The team that went to Christ House was small but very engaged in offering this time with our family in DC as an act of love and worship.

We met at the church at 5:30 am, loaded up the groceries for a full breakfast and met in Ryan Chapel for our worship experience before we left.

We arrived at Christ House a 34 bed hospital for homeless men and women about 6:45 am. We began to cook a breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits and sausage and fresh fruit. We were a bit bleary eyed but full of joy to be there.

Pravin Gandhi was our tech savvy contact and he spent some time with a couple of older men who were living across the street at Kairos House. This is a facility associated with Christ House that offers permanent living quarters in 34 apartments. All of these residents are men who were formerly homeless and who had been walked a disciplined pathway to recovery and independent living.

We really enjoyed a conversation with an older man whose family moved to DC from NC for work in the early 1940’s. His father moved rock and dirt to help build the National Airport runway and terminal. It was all swamp and water then!

After breakfast was served by our group another group came in from another DC church and did the clean-up. We watched the men convert the small dining area into a worship space with altar and equipment for the worship team. Worship began with 20 minutes of silence. I sat beside a gentleman who was very kind and welcoming. He had been very sick with the flu last week and was still recovering his strength.

The worship experience was ecumenical and a mixture of the Good News of Jesus with elements of the 12 step recovery process blended in. It included singing from a African American Catholic hymnal and a worship team led by the men and a classical violinist. It was awesome gospel music with much of worship led by the men. Pastor Goetchus is a United Methodist from Indiana. He and his wife began Christ House in 1985. She is a physician who organized the medical care for the people there and continues to do so. There are four floors with two devoted to a 34 bed hospital. The upper floor is composed of full time living quarters for some of the nurses and the Goetchus family.

Our team shared various stories of being deeply touched by the humility and full participation of the residents during worship. We wished we had more time to sit with the men and to share stories together. That is something to consider for next time around. We were all very grateful for this experience of meeting Jesus through our friends in DC.