“Be Gracious To Me”
From Jess, a member of Christian Assembly Church, a Hope Chronicles partner:
For whatever reason, I’ve always assumed that Eagle Rock, California is a tight-knit community that sets the bar for how neighbors, different ethnic groups and generations of people should live together. So on Sunday afternoon, as my partner and I set out, I was surprised to hear the comments and responses to our question about “hope”.
After talking to two people we ran into on our way to a local neighborhood, and getting mostly negative feedback and a cold shoulder, we felt compelled to make our way to the tall blue house at the top of the street. A small lady answered the door, whom we later found out was Russian Orthodox and not interested in getting more prayer after her time at church that morning, but rather asked that we’d think about getting a group from Christian Assembly to intiate a block party on her street, in an effort to bring her and her neighbors closer together. She said that after a few years of being there, she still didn’t know who the family across the street was and that Eagle Rock can be a lonely place.
We may have been the first strangers within two feet of her doorstep that took time to see how her day was, no sale’s-pitch, no scam, just a reason to have hope.
“Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.” Psalm 25:16
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See what other groups from Christian Assembly Church discovered last month in these videos:
> “That’s a Big Question”
> “I Pray Everyday for My Neighbors”
> “Get Off The Street and Get a Job”
> “Earthquakes and Volcanoes”