The Fire In My Heart Once Burned Bright For Church

Only these two churches got it somewhat right, and somewhat wrong

It's Ericajean
5 min readSep 9, 2023

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The fire in my heart burned bright for Christ and the people that evening as we all sat together and made buttery rolls with glistening square pieces of ham and talked of family, winter, and the homeless who were just beyond the double doors, waiting for their meals.

Volunteering at a Lutheran church

It was the first time I’ve volunteered with dozens of others to make this winter a warm one for strangers who normally shift in the cold with nowhere to go. At this particular Lutheran church, we were not going to just feed them and send them back out into the cold, the homeless were going to sleep there overnight, eat a good meal, and speak with each of us.

It was easy for my husband and I to speak with the strangers sitting down. Many of them tried to appear happy and grateful (and I am sure they were grateful), but you could feel the angst, anxiety and hopelessness roll off of some of them.

What they did not know at the time, was we did not have our own place either. We were living in motels but had our part time jobs and were still significantly better off than most.

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It's Ericajean

Essayist and poet | Author of Rumors of Ouroboros . Learn more about Erica at https://linktr.ee/itsericajean/