Varieties of Service

Promptly every Monday morning, 11 Sojourners Community members, more than a third of our community, prepare for the workaday world. Off they go to counsel and pastor, teach and cook, heal, administrate, advise, and, in general, respond to the many and sometimes overwhelming needs presented by the broken ones of this city. As Dolly Arroyo put it, "Outstretched hands are everywhere."

Although these community members do not work in a Sojourners ministry, they all, like Janice Johnston, find service to others a major component of their day. Over the phone and in long conversations in the doctor's office where she works, Janice finds herself in contact with rich and poor, white and black, male and female, who have in common a struggle with chemical addictions and psychiatric disturbances.

Millie Bender and Jackie Sabath, who have been trained as pastoral counselors, see their ministry extending beyond the community to touch others in the Sojourners congregation and in the city.

Martha Kincannon's gifts in music and worship leadership also involve her centrally within the community's life; yet her healing presence reaches outside that circle through her part-time job as a caretaker of homebound sick and elderly people.

Dawn Longenecker's job keeps her in touch with people directly in and around our neighborhood of Columbia Heights. She is on the staff of the Woodley Housing Corporation, whose mentally troubled residents need social and emotional support as well as financial assistance to help them adjust to the pressures of the world around them.

The work of some in the community revolves directly around children. Tricia Spivey observes and helps youngsters who have difficulty learning. She also works with their parents, who are concerned about their progress.

Rob Soley's job as a teacher's aide at a Christian Montessori school is multifaceted. His daughter, Annie, who attends the school, explained his work to her mother, "It's easy. All you have to do is get water, tie sneakers, and comfort children when they're hurt." He also accompanies little ones to the bathroom and back many times each day, finds mittens in winter, and prepares snacks. In the midst of these duties, Rob has the opportunity to help the children with their times of worship, often a deeply rewarding few minutes of his day.

Patty Burkhardt drives a long distance to her work as a medical technologist at an area hospital. Her night hours can link her to some of the great dramas of life as, for example, she runs tests for enzymes in the blood that indicate the presence of a heart attack.

Bob Sabath is likewise a technician of sorts. His work as a freelance computer consultant has him tinkering with complex programs—a task he enjoys. The money he is earning will help him achieve a longer-term goal: a Doctor of Ministry degree from a local seminary.

David Fitch, a statistician with Ph.D. training in research psychology, is currently at work on a survey of people's use and expenditures in health services for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). His real passion, however, is to work on low-cost health care for people in Guatemala.

DOTTIE BOCKSTEIGEL'S JOB as a group home manager for two houses for retarded adults is, she says, relaxing in comparison with her last employment as a teacher of retarded children. However, an emergency situation on her first day necessitated her staying all night— an event not uncharacteristic of her job. She finds her residents to be delightful people who provide a great deal of joy in her day.

Keary Kincannon works with housing issues with a private, non-profit organization. His efforts have included trying to keep the city from closing an apartment building that houses Salvadoran immigrants and other low-income tenants.

Judi Floyd, a nurse practitioner at Columbia Road Health Services, a wholistic clinic for low-income people, daily sees a myriad of different faces that reflect diverse circumstances: refugees from El Salvador, Iran, Ethiopia, and a host of other countries. She has heard the clinic's waiting room described as a "refugee camp of the United Nations." Her work at the clinic ranges far beyond nursing, as she strives to make those who are far from home feel comfortable in alien surroundings.

Just down the street, Dolly Arroyo works at the Family Place. The Family Place is a drop-in center for the area's Hispanic community. It serves 160 families, whose members come in need of a can of baby formula, maternity clothes, protection from an abusive spouse, advice on diaper rash or breast feeding, or just a comfortable, safe place away from crowded, rat-infested apartments. Here Dolly is learning the miracle and mystery of shared hope that arises from shared suffering.

Perhaps that is the deepest truth of the workaday world and a lesson that is brought to the community by those who are employed in that world week after week. As it is, there are varieties of service, but the same Lord.

Lindsay Jane Dubs was managing editor of Sojourners magazine when this article appeared.