Pentecost 11-B, 2012: Food for the journey

Proper 14 Lectionary: 1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34:1-8; Ephesians 4:25-5:2; John 6:35, 41-51



En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

The Eucharist, our celebration of thanksgiving and praise, is the central act of worship in the Episcopal Church. It says so right there in the first sentence on page 13. The Eucharist is what we do on Sundays - our Sabbath day.

The Eucharist is also discussed in the Catechism on page 859. There it says that the Eucharist is “the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again… [The Eucharist] is the way by which…Christ… unites us to…himself…”

In the document entitled, “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, put out by the World Council of Churches, of which the Episcopal Church is a member, the Eucharist is described as “...the sacrament of the gift which God makes to us in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the eucharistic meal, in the eating and drinking of the bread and wine, Christ grants communion with himself... giving life to the body of Christ and renewing each member. In accordance with Christ's promise, each baptized member of the body of Christ receives in the eucharist the assurance of the forgiveness of sins… and the pledge of eternal life... in the eucharist, ...we are sanctified and reconciled in love, in order to be servants of reconciliation in the world... to be... in solidarity with the outcast,... to become signs of the love of Christ who lived and sacrificed himself for all...”

The language used by Jesus in today's Gospel, bread as flesh and wine as blood, is language of ritual. Jesus was, after all, a rabbi, who presided over many ritual meals. In his book, Doors to the Sacred, Catholic theologian Joseph Martos says ritual meals, “affirm and intensify the bond of unity among the participants.” (Doors to the Sacred, Joseph Martos, 213)

Martos affirms the teaching that those of us who come to this sacred meal ought to reflect on what we’re doing, why we’re coming to receive this holy food, what is it that we are inviting into ourselves – our bodies and our lives – because in the sharing of the bread of life and cup of salvation, “we are being united into a body – the body of Christ.” (Martos, 215)

That means things are different for us because, as St. Paul says, “we are members of one another.” (Eph 4:25) We can be angry, but we must not let that anger cause us to sin, that is, to break our communion with one another or with God.

When we speak, we are to say only that which will give grace to those who hear us, remembering that when we tear another member down, or cling to bitterness and anger, or slander another member, we cause the Holy Spirit to grieve. So we think about this meal and make a choice to receive it knowing its power over us – the power to unite us to God and to one another in love.

Ritual meals like the Jewish Passover and our Holy Eucharist are also “re-enactment(s) of sacred vents” so that “those events become real and present to the people who share it.” (Martos, 213) This isn’t just a memorial for us, it’s a present reality. Christ is truly present, and we don’t just remember this, we live it.

When we hear the words, “do this for the remembrance of me” I hope we hear the voice of our Savior inviting us to come back into unity with him. Remember. Re-member... be a member again… be one with me again...

That’s why, in our tradition, all of our senses are engaged in our liturgies. We sit in the midst of the beauty of these stained-glass windows and the warmth of the wood that forms our chancel, altar, and pews.

We gaze upon the cross that was transformed by our Savior from a symbol of humiliation to a sign of victory. We light candles so that we have living light in our midst – a reminder that Jesus lives and is in and among us each time we gather. We hear the rich beautiful tones of our organ and engage our bodies and our minds as we sing prayers of praise to God.

In many churches, including our own chapel, the smell of incense becomes a familiar cue that we have entered a holy space where our prayers are lifted to heaven as we watch the smoke from the incense rise to the rafters and hang there like a cloud. And we imagine that must be where the cloud of witnesses prays with us. (I hope we can enjoy this sensory experience again one day here in this holy space.)

We walk up to the communion rail and kneeling or standing by someone we may or may not know, someone we may or may not like, we reach out our hands and take the bread of Holy Communion into our mouths and remember that we are one in the body of Christ. We taste the bread of communion as it melts on our tongues and that too becomes a signal to our bodies that something holy is happening and we are choosing to let it happen within us.

The smell of the wine greets us as the cup is raised to our mouths and the deep and momentarily harsh flavor of the consecrated wine stimulates our glands and our saliva mixes with the wine in our mouths, making manifest the union of our bodies to Christ. As we swallow, we can feel it as the warmth of the wine travels deeply into our bodies.

When we eat the bread of life and drink the cup of salvation, we make an offering of ourselves, giving our bodies to God who enters us, becomes one with us, and makes us one with each other.

It is a mystical moment, a moment of pure joy as we remember, even for just this moment, that our sins have been forgiven. It is a moment of deep peace as we remember that by this spiritual food we are renewed, strengthened, and made whole again.

Our daily lives can drain us. Our Christian life should drain us.

We should be giving out love and prayer and offering words of hope to someone every day, all the time. There are so many who need it. We should give it until it’s gone because we believe, we know there is always more. God’s grace is sufficient, so there is always enough to replenish us.

God granted Elijah heavenly food when he was used up, when he was “give out” as my husband would say. Let me die, Elijah said. I’ve had enough and I don’t want to go on. But the angel of God said to Elijah, get up and eat, and there before him was heavenly food.

