...our handful of rice

As I've been reflecting these past couple of weeks on what our handful of rice is, and as I've chatted to folks, I realise that we could be generous in all sorts of ways. The important thing is that we realise that God calls us to be generous, and that we act on that.

Our small group decided that we could do something over the next few weeks and we want to share that with the rest of Neighbourhood and invite you to participate with us.

Webber Street is a centre run by London City Mission, serving the needs of homeless people in London. It is located not far from Waterloo and Borough. The team at Webber Street seek to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the homeless people they serve.

They always, but especially at this time of year, have a need for donations of clothes. We all have plenty of clothes, probably numerous coats, and certainly none of us are cold at night. This is a really practical way in which we can be rich towards those who have little. Over the next few weeks will you join in donating unwanted clothes to Webber Street. Or maybe you actually want to go and buy some things.

This is what they emailed to me:

Yes we have a constant need for clothes. What we need is men's clothes, we get very few ladies at our Centre. We need men's casual clothes eg jeans, t shirts anoraks, sweat shirts, trainers and underwear (not necessarily new but clean). We do not need suits, long overcoats, or shirts as rough sleepers do not wear them. We also need blankets and sleeping bags.

Large and Extra-Large are the most needed sizes.

So will you join in sharing our riches in this way. Maybe you want to organise and encourage each other in your small groups.

Any questions, just ask me. (or for more info, check out www.webberstreet.org)

blessings,

Simon

a handful of rice...

Hey Neighbourhood,

I guess I just wanted to continue our thinking from yesterday morning...in speaking to people it seems that at least a few of us (probably more) were struck by what we thought about yesterday morning.

In case you weren't there (and even if you were but want to refresh your memory), here are the bullet points for you to work through. It's pretty straightforward....we were thinking about generosity...being generous because we are made in the image of God, and therefore we should expect, that as God grows us we will become increasingly generous people.

We read the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), and talked about it. The man who asked the original question....what was his problem? What did Jesus say was a danger to be aware of? And then Jesus told a story to illustrate his point. Note: the man in his story was already rich...yet, what did he continue to do? And what did Jesus say was this man's error?

Why not prayerfully read the passage, asking God to speak to you through it.

And then we finished by watching this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z__tqQXiKD8

It's only 7 minutes...I challenge you to watch it and be un-moved.

And here's my challenge to Neighbourhood this week....

Can we all be praying this:

"Lord, what is OUR handful of rice?"

And I would love to hear how God answers us.

Enjoy God's grace,

Simon