Voices & vision warm a church back to life

 

The late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Life's most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” This Sunday, I felt honored and, really, quite lucky to join some of the Reformed Church of Highland Park and other visitors in a symbolic “passing of the torch” from the All Saints' Episcopal Church to the upcoming Veteran’s Housing project, “Bring Them Home to Homes.”

 

When I arrived, a cold church greeted me with a symbolic door wide open welcoming all who came. While the temperature in the church remained cold, the generosity of everyone inside was too warm to resist. Someone passed out hot chocolate, two men were on the floor helping to remove an old kneeler that had been left in the church. A member of the church remembered my face, and instantly asked for my name to welcome me. All the while the elegant beauty of the background, the church itself, outdid all of this.

As was repeated many times by many speakers, the housing project is not just a place for veterans to come home to; it’s a place for them to start anew. Equipped with eleven apartments, each including their own bathroom and kitchen and one apartment outfitted for a family, the facility is also equipped with an office for health services. But the crowning moment came when one veteran took the floor to speak. He was so affected and moved by the work that has been done that he was brought to tears.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” This latest initiative of the RCHP is that soul brought to life.