Gage, one of the Philadelphia Quaker Voluntary Service Fellows from the 2015-16 year, has a special gift. He sees the world with child-like wonder. I watched all year as a sensibility fostered in the majestic beauty of the Pacific Northwest struggled to find the glory of God in the cracks of Philly’s decayed, post-industrial neighborhoods.
His site placement was at the Energy Coordinating Agency, located in one of the poorest and most dilapidated areas sprawling across the northern portion of the city. He was witness daily to the human consequences of abject poverty and racism while working directly with disadvantaged neighbors, helping them cut down on energy and water costs in their home. His natural sense of awe became weighted down by the growing awareness of social sins.
But the awe was still there, hiding in the burnt-red sunset across the abandoned factory building, in the children’s make-shift playgrounds that are the city streets, and in the small acts of kindness that protest against the weight of a system that ignores a good portion of the city’s citizens. And when Gage found it, like the woman in Jesus’ parable who calls together her neighbors to celebrate the return of her lost coin, he shared it with me and his community.
It requires hard work to remain constantly open to the beautiful and the new, to cultivate a curiosity to the world as it is and as it is becoming—but that is what is required if we are to become, as Jesus says, like little children. Unless we can remain open to the ongoing flow of creation and the miracle of everyday life, we’ll miss out on the kingdom of God.
Ross Hennesy is the assistant director of Quaker Voluntary Service. He became a convinced Friend in 2004, at Harrisburg Monthly Meeting, and has been a member at Germantown Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia since 2007. He completed a Master’s program in the Religious Studies department at Temple University, studying social movements, activism, and religion. In 2008, he helped found an intentional community and urban farm in Northwest Philadelphia where he continues to live. He also remains active in Germantown Monthly Meeting and in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
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