Image: People standing outside, gathered in groups, talking to each during the Frontier Services fundraising BBQ.
I’m pretty new to Engadine Uniting Church and what stands out for me with this community is that they are all ready to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty, literally, to support folks they’ll never meet.
One such example is a recent community sausage sizzle that was organised in support of Frontier Services. I don’t know much about Frontier Services. In fact I’d never heard of them before the sausage sizzle idea was raised.
Ross, one of my church mates, was keen to hold a sausage sizzle to raise money for them. He described how he had travelled to rural places to volunteer over the years to help folk with tasks on their farms and how those experiences had impacted him. Ross recalled a time where he helped with some basic mechanical and fence maintenance. He said that even though all he had to offer was his time, he felt compelled to help where he could.
This spoke deeply to me. I often hear my mum, long since passed, in my head saying there but the grace of God go I because so many people I know have fallen on difficult times and I am reminded of my own good fortune. I am extremely aware that a job loss, a bad health prognosis or any other situation which life has a habit of throwing up could transform my entire existence in but a moment. As a single woman without family, I am all too aware how much I will depend on the help of others to manage in a crisis situation. Like Ross I too feel compelled to give my energy to others where it is most needed while I am able to. But I digress…
So Ross says ‘hey, I want to put on a sausage sizzle for Frontier Services‘ and a callout goes to the crowd during a service one Sunday morning and I think, yeah I can help with that. Ross tells me what he really needs is bodies to help set up and turn sausages as they cook the following Saturday.
As I show up at 7.30 on the Saturday morning, Ross and John are already there, pulling items from their car and the church hall to set up on the front lawn. John is in fantastic form, throwing a steady stream of puns all morning. The weather was very kind, with a gloriously sunny autumn morning, not too cold, which proved inviting for the locals to get out and about. It feels like it’s going to be a good day.
As the morning progressed more church members showed up to assist, provide support and encouragement and enjoy a sausage (sometimes two!). Folks stopped for a sausage as they passed by walking their dogs or on their way to the gym or do their shopping.
What really struck me about this sausage sizzle was that the passersby sat down and chatted with others while they enjoyed their sausages. I didn’t participate in any of those chats. I was off to the side, quietly observing as these folks who had only just recently welcomed me into their community with such warm open arms did so with others. I reflected on what this meant, for the church members, for the local community members, for the folk at Frontier Services and those supported by them, for Ross and for me.
These seemingly inconsequential moments of connection is what living is all about for me. In a world where we are all in a hurry to get somewhere, to see someone, to do something, taking a moment to connect with another person seems to have gotten lost in the guff of life.
Ross did more than step up to organise a sausage sizzle that day. He bought together a community of folk who came together to support each other over chat and a sausage. For me, Christianity is in the doing for and the being with others. That morning I felt confident that this church community I had stumbled upon was the right place for me. Christians who saw christianity as more than showing up on a Sunday morning to sing songs and read bible passages. They genuinely care about each other, they care about whoever is standing in front of them at that moment in time and they care about the folks in rural Australia they’ll never meet. I’m really looking forward to what comes next with these folks.
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