Christmas Dinner
Blog excerpt from volunteer Renee Fonoimoana
Published on: 12/16/07
shemightbeteachable.blogspot.com

"We served in the rain"
It rained yesterday. Actually, it poured yesterday. My church held our annual Lazarus Candlelight Dinner with the homeless outside in a parking lot in Atlanta yesterday. We served in the rain. And it was awesome. The rain never stopped yesterday, it just poured from the time we all arrived at Trinity until the last table was packed in the truck in that parking lot on Pryor Street. God is so wonderful. I am filled with so much joy, I don't know how to explain what I saw yesterday.

I'll be honest, my expectations were low for yesterday. Because it had been raining all day, and was predicted to last into the night, I figured a lot of people might back out of coming to serve. I'll never underestimate the heart of God's people. I walked up to the door of the cafe at Trinity, and had to stand on the steps outside because it was so crowded with people listening to Allison give instruction. I was already overwhelmed with amazement at the sight of all of these people in their raincoats and hats, ready to serve.

We got to the parking lot, where some of the guys had set up about 12-15 small tents. There was so much food. It was unbelievable how much food there was. I worked the dessert table for a good portion of the night, and we laughed because we just kept finding more cakes and pies and cookies under the table. The tables were lined up with white table cloths and candles. The homeless came and got to sit in a fairly dry place to eat a pretty good meal. We sat with them and talked and ate. We shared the same table, the same plates, the same rain. It was amazing.

At some point last night, I realized that the rain blessed this experience even more. First of all, we desperately need the rain. Second, when you don't have a home, you can't get out of the rain to dry off. Sure, you can stand under shelters to prevent getting even more wet. But, you can't change your clothes and dry your hair. Last night, we all chose to be soaked and cold, because anyone could have left at any point; honestly, there were so many volunteers, it would have been hard to notice one person leaving, or even ten! But we stayed because there were people to feed. It was a tangible way to see God's love and his fairness. We were all the same last night.

To involve the community in providing for the homeless by meeting their basic needs.