Liverpool, Kindness, the Poor & Bridges
Whaheyy! Liverpool (my home city) has just been voted 'The Kindest City in the UK' once again.
See here: http://independent-liverpool.co.uk/blog/liverpool-has-been-voted-the-kindest-city-in-the-uk/
So proud to belong to a city which is known for it's kindness <3 People from Liverpool are a special bunch. I always tell my foreign friends that we're certainly one of the friendliest cities with a great sense of humour. Some of the best comedians originate from Liverpool or the northern parts of the country- it's boss! ;)
It's a lovely thing to be characterised by kindness. I love 'loving on' people (hehe there's my adopted american phrase coming out!) and being generous with what I have. Sometimes I forget to be kind to myself though (!), being naturally competitive (more about that in that in my post about basketball tomorrow probably!) I always wanna do my best and work hard. Sometimes I have to remember to give myself a break though and overcoming the negative aspects of perfectionism is something I've had to work on over the last few years. Haha, part of me wonders whether my 'letting go of perfectionism' practice happened more quickly whilst I was a teacher, quickly realising that a teacher's job is never done, there's always ways to improve and perfectionism, well, that's kinda out of reach! My friend sent me the following words one day, which I just had to get framed (created by my lovely and talented calligraphy friend, Lisa) and put in my home...
Ahh.
Just reading that again makes me let out a big sigh...ah grace! What a beautiful thing.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.
Those famous words, still touching many, love a rousing sing of that in a congregation!
Talking of the lost, brokeness and grace...
I was on the way to my first pastoral team meeting this morning, such an honour to be part of this great team, carrying some more of the pastoral responsibility of our wonderful church. I ended up getting there about 5 minutes earlier (nope I didn't get lost this time ;) Though that does sometimes happen to me still from time to time haha), anyway it encouraged me to act on something I'd seen...
This morning as I stepped out, it was a glorious day- clear blue sky and sunshine, though still very cold at -1C. As I walked across a green patch of grass to our meeting place, I caught sight of someone lying on a bench, caccooned up in a sleeping bag, probably homeless. My mind instantly went back to the days of working at St George's Church, Leeds where I was an intern doing community, mission and outreach projects. I had the privilege to work with some of the poor and vulnerable adults in that area and run one of my favourite things: Bridge Cafe. There we'd have a simple free cafe set-up, with a few chairs and we'd bless those who walked past with a free hot drink and biscuits, kindness, a conversation and prayer if they wanted! I always remember clearly, homeless would take about 4 sugars in their coffees...
Back to present day Vienna, I felt encouraged to use my 5 minutes to go bless person in sleeping bag who must be freezing (because I was and I hadn't been out there all night!!). So I ordered a cappucino and asked for some sugars.
Not really done this in German properly before but asking the holy spirit to help give me the right words, I approached and spoke to the cacoon:
"Hallo..." (nothing).
"Guten Morgen!" (nada).
Let's be Austrian and direct I thought...
"Ich habe ein Kaffee fuer dich" (I have a coffee for you).
Movement. The grey bearded man, unzipped the top of his sleeping bag and thanked me for the coffee. I said, God bless you. And then told him (stumbling over my german a little), that I enjoy praying for people, and asked if there was anything tat he would like prayer for... he was a little bit confused at first but then said "Na, ich glaube nicht an Gott... aber vielen Dank fuer den Kaffee." (Nah, I don't believe in God... but thank you very much for the coffee." I told him that he is welcome, smiling, and that I hope it helps him.
Started to walk back quickly, as I didn't wanna actually be late then for the meeting! A man walking his dog though called out to me...
"Hast du das freiwillig gemacht?" (Did you do that voluntarily?)
I told him yes, and then, well this was kinda funny , I started to say, "Ich bin Christ..." (I'm a christian) and he told me "Ich bin Alex" haha, I was like "Oh I mean, I'm Elaine" (in German) and I think I shook his hand, and he said how that gave him a good feeling to witness me doing that. I explained that because I'm a christian, it's kind of on my heart to help the poor. He said how every one can do that right, you don't just have to be a Christian. He asked what type of Christian, I told him 'Freikirchen' (free church, which is the network of churches I belong to here). And then came his interesting anaology, "When a person brings heaven down to Earth, that's a christian, right?" :)
I liked that. We wished each other a good day and went on our way.
