We’ve been enjoying the company of a new guest. Actually he’s been around for a while but only sporadically joining us. I’ll call him Jacob. More recently he’s been more regular, and helping out around the kitchen. He’s been rolling up his sleeves and helping us occasionally as our ‘dish pig’. Normally our lovely and committed septuagenarian volunteer, John, has been faithfully doing the dish pig duties despite a neck injury. 

It’s been great having a guest who’s able to get involved and help out. He brings a lot of energy, even if a little scattered and in frequent need of a nicotine fix. His life is not straightforward and he has many challenges that continue to plague him, but we are happy to have the help whilst it’s being offered. 

Our church is very middle class, our volunteers are often quite middle class too, but in Olive Way we rub shoulders with those who are often from troubled backgrounds and find it difficult to relate to our world or even understand our language. It’s hard for them to fit in to the middle class niceties of an inner city church. 

This was brought home to me recently when Jacob was sitting with a volunteer. The conversation veered into the joys of fine dining. For Jacob, fine dining was a buffet dinner at the now defunct Smorgy’s or Sizzler. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it was clear to me that our volunteer had little in common when it comes to dining out and our volunteer was more accustomed to something a bit more up market. We’ve often found that bridging that gap has proven difficult. 

As a place of hospitality we open our doors to people who are not always like us. Jacob may not speak like us, or share the same interests, or have the same taste in fine dining. But we continue to welcome him and learn from him. Jacob offers a window into the world that for many of us we wouldn’t otherwise open. This is part of the gift that Olive Way offers. 

Peter Blair, Olive Way Pastor
Photos by Naomi Kim

Written for the April Olive Branch