"Lord of all pots and pans and things...
Make me a saint by getting meals
And washing up the plates!"
May I please take a brief detour from following the readings and share a part of God's story in me...
In 2009 God asked me to follow through on a call I had been given while on my first trip to Tanzania in 2006. I was serving in a denomination that was asking me to deny my understanding of Jesus, the Bible and my call to mission. My orders were revoked and I was given shelter from the Anglican Church in a mission diocese in Tabora, Tanzania. I traveled alone 18,000 miles to be priested by a group of Christians whom I loved dearly. God had asked me to live as a missionary in America and to teach the church how to love their neighbors in Word and deed.
I returned to Tanzania and the day I was to be priested the Lord revealed my heart to me, and it was not pretty. It was as if I was waiting to hear the heavens open and a voice descend saying "well done, good and faithful white man! You are the chosen one!" Instead I heard a near audible voice saying "thanks Bryan for answering the call. I know you love me. I have been raising up people for my will from the ends of the earth since the dawn of time. Thanks for being one of them."
I was blessed indeed.
I returned home. A number of friends who loved me helped me pay my bills while I listened and read to flesh out God's call. He had me driving down the street looking for discarded car seats and cribs to bring to single mothers who honored life. He had me walk up to tag sales and ask for the leftovers to bring to families who were moving out of homeless shelters. My friends and I pooled our money to purchase $99 mattress and box spring sets from Bobs Discount Furniture and get whole families off the floor. I prayed and the Lord led met to purchase a Toyota Tacoma so that I would have a pickup to use for the work. We collected household items to sell at tag sales to purchase malaria medications for children dying back in in Tanzania.
We kept the furniture in our garage. My kids bikes and wagons were always hidden under or around something. They got into it as well as Olivia would yell as we drove down the street; "dad, stop! A car seat we can give to a kid!" I purchased a bakers rack and storage bins from Costco to keep the clothes in my basement. My mom and dad would come over once a month to help me sort them out. I would be contacted by individuals and agencies from all over who had gotten my name from some one some where. When people moved I was always given first dibs.
I had a list of a dozen friends who would go with me to help deliver and pray for folks but often I would go alone. God allowed by to purchase a Blackberry with a GPS so I wouldn't get lost. I always wore a clerical collar for two reasons; I wanted folks to see the church coming to them and to be honest it made me feel safe in some of the places I ended up.
The ministry grew out of our basement and garage and we felt our kids need to be able to have a bit of our house for their things so some friends helped out and we began to rent unit #172 at the UHAUL self-storage facility near us. We were faithful to the Lord of all pots and pans and things.
God has me in a new place now. I am new serving as the Rector (pastor) of New Hope Anglican Church Church. These folks have bent the knee and are serving in Word and deed with a passion and fire that is growing in them daily. We have partnered with Acts4 Ministries in Waterbury and bi-monthly bring furniture to folks who have nothing...it would take too long to list all the places they go to and to be honest I don't even know them all. Each week I learn of one more person reaching into the community in another way. They are faithful to the Lord of all pots and pans and things.
Yesterday I closed out the UHAUL storage space. At first it made me sad and then my friends reminded me that God had stretched the wineskin to near breaking. New Wine needs New Wine Skins.
I donated the remaining items to local charities and returned to office to check out. I've spent a good amount of time talking to and praying for the folks who worked there. I've prayed for Angie and her daughter who is dying of cancer, for Jose and his demons, for the homeless woman who I would help out. As I left John gave me my receipt saying I had checked out and thanked me for my business over the years. "Hey John, I was wondering are you a Christian? Don't want to pry, just wondering" I asked. Shifting feet he said yes but he has not been in church for a long, long time. I reached into my bag and took out a copy of the New Testament and gave it to him. "I'd like to give you this gift. It's the last thing I have here. It's getting close to Easter, a time of new things. Why don't you give it a read. You can never go so far away from God that he won't take you back."
And so I left but those years will never leave me.
Someday I would love to sit with you and share the storied of the folks I have met, about the coolaid I've shared and babies I've prayed over. The fire escapes, the state translators, the gifts in the mail...
The beautitul happened. Not what I did for God but rather what he did for me. He taught me how to love without question, to serve when asked, and to trust in him. I was a dumpster diving for Christ because he dove in dumpster to save me.
"Lord of all pots and pans and things....
Make me a saint by getting meals
and washing up plates"
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