On Sundays when the calendar lands on a fifth week, we hold a Sunday of Service in place of our usual worship format. The service is shorter, and then the whole congregation rolls up its sleeves together. These projects have included assembling laundromat kits with detergent, dryer sheets, quarters, and handwritten notes of encouragement, then delivering them to local laundromats on Sunday morning. We have organized letter-writing campaigns for city officials and pastors in our community. We have put together goodie bags for hospital workers and hygiene kits for neighbors in need. Recently, youth and adults made lunch together and wrote personal notes of encouragement for the guests who come to our food program.

The work is simple and the impact is real, and there is something particular that happens when a congregation serves shoulder to shoulder.