Out from under the Bridge

Physically or metaphorically? How do you feel about coming out from under a bridge... out from under it's theoretical shelter, comfort and protection? What if the bridge is just your comfort zone and it's time to peek out from under the arches?

In the week post the SPRTE conference I took a group of 15 Credoites to Kirribilli's Church By the Bridge for a week of doing some community outreach - partnering with the local church to reach out and let locals know, if they didn't already, that the church is there and some of the things that it does.

If you don't know Kirribilli, it's a suburb of contrasts. One stat I heard was that (a few years ago anyway) Kirribilli had the highest number of PhD holders per capita in the world (???!!!) and at the same time it's home to the government housing project/commission, Greenway. As the week went on, the question that kept rolling around in my mind was "how can we live in this city where the wealthy and poor live side by side and never cross paths?". In fact, they seem to avoid each other.

Why are we scared of people who are different?

Why is it that the wealthiest and most educated of our society are usually the least aware of their needs and abilities to look after others?

The highlight for the week for me was sitting down over a couple of meals with some of the people who live at Greenway and learning from them and their lives. They have day to day lives that are obviously different from mine, and probably from yours too. And yet their was a genuineness to them and our conversations that came a lot faster than your average after-church-supper-with-cordial-and-biscuts.

As a team we read over the book of James for the week so that the bible would inform or shape our week together. Read over James 2 for yourself. What do you need to change?