communion. Focus is on projects dealing with reconciliation and healing. The 21-31 July Assembly will take place in Winnipeg, Canada, hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
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