A Simple Worship Experiment
On Saturday morning five of us decided to do something tangible rather than just talk about being nice to people. We went to two local coffee shops, purchased their inventory of newspapers and gave them all away. It was part of our worship to God that day.
People were genuinely surprised by the simple gift we gave them. A few asked us why we were doing it or if we were from a church and we simply said things like, "we just wanted to do something nice for someone today." Or "Yes, we follow Christ and decided to show it rather than just tell it. Enjoy your paper." It was actually quite fun to see people smile as they took a paper.
After an hour of giving away papers, we went for pizza and talked about what we could do next. We are starting small but would want to do things that would improve the life of someone else. I think it would be cool if we were to help out in a habitat for humanity project or something like that.
Getting outside of our normal routine and thinking of others was the best part of this little experiment. It was easy to do, well received and enjoyable. Showing kindness with no other reason than embodying Christ is an interesting proposition. Besides, I just get a kick out of doing things that are out of the ordinary. People don't expect strangers to do something kind for no reason.
That's great man. My buddy Steve (another local pastor here in IL) spends a lot of time at a coffee shop getting to know locals. He often does something similar. When ordering his drink he asks the barrista to use his card to pay for everyone else's drink in line behind him.
Posted by: Joe | 28 February 2005 at 07:09 AM
Joe ~ I like Steve's idea! I'll have to start doing that one myself.
Posted by: Darren | 28 February 2005 at 11:22 AM
I wish it were my idea, but I met someone who did that in Lexington, KY about 1 1/2 years ago.
Man, that starts up great conversations. I highly recommend trying it.
Posted by: Steve McCoy | 28 February 2005 at 01:09 PM
Hi, Great idea, cool action-witness! Have you ever seen the movie 'Pay it forward'? It's a great motivator, great story and the idea is not to wait until someone does you a favour and pay them back, but, for no real reason, to do someone a favour and when they sorta say they wanna pay you back, tell them to do what you did to them and pay it forward! Great movie - if u haven't seen it, you'll love it!
Posted by: Jonathan | 28 February 2005 at 02:24 PM
Man... I wish I'd have been there. It sounds like y'all had an awesome time. I'd love to get involved with you guys when you do it again. If I'm in town, let me know.
It's an awesome way to connect with your community. There's an opportunity to build real relationships, not just the usual, face deep ones we have a tendency to form.
Posted by: Amy | 28 February 2005 at 06:35 PM