Christian Community at its Best! Extend the Family!

Now, let me explain: Ramin and his dad, Hossein, (not their real names) are frequent visitors to our house and we really love them. It was Ramin’s birthday last week; he’d just turned 14 and his Dad asked if we could make him a birthday cake. You see, Hussein can’t cook cake and Ramin’s mum is thousands of miles away and so is his sister. Indeed, it’s Ramin’s first birthday away from home - a young asylum seeker.  

Ramin and his dad duly arrived with a friend, as expected. We’d cooked the tea (fish) so let’s begin. What are we waiting for, guys?

But Ramin and Hossein have also invited their friends (7). I fling open the door, “Welcome, welcome! Come and sit down at the table, everyone!” but quietly, I’m wondering, ‘how shall we feed this multitude?’ ‘They do not need to go away. ‘You give them something to eat,’ Jesus says! (Matthew 14: 16)

Josie, Izzie and Jane dash into the kitchen and augment our meagre offering of fish and rice; ‘Our food needs multiplying!’ they joke. ‘What can we find?’

The trio did us proud, really proud. Food kept arriving at the table, all sorts of things I didn’t think we had in our well-stocked pantry ... popcorn, muffins, spicy peas and more ...

Then comes the birthday cake. ‘Will it go round?’ I muse but it does, as Ramin blows the candles out twice over. Yes, we’re all having a great time, I mean a great, great time, not least Ramin and his dad. Then the singing and the bongo playing begins ...

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The party’s over now: everyone’s gone home. Some of us sit around the kitchen table, as a community family: “That’s community at its best,” comments Izzie contentedly. Yes, all mucking in, heads and hands working together, it’s amazing what we can do. You see, it’s together we can be family - not just for our house family - but to those God brings – the Ramins and Hosseins of this world.

And the miracle? - not one of physical multiplication this time but perhaps rather  the greater miracle:  people pulling together, one heart, one soul, those otherwise quite unlike each other, all together, living, working for one cause – in Christian community. Yes, together, together. What a great evening.