Elevators

I was talking with a woman in bible study last night. A week ago she had a sinus infection and we were commenting on how we rarely realize how good it feels to be well until after recovering from an illness. The same is true with accessibility. If you've ever had an injury or even an unusually heavy load (e.g. suitcases in an airport) restrict your movement, then you know what I mean. I can't even imagine how it might feel if to have a handicapping condition that is permanent.

This has become a real issue of stewardship and justice for us at Pecometh. We have two retreat houses, each that sleep 36 persons. And, while, most of each facility is laid out at ground level, each has a basement meeting room that is only accessible by an elevator. The problem is, the elevators have been out of commission since before I came to Pecometh in 2000. It turns out that they had broken so many times that repeatedly repairing them was essentially throwing money away. In the meantime, even the parts had become unavailable.

In a lot of cases, the lack of accessibility was not an issue, because groups didn't use the basement meeting room or they didn't have persons with handicapping conditions. Even so, one has to believe that a faith-based operation must consider part of its faithfulness to God to include making sure that all persons feel welcomed and accomodated. To be sure, this is our belief. Yet, financial realities always present a challenge for non-profit operations like Pecometh. When we looked into replacing the elevators, we discovered that it would cost nearly $14,000 apiece to replace the elevators with reliable (and working) units.

Enter Delmarva Walk to Emmaus (WTE). Walk to Emmaus is an intense 3-day spiritual experience. Delmarva WTE hosts these weekends five or six times a year in our retreat houses. Many important weekend experiences take place during chapel services, which occur throughout the weekend in the basement of Grace House, one of the two retreat houses. It became clear that some persons were not able to attend a Walk to Emmaus weekend because the chapel was inaccessible to them.

Earlier this year, the Delmarva WTE Board took a step of faith and voted to ask the WTE community to fund the replacement of the retreat house elevators. The community responded. To date, they have raised nearly $9000--enough that we feel comfortable in committing to replace the Grace House elevator. With a working elevator, chapel services on WTE weekends will be accessible to all, not to mention all the other activities that other retreat groups might hold in the basement.

We signed the contract last Thursday and expect the elevator to be installed within a month. Will many people notice? Many will; many won't. More importantly, those who will be able to experience God-inspired life-changing experiences because they can participate fully in a Walk to Emmaus weekend or a church retreat are the ones who will really notice. I'm grateful to Delmarva WTE for their willingness to partner with us. I know they don't need our thanks because I know they did what they did for the same reason Pecometh exists, to serve others. So instead of saying thanks, I'll say "Praise God!" for their faithfulness.

Grace and Peace,

Jack