By Grace Bernardo
I’ve been a congregant at Redeemer Lincoln Square almost since its inception in 2017. However, my journey with Hope For New York began before that, in 2015, when I was a broke, 20-something, largely unemployed actress who was about six months into city life.
I had little in the way of material resources, but I did have a decent amount of free time and a determination to be helpful, which is how I wound up at a Hope For New York Mentor Match-Up after a friend emailed me the flier. I connected with someone from The Bowery Mission who asked if I would be interested in leading a volunteer drama class at one of their after-school programs.
Despite being new to teaching, what followed was a wonderful season of working with a brilliant bunch of kids in East Harlem. We laughed and snacked and made up silly games, and celebrated how Jesus had made them all unique—and how that was integral in telling the larger, greater story, whether that be by Dr. Seuss or Shakespeare. It was also a necessary reminder for me of how God views each of us in His kingdom–many parts of one whole, working together for the good He has prepared for us to do.
Over the next few years, as my New York life rounded out, I found volunteer opportunities to be compelling ways to bring together the different communities I found myself in. Partly because I’m selfish and partly because I’m lazy, I wanted to hang out with all my friends at once, and I wanted to invite them into what I was passionate about so that they could help out, too. Wherever folks may fall religiously, they often agree on the fact that our city has a hearty amount of need. You don’t have to look hard to find people who are hungry or going without, or who could simply use some help.
This past year, I joined Hope For New York’s Rising Leaders Board. It’s a group of young professionals—don’t let the word “professional” intimidate you…if I can be considered, so can you!—who are committed to seeing New York and New Yorkers flourish, whether it’s through volunteering at a local nonprofit, assessing potential new nonprofit partners, joining in city-wide prayer calls, or [providing] financial support.
[The group] reframes the forced proximity of life in this city as a way to love and affirm the inherent dignity of our neighbors. And there’s opportunity in every borough. Hope For New York’s nonprofit partners cover so much ground. You don’t have to be “qualified.” You can serve out of your own natural giftings—whether you like crafting or sports or meal prepping or organizing or building things with your hands because you work at a computer all day or just singing and listening—there’s space for you.
There’s a verse from Romans I have taped to the wall above my desk that reads in part, “…suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Life in general, and certainly life in NYC, can have its fair share of suffering, and I’ve sometimes felt that hope is a weak substitute for the square-shouldered reckoning with grim, real-world realities. However, this verse reminds me that hope is not something that can embarrass or evade me, because it is the natural byproduct of a relationship with Jesus, and it spurs me on to look at Him as he shows me how to care for others.
Today, as we celebrate Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem on the road that would lead to suffering but yielded everlasting hope. This is how He works. He moves toward need. Toward brokenness. And He invites us to join Him there.
