At a recent church potluck, I noticed how quickly folks jumped to clean up after the meal, stack chairs, put tables away and wash dished.
In a society where the customer is always right we have come to expect a staff to clean up after us, or at the very least to do most of the work. Church is one of the few public spaces where we have to take responsibility not just for the food and program but for cleaning up afterwards.
At least that's what this post was going to be about.
Then on Monday, Occupy Albany met in our church. They held a facilitated debriefing session after the camp's eviction on December 22. Over 75 people came to the 3 hour session. We broke into small groups to talk about our experiences and then came back to the larger group to share themes and think about what comes next.
Monday night the church building was available for Occupy Albany to use. But Tuesday morning, the FOCUS breakfast program was to begin preparations at 5:45.
When the Occupy Albany session ended around 8:30, I asked people to stay and help set the room for breakfast.
It turns out I was wrong: church is not the only place where people jump up to clean up after themselves and go out of their way to make a facility look its best.
Over 30 people set up chairs, moved tables, washed dishes, swept the floors, set place settings and wiped off counters. Even more thanked Westminster for the use of the space with genuine sincerity.
Thank you to all the volunteers who worked together that night. May we all work together with such ease and grace.