Samaritan House

From the sermon "Called to be the Church"..."To Love and Serve Others"
By Rev. Patricia Gale-MacDonald and Alice Oliver

Today we are continuing our Lenten Series on the theme "Called to be the Church". The theme is taken from our Statement of Faith, which names five specific ways of being the church. Two weeks ago, we reflected on what it means "to celebrate God's presence." Last week, through Rev. Dick Moffat's leadership, we focused on "to live with respect in creation." This week, the focus is on the third way named in the Statement of faith: Called to be the church; "To love and serve others". As I thought about this focus, it seemed to me that telling the story of Samaritan House Community Ministry would be an appropriate way to witness to the grace that comes when we choose to "love and serve others". For those of you who are new to the congregation, I should explain that Samaritan House is a Community Outreach Ministry that was incorporated in Barrie in 2001. Since then, it has been operating out of the lower level of our church. Over the past six years, it has offered children's literacy tutoring, a youth life skills program, adult computer training, a drop-in centre for clothing and household items, and a Snowflake Gift Tree that 62 of us in the congregation took part in last Christmas. In June 2005, Samaritan House also opened a "Transition House" for women and children recovering from abuse and violence in the home.

Our ability to welcome Samaritan House into our church has roots that go back to a decision that was made in 1988. The ministers here at that time were Rev. Jim Oben and Susan Butler-Jones. They helped the congregation through a process of discernement about its future. I wasn't here at that time, but I have heard the stories: stories about how a lot of prayer and discussion were given as to whether the congregation should uproot itself and move to the south end of Barrie. It was becoming clear that Barrie's population was about to explode, and that thousands of people would be moving into Painswick and Holly. Should this congregation move to Painswick and become the core of a new faith community? It took quite a long time of faithful discernment, before it was decided that a church presence was still needed here in Allandale. There was a firm belief that this church had a vocation in this area: a call to be a true community church with a strong outreach ministry to the poor. It was also recognized that in order for this ministry to happen, some changes would have to be made to the building itself, including the additon of an elevator, and the addition of more rooms for programs. And so, although the church was carrying a $60,000 deficit, it was decided to claim this vision. As an act of faith, the congregation undertook renovations that eventually cost $650,000 (a debt, I should add, that was paid off in full in November 2005!). In 1996, the renovations were completed. The church was ready.

For several years, the church waited. Then, In late August of the year 2000, a few weeks after I arrived at the church, there was a quiet knock on my office door. I opened the door and found Astrid Wilcox standing there.

"Do you have a moment?" she asked.

"Sure," I said.

Astrid came in and sat down. She introduced herself as the wife of the Anglican priest at St Giles' Church in east Barrie. She told me that she and her husband Jim had been in Barrie for three years. Before that they were in Brandon, Manitoba. While in Brandon, Astrid had been led to start an Outreach Ministry to the poor that she had named "Samaritan House". Three years after leaving Manitoba, she was feeling called; ready to start a community ministry here in Barrie.

"For weeks I have driven by this church," she said. "For weeks I have felt that this is where God wants Samartan House to be. And so today, I thought I would simply stop in and ask. Do you think there might be a place for Samaritan House Community Ministries in Burton Avenue Church?!"

It was the beginning of a wonderful relationship! We opened our doors and our hearts to this ministry. Samaritan House is not just another outside group that meets in our building. Samaritan House is part of us. The presence of Samartian House here enables us to "be the church", by loving and serving others in Christ's name.

Now, it's a powerful invitation; this call to "love and serve others". It is, of course, grounded in Scripture, where over and over again we are reminded of what Jesus called "the second Great Commandment": "You shall love your neighbour as you love yourself." One of the great blessings of the presence of Samaritan House in our midst here at Burton Avenue United Church, is that it teaches us why this living our of the "second commandment" is so important. Through Samaritan House, we have learned that love expressed in ways that gives people a hand-up, changes lives. Through Samartitan House, we have learned that the generosity of food collected, clothing donated, time given to tutoring or to dropping-in for an occasional cup of coffee, changes lives. And through Samaritan House, we have learned that the lives changed are often our own.

We are blessed to have with us this morning a woman named Alice Oliver, who is going to speak to this truth. Alice first came to Samartan House to learn computer skills. Now she runs the Drop-in Centre. Several weeks ago, as I was planning the themes for the Lenten Series, and thinking specifically about Samaritan House, I heard a quiet knock on my office door. I opened it and found Astrid standing there.

"Do you have moment?" She asked.

"Sure," I said.

And so Astrid came in.

"There's a woman named Alice" Astrid said "who runs the Drop-in Centre. She's written a short talk about what her involvement in Samaritan House has meant to her. She would like to have an opportunity to tell people in Burton Avenue Church how their welcoming of this ministry, has changed her life. I wondered if there is some small group or committee that she could speak to."

I smiled.

"She can speak to us all." I said.

And so at this time, we welcome Alice, and invite her to share with us her story.

My name is Alice Oliver and I run the drop-in three days a week. I have been coming to Samaritan House for five years. I came here as a student for the computer course. I also helped Mrs. Dawson at the drop-in. I always enjoy coming to the drop-in, meeting different people and helping families out. I was picked to run the drop-in after Mrs. Dawson left.

Since I started working at the drop-in, I learned about different families and their needs. For expample, I met a number of families who do not have enough money to buy clothes, or linens or shampoo or soap. Sometimes their kids get sick and they cannot buy baby aspirin or cold medicine.

This Christmas, I was able to give my superintendent, a turkey because she couldn't afford to buy one. I was given two turkeys for Christmas this year. I was also able to give her some small ornaments from Samaritan House, as a gift for her. She was so happy she cried.

She is around 76 years old and she works full-time running a Laundromat, cleaning all the apartments and collecting all the rent money. She works hard and doesn't make very much money. People treat her very badly but I think she is a wonderful person. She even calls me her daughter. The one thing I like about her is that she never complains about things.

I really fell good about running the drop-in and three months ago, I was given a student to work with. He is an adult student who couldn't read or write and wanted to learn how to use the computer. We got a call from another agency to see if we could help him.

I wanted to help him because I know how to use the computer and I knew I could help him learn his letters and numbers. I prepare his lessons every week and he never misses a Tuesday lesson. He now knows how to turn the computer on, use the keyboard and mouse and he types letters and numbers up to 50. He can read short sentences and type out the sentences.

It makes me happy to do these things for another person whether at the drop-in, or in the children's program at the transition house.

To God be all Glory!

Amen