We, at the Shepherd's House (TSH), have been serving our Middlesex community since August 2006. Our vision is about making a significant and sustainable difference in the lives of people around us—in our communities and in our cities. Community transformation begins at the intersection of the needs and hopes of a community with the capacities and compassion of the local church. Drawing from our sacred texts in Isaiah 65:17-25, we at TSH have found seven areas where we can help serve our community, and they are as follows:
• Public health for all, especially children and the aged
• Housing for all
• Food for all
• Meaningful work for all
• Family support systems
• Absence of violence
• Community celebration and happiness
We encourage our congregation at TSH to work side-by-side with people of various backgrounds. We are constantly amazed at the miracle that happens when people of different faiths exercise social action together, recognizing that whatever our faith we still need food, shelter, safety and security. Our basic humanity precedes our religious differences. There is a Hebrew word, a key term of the Bible during the days of Christ and Second Temple Judaism, for which there is no precise English translation: SIMHAH, usually translated as ‘joy’. This is the “JOY of the LORD” which Nehemiah spoke about in Nehemiah 8:10. What it really means is the happiness we share, or better still, the happiness we make by sharing. It is about sharing what we have, seeing possessions less as things we own than things we hold in trust, one of the conditions of which is that we use part of what we have to help others...to be alert to the poverty, suffering and loneliness of others. The JOY OF THE LORD comes when we SHARE WHAT WE HAVE. Use part of what we have to help others...to be alert to the poverty, suffering and loneliness of others.
