Hungering Souls; Fed by Feeding.

Quote:  So long as we eat our bread together, we shall have sufficient even for the least. Not until one person desires to keep his own bread for himself does hunger ensue. Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Prayer: Attributed to St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

... and in French because it is beautiful:

Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.

Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l'amour.

Là où il y a l'offense, que je mette le pardon.

Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l'union.

Là où il y a l'erreur, que je mette la vérité.

Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.

Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l'espérance.

Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.

Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.

Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant à être consolé qu'à consoler,

à être compris qu'à comprendre,

à être aimé qu'à aimer,

car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit,

c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve, c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné,

c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie.

Texts:

Psalm 22:25-31

Amos 8:11-13

Acts 8:9-25

It seems the texts for this week are more reflective of the Lenten season than they are of the Easter season.  Sometimes, I wonder about the RCL... but I suppose we should all be thankful I am not simply cherry-picking my favorite Bible verses (i.e. me trying to shape the text), but am wrestling with an existing structure (i.e. trying to allow the text to shape me).  

From the enduring hunger in Amos, to trying to purchase the presence of the Holy Spirit in Acts, these texts speak to two realities which seem to be true at the same time within our society.  Seeing ourselves reflected in the antagonists within the story is never comfortable.  We live in a world in which there is deep physical hunger, to which we must attend.  We live in a world in which there is also deep spiritual hunger, to which we must also attend.  Why is it that, depending on a church's political persuasion, one is held up over the other?  Cannot both coexist?  Can we not literally feed people but also offer a word of grace, of hope, of invitation?  We welcome people to our soup kitchens and feeding programs, but when these same people enter the doors of most churches, they are turned away (or have a well-meaning usher sicked on them).  We invite people in to be fed, but ensure that the doors of our churches and the doors of our hearts are locked so that we won't have to see the deep hurt that lies beyond the physical hunger.  

Most of the people whom I have met at homeless shelters, at soup kitchens, and who are holding up signs that say, "Hungry, anything helps," are not simply hungry for food, though this hunger is real and pervasive; they are also hungry for relationship.  This is where ministry becomes messy.  It is when we realize Christ in the face of the displaced people along the side of the road, in the face of those who come to our churches and soup kitchens hungry, in the faces of those who keep showing up to church because they have tried to fill their nagging hunger with everything else, that we realize we cannot simply place a band-aid on their physical hunger and refuse to participate in feeding the spiritual hunger.  It is here we find that we, too, are hungry for relationship.  The hunger which refuses to be filled by any other thing keeps us coming back to the altar, to receive a small piece of bread and a small cup of wine, carrying the body and blood of Christ to the streets of our cities and towns.  This small taste instills in us a hunger to feed those around us, in body and spirit.  In so doing, we find that we, too, have been fed.