the temperature

As the summer slowly ended in Galveston, I thought often about the few weeks we spent at Central, in the heat of the summer, with no air conditioning in the sanctuary. Even in the oppressive heat (I brought a thermometer that read 90 degrees), we carried on; business as usual! Really, can you imagine any other church doing the same?
 
But we are different. In so many ways, our unsheltered members and partners have shared with everyone the gift of resilience. They survive against great odds, and they brave the dangerous heat, so we can too-at least for a little while.
 
Like most places or agencies that do “good work”, the assumption is that help only comes from the top down; people and organizations with money and resources give to others that are without. More and more at Central, I see that this is not so. In flipping this old and disempowering model, we see power and influence differently. We know that in solidarity with people on the most precarious of margins, we still gain more in love, community, and strength than we give.
 
We will surely need this community we are fostering as we enter this post-election period of adversity and anxiety in our country. I plan to not only lean on this gift of resilience but also take refuge in how we make each other stronger. A great Central superpower that we can use to triumph over the certain hot temperatures that lie ahead.