Working Together in Community

Our Chaplain, Lauren Bailey, reflects on working together as part of a Community of Hope.

Being part of a Community of Hope, one that is committed to making things better generally, is hopefully something that we can all feel included in, something for us to take our place in and belong - however big or small that is. And in God’s eyes, the smaller things are even more valuable. 

One of our values at Hope is working together and I’ve been thinking about what this looks like lately. It has many different ways of expressing itself.  

It can look different in different settings. In the home, people might know you better and be familiar with your habits, good and bad. Family looks so different for all of us and is not always easy. It looks and feels different for each of us. We can have both good and really difficult experiences of family but it can be a place where you may potentially grow, even out of the hardest of relationships, and also learn about yourself and others; even if you don’t get on. To grow requires honesty about what hurts and hopefully working on ways of making it better with those we trust, whatever that looks like.

This takes a lot of determination to work out in love. Some of these little gems really help, like patience and gentleness. They really do work! Especially when things get tough, these are things that we can trust. Even if we don’t see any results on the surface, they are always doing something in us.  

Some of the things I’ve noticed recently about working together: 

• The things you get annoyed about in someone else - you probably do yourself and probably in an even bigger measure and without realising. 

• It’s always better to deal with things that bother you than let them grow. 

• Assumptions are almost always wrong. 

• Working together is a great way to belong.  

• Other people are definitely not mind-readers. 

Working together doesn’t always take less time than doing it yourself, but the lessons learned on the way are usually worth it. 

Our prayer for all those who walk through our doors: 

When you sit down at this table of Hope, we pray that you will feel the warmth of those who sit near to you, the kindness of those you see, and know that you have a place here.

You are welcome. You are loved and valued beyond all measure. 

We pray that you will know the peace of being in this place, surrounded by those who truly care. 

As you sip your cuppa and maybe have a bite to eat, we pray that you will know how loved you are.

And as you leave; our hope is that you leave a little lighter, maybe in time with a little spark of hope, that, if you can, can be passed along to another.