Youth Mission Trip Faces a Snowy Time in DC

Members of our Joint Youth Group (St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Wilton Presbyterian Church, and Zion's Hill Methodist Church) left for the annual DC Mission Trip this past Wednesday, arriving in our nation’s capitol as the snow was just beginning to fall.  All arrived safely.  While we are not able to be with our youth personally as they experience new ways to be disciples of Christ, we can hold the whole team in our prayers.  Jane Field of Wilton Presbyterian Church  wrote up the following itinerary of the mission trip and asked for these intercessions:

·         For traveling mercies on Wednesday as we drive to DC.

·         For the health and safety of the 27 participants, as well as eyes to see the face of Christ in those whom they will be serving, and opportunities to embody God’s love for every person they encounter.

·         For the adult leadership team (Chelsea Merwin, Becky Hudspeth, Ralph Bernebei, and Jane Field) that they might have patience, wisdom, and creativity as they guide and lead the students—and that they might each receive a good night’s sleep each night!!!

·         For the students, that they might build new relationships amongst themselves that cross the boundaries of clique and class, that will last well after our return from DC.

·         For blessings each night on our worship time and group reflections, that all may receive insight and inspiration.

·         For blessings on our work on Thursday: at the Thrive DC soup kitchen, the Capital Area Food Bank, DC Central Kitchen (a program to train formerly homeless people in the culinary arts as they prepare 7,000 meals a day to be trucked to the city’s shelters and soup kitchens), Seabury Age-In-Place (helping low-income senior citizens with home repairs, grocery delivery, and visitation), Christ House (a residential medical facility for the homeless), and A Wider Circle (a warehouse for donated furniture given to families moving out of homeless shelters and into transitional housing).

·         For insight and learning on Thursday night as we meet with representatives from the National Coalition for the Homeless for an educational seminar about homelessness in America.

·         For blessings on our work on Friday: at several of the same work sites from Thursday (DC Central Kitchen, Seabury Age-In-Place, Thrive DC, Capital Area Food Bank) plus Martha’s Table soup kitchen and thrift store and Bread for the Journey (a self-guided experience preparing bagged meals and distributing them to homeless living on the streets—a lot like “Midnight Run”).

·         For blessings on our work on Saturday: at We Are Family (outreach to low-income senior citizens living in a housing project), Bread for the Journey, and Food & Friends (delivering nutritious meals to low-income terminally ill people).

·         For joy, rest and relaxation as we celebrate our one free-time afternoon in DC on Saturday.

·         For blessings on our work on Sunday morning at A Wider Circle and at Open Table (a meal served to the hungry and homeless after worship at a DuPont Circle church).

·         For courage and creativity as we participate in a Sunday afternoon writing workshop led by the Pilgrimage’s Poet In Residence, David Harris, that all may benefit from the opportunity to reflect on and integrate all of their experiences on this year’s trip.

·         For traveling mercies for our trip home to CT on Monday.

·         For changed hearts and opened minds, that the experiences each person has will be transformative and will enrich and deepen each person’s faith journey and life of discipleship, and that these effects will last a lifetime.

Gracious God, your Son before he ascended to glory declared that your people would receive power from the Holy Spirit to bear witness to him to the ends of the earth: Be present with all who go forth in his Name, protect them all the day long and bring them safely home. Let your love shine through their witness, so that all who come to them may see your glory in all that is given, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mary Grace+