Here's to bringing more Heaven to Earth!
See here: http://independent-liverpool.co.uk/blog/liverpool-has-been-voted-the-kindest-city-in-the-uk/
So proud to belong to a city which is known for it's kindness <3 People from Liverpool are a special bunch. I always tell my foreign friends that we're certainly one of the friendliest cities with a great sense of humour. Some of the best comedians originate from Liverpool or the northern parts of the country- it's boss! ;)
It's a lovely thing to be characterised by kindness. I love 'loving on' people (hehe there's my adopted american phrase coming out!) and being generous with what I have. Sometimes I forget to be kind to myself though (!), being naturally competitive (more about that in that in my post about basketball tomorrow probably!) I always wanna do my best and work hard. Sometimes I have to remember to give myself a break though and overcoming the negative aspects of perfectionism is something I've had to work on over the last few years. Haha, part of me wonders whether my 'letting go of perfectionism' practice happened more quickly whilst I was a teacher, quickly realising that a teacher's job is never done, there's always ways to improve and perfectionism, well, that's kinda out of reach! My friend sent me the following words one day, which I just had to get framed (created by my lovely and talented calligraphy friend, Lisa) and put in my home...
Just reading that again makes me let out a big sigh...ah grace! What a beautiful thing.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see.
Those famous words, still touching many, love a rousing sing of that in a congregation!
Talking of the lost, brokeness and grace...
I was on the way to my first pastoral team meeting this morning, such an honour to be part of this great team, carrying some more of the pastoral responsibility of our wonderful church. I ended up getting there about 5 minutes earlier (nope I didn't get lost this time ;) Though that does sometimes happen to me still from time to time haha), anyway it encouraged me to act on something I'd seen...
This morning as I stepped out, it was a glorious day- clear blue sky and sunshine, though still very cold at -1C. As I walked across a green patch of grass to our meeting place, I caught sight of someone lying on a bench, caccooned up in a sleeping bag, probably homeless. My mind instantly went back to the days of working at St George's Church, Leeds where I was an intern doing community, mission and outreach projects. I had the privilege to work with some of the poor and vulnerable adults in that area and run one of my favourite things: Bridge Cafe. There we'd have a simple free cafe set-up, with a few chairs and we'd bless those who walked past with a free hot drink and biscuits, kindness, a conversation and prayer if they wanted! I always remember clearly, homeless would take about 4 sugars in their coffees...
Back to present day Vienna, I felt encouraged to use my 5 minutes to go bless person in sleeping bag who must be freezing (because I was and I hadn't been out there all night!!). So I ordered a cappucino and asked for some sugars.
Not really done this in German properly before but asking the holy spirit to help give me the right words, I approached and spoke to the cacoon:
"Hallo..." (nothing).
"Guten Morgen!" (nada).
Let's be Austrian and direct I thought...
"Ich habe ein Kaffee fuer dich" (I have a coffee for you).
Movement. The grey bearded man, unzipped the top of his sleeping bag and thanked me for the coffee. I said, God bless you. And then told him (stumbling over my german a little), that I enjoy praying for people, and asked if there was anything tat he would like prayer for... he was a little bit confused at first but then said "Na, ich glaube nicht an Gott... aber vielen Dank fuer den Kaffee." (Nah, I don't believe in God... but thank you very much for the coffee." I told him that he is welcome, smiling, and that I hope it helps him.
Started to walk back quickly, as I didn't wanna actually be late then for the meeting! A man walking his dog though called out to me...
"Hast du das freiwillig gemacht?" (Did you do that voluntarily?)
I told him yes, and then, well this was kinda funny , I started to say, "Ich bin Christ..." (I'm a christian) and he told me "Ich bin Alex" haha, I was like "Oh I mean, I'm Elaine" (in German) and I think I shook his hand, and he said how that gave him a good feeling to witness me doing that. I explained that because I'm a christian, it's kind of on my heart to help the poor. He said how every one can do that right, you don't just have to be a Christian. He asked what type of Christian, I told him 'Freikirchen' (free church, which is the network of churches I belong to here). And then came his interesting anaology, "When a person brings heaven down to Earth, that's a christian, right?" :)
I liked that. We wished each other a good day and went on our way.
Here's to bringing more Heaven to Earth!
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