Sidewalk Witness

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A Rainy Day at Reed Park

It is a cloudy Saturday morning at Reed Park looking quite dreary. The trees rustle in the wind that is beginning to blow. Will anyone show up?

Today is February 19, 2011 and the forecast is rain and wind all day long. We’ve worked so hard to plan a wonderful lesson and activities to engage the children. We’re just not going to give up. Prayers are being thought and said silently to God that the rain will wait.

Look, over there, here comes Ruby, and there is her brother Miguel with a pink slipper on one foot and his croc shoe on the other. At least he is wearing a jacket today, even if it is grossly oversized. Arturo has come with Miguel. Really, they are showing up on a cloudy, overcast, chilly day. Amazing! And they just keep trickling in. We decide to meet under the pavilion just in case the rain begins. The sweatshirts stashed on the truck come in handy.

With 14 children, 5 adults, and 10 Grace helperspresent, we get down to business. Today’s lesson is about prayer and how to talk to God anywhere, anytime. A surprise visit from Human Robot #423 helped us learn about using exact words when giving directions. God likes it when we talk to him and tell him exactly what we are going through or what is on our mind. We learned that Jesus taught a special prayer in the Bible called, “The Lord’s Prayer.” And when the words to the Bible verse were all mixed up, the Sidewalk kids proved just how smart they are and put them all back in order even telling us what the words meant.

Another special guest from United Food Bank is present today. She is able to share information with the adults about helping families with food needs. Sharing Christ means loving others enough to teach them where to find help.

All of a sudden, the wind starts whipping the dirt around and the trees are bending more. The storm is upon us. We finish up quickly with perfect timing, the food has arrived! Thank you everyone for the sack lunches. We give extras to those who are present so they can share with the rest of their families. The remaining lunches will be delivered to the local men’s shelter in Mesa.

God uses us in ways we never imagined when we step out in faith and are willing to be used. Our lives are forever changed as we join together with the hearts and souls of all who come to Sidewalk Ministry at Reed Park.

We Praise God!

Story by Barb Stackhouse

Where Our Sidewalk Begins

“Hi, I’m five, and my name is Jose and that begins with a J O.” “My name is Eve and I’m worried about my mommy. She is in the hospital. I don’t know what is wrong with her.” “My daddy takes me to church every Sunday (name unknown).” “Thanks for being here, I bring my nieces and nephews to the park to play on Saturday (Mario).”

Dirty hands, mismatched socks, shoes on the wrong feet, SMILES, and Hearts filled with LOVE! These are the children of S3. Families come and bring their children to hear about Jesus and learn how he can live in their hearts. Parents, friends and the children who come share their joys and concerns with us. We listen, we care, we share.

Grace United Methodist Church is reaching out to a community on the outskirts. We are opening our hearts to those we do not walk down the street with. And these people are sharing their lives with us. I wonder what they think when our truck pulls into Reed park every Saturday morning at 10:30.

Most of the children and parents speak English. There have been some who do not speak English and yet we communicate with them on a much deeper level than language alone. Love surpasses words.

Cory, our infamous puppet, has stolen the hearts of the children! Cory helps the children to learn the lesson and sing along with the songs. Thanks, Katie for your wonderful work as the puppeteer. You are awesome!

We have some exciting events planned for the Holiday Season. Our bell ringers are coming to share their music on December 19th and we will have a Christmas party where the children can each make an ornament. In celebration of God’s Love and for Valentine’s Day, we are planning a church wide potluck picnic after S3 on February 13, 2010 at Reed park. We hope you will join us in sharing a meal and fellowship.

Come and meet Jose, Eve, Mario, and the others who come to Sidewalk Sunday School. I guarantee you will be blessed beyond measure!

Jesus said, "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then you will be blessed…" We are so blessed. Luke 14: 13,14

Story by Barb Stackhouse

Sidewalk Sunday School Christmas Party 2010

Dec. 19^th was the seventh time volunteers from Grace UMC gathered to hold Sidewalk Sunday School at Reed Park. That morning, none of us knew what lay ahead. We blissfully loaded up the truck, arrived at the usual 10 a.m. time at the south end of the park and began to experience, as one volunteer later put it, “what it must have been like when Jesus and his disciples fed the 5,000 – the people just kept coming and coming.”

That’s right, the children and their parents kept coming and coming – first we ran out of name tags. Then we knew we were going to run out of stockings or gift bags for the children. Then we were certain we were going to run out of food. And all three of those things happened, but the miracle was, it didn’t seem to matter.

Maybe the other church, and Grace were supposed to be there together, serving the people. What a blessing we had – as best we could estimate there were 500 there.

But no one left mad. No one did without. No one was upset. In fact, the blessing was that everyone was fine. All who could hear, heard the word of God, saw the witness and felt the joy of the Christmas season.

And not unlike the disciples, when Jesus instructed them later to go to “a quiet place”, those of us who were there knew we had to decompress from the amazing experience with some quiet time away.

Grace’s Sidewalk Sunday School Team has committed to weekly Saturday sessions at Reed Park whether we have 2 or 500! We’re the church “who’s there every week!” And we think that will make all the difference – to the children, to their parents, and to us.

Please, be sure to save Saturday, Feb. 13^th for our S3 Valentine’s Potluck Picnic in the Park with all our new friends from Sidewalk Sunday School. The Sidewalk Sunday School sets up at the south end of the park at 10 a.m., the program starts at 10:30 a.m. and the picnic will begin at 11:30 a.m. You won’t want to miss the miracle that will happen that day!