Eat this food, the angel said to Elijah, “otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” (1Kings 19:7)

It’s true - the journey is too much for us too unless we are continually nourished and renewed by our spiritual food, the bread and wine of Holy Communion, “the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again…” (BCP, 859)

The journey is too much for us unless we continually affirm our bond of unity and remember that we are one with Christ and one another.

The journey is too much for us unless we stop the world, come into the presence of God and remember that our sins are forgiven and we are sanctified, that is, made holy, and drawn by the Father to Christ who will raise us up on the last day.

Remembering that gives us strength to go out to the world, again and again, as living signs of the love of Christ, imitators of God, and servants of reconciliation in the world.

Amen.

Link to the Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry document: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-commissions/faith-and-order-commission/i-unity-the-church-and-its-mission/baptism-eucharist-and-ministry-faith-and-order-paper-no-111-the-lima-text.html

The prayer our Savior taught us

Every Sunday at our Eucharistic gathering we pray together the prayer our Savior taught us: The Lord’s Prayer, found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Jesus said to his disciples: “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” (Mt 6:9-13)

We pray believing that God hears and answers our prayers. We pray not so much to ask for what we need or want – God already knows that and is answering our prayers before we ask. We pray in order to bring ourselves into the presence of God whose Spirit fills us and leads us to wholeness again and again – as often as we go there.

When we pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we know that this is already happening. That can be both comforting and frightful when we think about it. If God’s Spirit is in us, then what happens to us happens to God who is in us. Therefore, when we see the face of a suffering child of God, we see the face of God. When we give comfort to one of the least in the kingdom (or when we don’t), we give comfort to God (or we don’t).

When we pray for God’s will to be done, it’s because the only other option is our will – and even in our least humble moments, we know our will isn’t sufficient. We know our best gifts and greatest compassion and most self-sacrificing love can’t bring about reconciliation of the world to God. Only God can do that – and God chooses to continue that work through us. So when we pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are asking God to change us. By our free will, we can choose to step out of God’s will. Sometimes we look up and find that we have stepped out of the path of God without realizing it. Mindlessness and habit can lead us to that. Prayer is our way of consenting to be brought back into cooperation with the divine will.

When we pray, Jesus reminds us to do so trusting in the steadfast love, mercy, and compassion of God who provides what we need – our daily bread - as we need it. When we truly believe that, then we become sources of that abundance to others. We are unafraid to “give it away” because we know there will always be more, there will always be enough.

Jesus also teaches us to remember to seek to be forgiving, just as God is forgiving. We are all children of God and we’re all bound together in that identity. The question is, what binds us – sin or love? If it is sin, we get stuck, held back from our true purpose or we hold others back from their true purpose. If it is love, we live in freedom and all things really are possible by the power of God working in us.

When we pray, we remember the truth of eternal life given to us as a gift (grace) from God, and we are able to live our lives in the eternal presence of God. Right here. Right now. From that prayerful perspective we can see clearly that the things of the world are tempting, but temporary, and we are no longer deceived by what they seem to promise.

We return our gaze to God who is the source of life, truth, compassion, and fullness of joy. This is the reign of God. This is the glory of God. Now and forever. Amen.

Pentecost 9: Fill me now

Dear friends,

Today's sermon was extemporaneous. I meant to audio-tape it, but in my weakened condition (I'm recuperating from dehydration from a funeral this weekend), I didn't get it done. I guess this one was for just us this week. The Holy Spirit showed up, though. One member told me I was "fairly glowing" as I gave way for God to preach through me today - even in my physical state of emptiness. I'm glad. I had nothing to offer. It was up to God alone to feed these people. The title of my sermon, "Fill me now" speaks of the theme I preached - being people who are filled with the fullness of God. Peace.

Valori+

Pentecost 8, 2012: Valued, accepted, and forgiven

Proper 11 Lectionary: Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56



En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo, Amen.

In today’s gospel story, Jesus feeds the five thousand who, he says, are like sheep without a shepherd, that is, they are lost and aimlessly wandering around in a desert – a desert that is as much within them as it is the place where they are gathered. St. Mark tells us that they come to Jesus with the same kind of faith demonstrated by the woman with the flow of blood (whose story we discussed a few weeks ago). They believe, like she did, that if they only touch the hem of his cloak, they will be healed. They know that Jesus is the source of their healing, their wholeness of life, and they want to be made whole, to be delivered from their despair.

Being healed, being made whole again, is a choice all of us can make anytime. What’s in the way? Well, some of us as, we discussed last Sunday, believe the lie that we are too unworthy to be healed. What it takes then is for someone to welcome us as a friend, someone who will tell us the Good News of God in Christ that we are all forgiven, accepted, and loved by God.

Bur living in this truth, living in the Good News of God in Christ means giving up our judgments and our excuses and allowing ourselves to be guided by God alone, who anoints our heads with oil and consecrates us as holy. It means being the temples of God’s Holy Spirit that we are by means of our Baptism. It means answering our Baptismal call to proclaim by word and deed the good news of God in Christ. That means we don’t seek the kind of justice that satisfies us but the kind of justice that satisfies God, whose mercy and goodness follow all of us all the days of our lives.

