Valentine's Day of Compassion
A wonderful annual tradition started last year when our sisters decided that they would no longer conform to the pattern of this world by buying in to the romantic views perpetuated by Valentine's Day. Instead, they turned an ordinarily lonely day into a Day of Compassion by visiting homeless shelters and convalescent homes throughout the Bay Area, spreading God's love and sharing His compassion with others in need.
This started our ministry to the elderly and the homeless as we continued to visit with them on a monthly basis to build relationships and to share the Gospel message with them through songs, skits, and just sharing our stories with them.
This year, we not only took our sisters, but invited the whole congregation to join in. We had 480 people spread out to over 17 different homes and shelters and spend the evening sharing our joy and God's love with them. What a night to remember!
Reflections
Jennifer - a2f-2 / Koinonia 3 - King's Club @ Bay Area Rescue Mission
“Perfect love drives out fear…” 1 John 4:18
For the Day of Compassion this year, A2F2 and K3 groups visited the youth at King’s Club, the Bay Area Rescue Mission’s after-school program for 6th-12th graders. King’s Club has been a safe-haven for many of Richmond’s youths throughout the years. It encourages youths to stay in school and off the streets by providing homework help, a good dinner, fun games, and Bible study each night. It is staffed by two faithful Christian workers. The director has been working with King’s Club for 9 years now. She saw the need for a director in a job-posting one day, and realized that this was God’s calling for her life. It is evident that she cares deeply for these kids. She follows up with and prays for them years after they leave. It was a privilege to co-labor with her and the other staff that night.
Our group put on a full program for the youth kids, starting with a pizza dinner, skit, message, games, and home-baked desserts/mingling time afterwards. We performed a skit called Chains (taken from Element’s mission trip to Ensenada). It’s an edgy dramatization of the gospel, pantomimed to dark heavy metal music that immediately grabbed the youths’ attention. I didn’t expect the youths to be so drawn in and engaged by the skit, but they were fully attentive the whole time. In the skit, the principle figure, a young man, is assailed by various temptations. As he succumbs to these temptations, he finds himself too weak to throw them off. The temptations/sins become like chains upon him, pulling him downward toward death. I worried that the kids would not understand this skit, as it was very symbolic, but as I looked across the room, I saw many of the kids, especially the older tougher guys, nodding their heads in understanding. Josh gave the message following the skit, based on 1 John 4:18. He said that whenever the kids felt weak to the pressures around them, they should know that just as they saw in the skit, Jesus is greater than the temptations they face, and through his death and resurrection, he has broken the chains that bound them. His perfect love drives out all fear and will give them the strength to stand firm to the end. I could think of no better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than imparting such an important message about God’s love to those children that night.
After the message, we played human bingo and Pictionary, which the kids absolutely loved. The director later said that she was so happy to see the kids get so excited while playing those games, because they spent so much time playing video games and pool that they didn’t know how to have good fun. She expressed in general how the kids would benefit so much from having older role models like us (they needed male role models, especially.) There are only 2 staff for King’s Club, and because of limited help, they’ve had to turn away kids from their program. They were blown away by the sheer size of our group. Never had such a large group come to spend time with the kids before. This was sad for us to hear and a lot of us felt compelled to return and continue to work with the kids. It’s really exciting to think about future events and activities we can plan together. As they have such a need, I’m thankful that we have no shortage of people in our group so willing and eager to go.
At the end of the night, we asked the youths what they learned from Josh that night, and they remembered: “Perfect love drives out fear!” This warmed our hearts -- they got it! We were reminded that God’s word does not return to him void, but will accomplish the purpose for which He sent it (Is. 55:11).
Daryl - Praxis Singles - Salvation Army Shelter
I don’t think I ever thought much about Valentine’s Day; maybe it was just denial on the part of a nerdy and awkward guy. It was such a refreshing way to look at the day, as we prepared for our Salvation Army Valentine’s Day of Compassion in eager anticipation, with a strong sense of purpose. How great it was to get to use my limited creativity and experience not to serve myself and impress a girl, but to try to be used to reach kids and families with a message of God’s love.
