What Happens When Doors Are Shut…

Reflection by Matt Della Foresta

When doors are shut, what can anyone do? 

After a year of shutdowns, we don’t know from day to day what doors will be open and what will be shut!

For people with limited resources, options start to disappear. 

When public places where you warm up or cool down are shut, what then? 

When places where you can rest and receive some nourishment and encouragement are shut, what then? 

When the lifeline you’ve come to rely on as Capital City Mission (also known as “the drop-in” and “the corner”) must shut its door to indoor activities. What then? 

Imagine what that feels like for those who have been our friends (some for twenty years!) now add that to all the other “life” doors that have been shut over time – it must have felt like the whole world was shutting down!

When all this began, our Director Keltie had to pivot and pivot fast! 

I had to take some time away to help my sons recover from illness that wasn’t fully diagnosed because it was right at the beginning of the pandemic. One fell ill and isolated, then the other. I then caught covid and landed in the hospital all while my wife Carolyn, dealt with the fallout of covid at her nursing home! What a terrible time for everyone.

So how did Keltie pivot? She opened a window. She built a window platform and a way for people to line up on the sidewalk of Rideau Street. 

Street level activity grew fast. Line-ups created extra tension and conflict until everyone realized that we were committed to them as people, as individuals, as neighbors, as friends and family and that everyone was going to be served something from our window.

We showed up everyday with compassion and grace voluntarily staying open to the community because of God’s love and care for our city.

Keltie said the adrenaline kept her going. But I know it’s more than that. Keltie’s heart has been in the making for over 16 years now serving in every and any capacity to make sure love happens at “the corner”. She truly lives out one of our mottos to “Love Thy Neighborhood”.

As an essential service Capital City Mission was one of only a few who stayed open –canteen style with lightning-fast service we might add. We also helped with emergency clothes and groceries. 

We maintained our friendships and our community connections grew! 

What happens when doors are shut? Sometimes windows are opened for the first time! In fact, we are looking at keeping the window going even after doors open!

Often, we focus on the barriers placed on us or let ourselves be defeated by whatever door is being shut. But how does God see it? What does God say? What does God want to do here? 

When Jesus was nailed to the cross it seemed for all who followed Him there that the door was shut forever. But God opened heaven to the whole world!

You would think by now, that we could immediately see opportunities when bad things happen but often, we just see what’s being taken away. 

The same was true for Job. Door after door was shut on him. In family, in health, in finances, but in the waiting and in the healing, Job started to see he was being blessed in different way as he trusted God to tell the greater story that was meant for all of us to learn from.

The losses will still be the losses, but we need to focus on the greater story God is telling. 

The expressions of hurt we encountered were gut-wrenching, people in emotional distress, frustrated by increased aloneness and limited resources.

Last summer was fueled with conflicts and a new anxiety like we have never seen before.

The winter was more harsh than usual as people braved every type of weather for a coffee, a sandwich, some cookies, water and socks. We stayed patient and steadfast, providing whatever we could. Thank you to everyone who supported us this past year. You are appreciated!

Eventually we were able to rent an indoor space two doors down where emotional and spiritual needs where met and people could sit indoors and visit for a while. Our main space was just not big enough to follow all the guidelines. 

And so, they came, limping, in wheelchairs, under varying influences, in poor mental health, in every type of crisis. With all their cares and troubles, they came to a window that served loved and grace when everything seemed shut down. 

The apostle Paul addresses the reality of what we go through in this world in (2 Corinthians 4:8,9 NIV) but also reminds us we are not completely defeated.

“⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed”

We have lived much of these realities this past year. But we have also seen God’s unstoppable hand ultimately opening whatever He wants to open.

Let’s be reminded that although doors may be shut, windows open through which God blesses us in new ways until – He opens doors again. And God will!

– Matt