At Christmas one of the Inspire House Fellowships in Wilmore, KY, USA, went wassailing (carol singing). As we approached Easter the group decided they wanted to do something similar at Easter. One of the children felt that we needed to go and pray with people in our community for healing and hope. So we prayed about who the Jesus was sending us to and ended up with a list of six homes. We made sure everyone was happy for us to visit on their doorsteps (with masks and social distancing) and set out on Maundy Thursday to sing an Easter hymn, give a gift of home-made hot-cross buns (not something you can find in Wilmore!) and then pray with each household.
We started out at the home of a friend of one of the children. The family are not Christians but they were happy for us to visit. The friend then joined us for the rest of the evening. He had never experienced anything like it before. We didn’t do anything differently. We just prayed and sang and witnessed to Jesus all evening and he told us over dinner later that he had liked it. He even joined in our table conversation reflecting on our lenten fasting practices!
One of the houses we visited invited us into their home. Despite our hesitation, they were insistent. The couple have lived in Wilmore for 50+ years and are significant members of the community and local church. They welcomed us in and asked if we would share communion with them because they had not had it for more than a year because of the pandemic. They had even prepared bread and juice in the hope of our coming. Our 5 mins doorstep visit turned into 30 mins of worship and ministry – though it is difficult to say who was more blessed, them or us!
We continued our visits and then gathered around the table as a fellowship to break bread and share juice in communion with Jesus, and feast on food and rich fellowship.
It was a remarkable way to begin the Easter weekend remembering that our Risen Jesus wants to be fully present not just for us, but in and through us for the communities in which we live.
Samantha is an Inspire Missioner currently located in Wilmore, KY, USA