Being a part of the puppet show and message was mini-experience of the church at work – as each of us divvied out the responsibilities to prepare scripts, make the puppets (and try to go out and buy real puppets…), make and re-conceptualize what we would use as the stage, and contact people for practice. All in all, it wasn’t that much work for me, but it was so great to lose ourselves in serving together, and also getting to meet some of the college students in our church that I may never have run into otherwise! Being there gave me a sense of freedom, of being able to forget about myself and just enjoy being with the kids and families. It didn’t matter that half of the families didn’t show up; even just one child enjoying himself would have been more than enough in God’s economy. Feeling the buzz of genuine excitement and enthusiasm was invigorating, and absent in the insecure and stressful posturing of guys trying to impress girls. The amount of loving preparation that went in to serve these unfortunate families was what impressed me!
Matt - Praxis Singles - Salvation Army Shelter
On the day of, I completely forgot that it was valentine's day until I noticed a few cars with red balloons in them, and the rush of people at Costco buying flowers. But as I looked at some of these people, they looked utterly stressed at the thought of having to represent their love in the form of a plant, and I myself was glad that I had something to look forward to that night. Upon arrival at the Salvation Army Center Shelter, I helped to unload the double shot basketball thingy, and some of the kids standing on the curb starting chanting "basketball, basketball!!". This immediately relaxed me, despite their intimidating parents standing right behind them staring at us probably wondering what in the world all these Asian people were showing up for. Initially, before the program started, I was worried because there were about twenty of our people and maybe five of theirs. But as we waited, more people trickled in and the celebration began. All I can say is that throughout the entire program, from the music to the puppet show to the craft and game time, kids were laughing, people were smiling and there was a general sense of joy in the air. Even the hardest of hardest looking guys couldn't prevent breaking into a smile or a chuckle.
At one moment in the night, I paused to look around and saw people, like Mark and a guy his age having REAL conversations about their families and lives; I saw our college students playing with the kids, smearing chocolate on their faces, and Jeannie holding one of the babies as her own, and mostly, I saw God's love being portrayed in that room. Everyone gave their all and I could tell that all of us didn't want to leave because they really didn't want to leave and people had to be forced out. I personally didn't want to leave that place either and as time rapidly drew to a close, individuals came up to us and sincerely thanked us for what we did. I could only reply that really it was no problem at all and thanked them instead. I look forward to future visits, not only on valentine's, but hopefully throughout the year, to tell these people that they are God's children too and that there is one who loves them.
Sandra - a2f-1 - Mercy Retirement & Care Center and East Oakland Community Project
On Valentine’s Day, a group of us at a2f-1 visited Mercy Retirement & Care Center, a home for the elderly. It was wonderful to see so many college students excited about the night, being cheerful as we prepared gifts for the residents and practiced singing songs for that night.
The residents loved the piano and flute solo we had prepared and some even sang along to “Amazing Grace.” After our short program, we broke off into groups to get to know the residents better and have a fun time of learning more about their rich histories.
An elderly woman with whom I had the privilege of speaking had raised six children, and was a nurse when she was younger. She had played many instruments in her life and her love of music was crystal clear-out of the corner of my eye I saw her closing her eyes during the flute solo and being extremely moved during the piece. Marveling at our group, she commented that it’s good to be young. And I thought to myself, yes it is. Here we are, a bunch of college students and young staff who have our whole lives ahead of us. We have so much to look forward to, so much meaningful work in which we can immerse ourselves. Indeed, what a privilege it is to serve God while we are young. While so many others are wasting their time and emotions on this contrived, commercial holiday, we are able to bring warmth and love to those who are easily forgotten by society. Afterwards as I was driving home, I thanked God for giving me so many opportunities to get away from my narrow concerns of my own life and even become a source of blessing for others. Truly each one of us received so much more than we gave.
Eugene - Kairos 1 - Henry Robinson Multi-Service Center
At the Henry Robinson Multi-Services Center, a transitional housing program for the homeless in Oakland, we at Kairos 1 witnessed how God multiplied the little we had to offer to bring much joy and happiness to a group of underprivileged children. None of us quite knew what to expect as we prepared for the event. We started off with a brief introduction and explanation of why we were there and how they are all very special and loved. Then the children very quickly got into the songs we prepared. In particular, “Making Melody” was a hit; throughout the evening, I heard one kid continuously humming the song. Then, we had the children paint and decorate flower pots that we had bought. We also had violas for them to plant in the pots. The kids were so excited to show their creativity and artistic talents. Some children asked us for a second or even a third pot to paint, and others eagerly showed their work to everyone in the room, so much so that even the moms that stuck around and some of the cooler teenagers that were there started painting pots for themselves. By the time we were about to have snacks together, some of these children got very close to our Kairos students and insisted on getting snacks together. Then we passed out care packages that we had made before closing our time there. All of the children exhibited utmost reluctance to leave, and the Center director, had to tell them again and again that it was time to go. One kid asked if we would come back again. Another kid, after having left the room, ran back to the room to tell us, “Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day,” and we were all very touched by this. Richard told us that many of these children either were homeless or came from abusive families. Even at their young age, these children have already tasted much hardship. I feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to share God’s love with these children and reassure them that they are special. I, for one, am not particularly fond of kids but after spending that night with them, I felt my heart expanding especially as I witnessed the kids really soaking in what little we had to offer. That much it shows me that they are deprived of this kind of love and attention on a regular basis. In addition, it was a joy to see our Kairos students losing themselves in loving these kids instead of falling for the overly marketed ideas of romantic love on Valentine’s Day.
Gary - SF Campus - Grove Street Convalescent Home
Mr. Mi is an 85 year-old elderly man. When we came to visit in January, I was pleasantly surprised to meet a fellow Mandarin-speaking Chinese person, since the Chinese residents at this convalescent home are predominantly Cantonese-speaking only. During our January visit, we hit it off right away in Chinese, and I noticed that he was paying a lot of attention to the words of the hymns that we were singing and the translated message that Daemin was giving. I translated the message into Mandarin for him afterwards. As Mr. Mi was listening at several points he was nodding his head in agreement. This time he had come down from the 3rd floor and was waiting for us.
When I saw Mr. Mi in the audience on Valentine’s Day, I reintroduced myself and began talking to him again. When we were singing “Amazing Grace” and “All the Way My Savior Leads Me,” Mr. Mi was actually trying to follow the words and singing along with us in Chinese. During the message portion, Ahmi shared a message from 1 John 4:9-10, which says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Once again, afterwards I translated the message into Mandarin for him. Mr. Mi listened intently, and I explained to him again what sin is and why it is that if we recognize ourselves as sinners then somebody needs to pay for the penalty of our sins. Mr. Mi again acknowledged that he is a sinner, agreed that if sin is real then a price does need to be paid, that he believes Jesus came to die for his sins, and that the promise in John 3:16 is true. I asked Mr. Mi if he wants to make a decision tonight to make Jesus Savior and Lord of his live, and to invite Jesus into his heart so that he can have eternal life. Mr. Mi said, “Yes.” So we prayed a salvation prayer in Chinese together and invited Jesus into Mr. Mi’s heart. I also gave him the Chinese Bible that I had previously purchased for him and told him that he should read the Gospel stories to get to know who Jesus is more, because the Gospels record all of the stories and teachings of Jesus when he was here with us.
He became the 5th person to receive Jesus as Lord at that convalescent home in the past 6 months!
I am once again amazed by God’s love. Truly He is the God who looks after the widows and the neglected in the world, just as He has been faithful in leading Mr. Mi to this destiny-altering decision on this past Wednesday night. And what a beautiful testimony it is that of all nights it was on Valentine’s Day that God led Mr. Mi to enter into this everlasting love relationship with Him. A love relationship that is not based on a person’s appearance or competence or status or pedigree, but purely on the fact that each of us is a child of God. And because of this one fact, each one of us is beloved by God, and it is a love that is not conditional because of what we can do, but eternal simply because of who we are.
On Valentine’s Day, a day when the world tells us to focus on ourselves and with eyes wandering we look for that elusive “special someone” to pay attention to us, God reminds me through the salvation of Mr. Mi to focus on people who do not know God and to share with them the love of God so that they too may know that there is a Heavenly Father who loves them and has been waiting for them. Rather than focusing on myself, God teaches me to go out there and touch people’s lives with the love of God. I think about the fact that this past Wednesday night through the songs we sang, the message and the conversations we shared, and the scarves that we made and gave, we were able to touch many of those residents’ lives and bring out their smiles just because of our visit. I am very thankful for our church’s starting this tradition of Valentine’s Day of Compassion and for the fragrant aroma that we were able to leave behind that night in the lives of the people whom we met and touched. I was reminded of Apostle Paul words in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”