In our Baptism we also promise to seek and serve Christ in all people, loving our neighbors as ourselves. We are the bearers of the grace of God to the world. As hard as it is sometimes, we forgive our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We love one another as God loves us – and by one another, I don’t just mean our friends and family (who can be challenging enough at times), but all of our neighbors: the poor, the homeless, the addicted, los inmigrantes (immigrants), even the criminals here in Cleveland County where we’ve been planted. It means loving neighbors like the 24 year old shooter in Aurora, CO, who killed a dozen people and injured 58 more, or the suicide-bomber in Bulgaria who killed a busload of vacationing Israeli youths and their chaperones.

Following news of the mass shooting in Colorado I saw lots of postings on Facebook and Twitter about people praying for the victims, their families, and those affected by these tragedies - which is a good thing. But by Friday afternoon, I hadn’t seen a single one, even from the Episcopal Church, that offered prayers for the broken soul who committed these crimes. So I replied to a tweet by Episcopal Relief and Development calling for prayer for the Colorado shooter and his family. Their reply to me: “Absolutely - perhaps most of all. But for the grace of God, there go all of us.”

Living in the truth of the Good News of God in Christ is hard. It’s often easier and there’s infinitely more overt support for us if we live our lives according to the story told by society or culture rather than by the Christian narrative.

Society dictates very clearly to us who is acceptable and who isn’t, who is beautiful and who isn’t, who is approved of and who isn’t. And those ideals change from era to era.

In our current cultural narrative, there is the saying: “You can’t be too skinny or too rich.” Being both of those makes you acceptable, approved of, and worthy. Even if it kills you – which it often does.

Please find the sermon illustration in your bulletins (bloggers, see this at the end of the blog) and notice the way beauty was depicted in art from the Renaissance period. I’ve given you two of the most famous images from that time: The Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci, and The Three Graces by Botticelli.

These women would be considered fat and unattractive by today’s standard of female physical beauty which you can see illustrated on the back side of that handout.

Unfortunately, exile from the ranks of the acceptable and the approved happens to even the most beautiful and the richest among us. Diana, Princess of Wales, suffered from bulimia and self-mutilation, and she had this to say about it: “I had bulimia for a number of years. And that's like a secret disease. You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you don't think you're worthy or valuable. You fill your stomach up four or five times a day… and it gives you a feeling of comfort. It's like having a pair of arms around you, but it's… temporary. Then you're disgusted at the bloatedness of your stomach, and then you bring it all up again. And it's a repetitive pattern, which is very destructive to yourself." (Source)

“You don’t think you’re worthy or valuable” she said. The most photographed and admired woman of her time didn’t feel worthy or valuable. Why? I think because she was looking in the wrong place - both for her value and for her comfort.

It’s sad, because what she needed, what we all need, is already within us. We have this mistaken notion that if we go into the presence of God, we’ll feel like a worm.
We won’t. In the presence of God we feel only love from God and the hugeness of that love heals the worminess the world and our own inner chatter make us feel.

We are temples of the Holy Spirit. THE SPIRIT OF GOD, who created us just as we are and loves us that way, LIVES IN US.

When society or we ourselves exile us into the ranks of the unacceptable and the unapproved, we need only go into prayer, into the presence of God to find comfort and remember our value in the sight of God.

As for those whom society exiles, the letter to the Ephesians resets our thinking on that. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (v 13-16)

One of the things that drew the crowds to Jesus is that they felt valued, accepted, and forgiven in his presence. Women, sinners, lepers, tax collectors, strangers, even criminals like the one on the cross next to Jesus felt valued, accepted and forgiven in his presence.

We are the presence of Christ in our world today. We are called to live the truth of the Good News of God in Christ, no matter the cost (and there is a cost), and to share the Christian narrative with all those who are wandering aimlessly in the deserts of their despair.

We’re called to receive into our love and into our family ALL whom God sends us. In our presence, EVERYONE should feel valued, accepted, and forgiven.

Here is what our Scripture says to all who are exiled and excluded: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” (Eph 19-21)

May The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer continue to be built together spiritually into such a holy temple. Amen.

Pentecost 7B 2012: Blessed desolation

Proper 10 Lectionary: Amos 7:7-15, Psalm 85:8-13; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29



En el nombre del Dios, Padre, Hijo, y Espiritu Santo. Amen.

COLLECT: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them…

I love the prophets! To me they are like artists, painting doorways to the truth with the brushstrokes of their prophecies. Like other forms of art, it often takes some education to fully appreciate their work.

Amos is known as the prophet of social justice, which he considered essential, indispensible, for those who held themselves to be chosen ones of God.

Amos was a herdsman and farmer who lived in Judah. This was during the time that Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel. God sent Amos, to prophesy to the people in the northern kingdom of Israel where Jeroboam was king.

The northern kingdom of Israel then was kind of like Galilee was in our Gospel reading, and kind of like Hollywood is for us today: a place of earthly excesses, sometimes even decadence, populated by circles of rich, materialistic cosmopolitans, who believed they earned their own fortunes and, therefore, deserved the enjoyment their fortunes afforded them. They showed little to no mercy for those in need among them. They had lost their sense of righteousness, mercy, and duty in the name of God.

It was to them that Amos prophesied in Chapter 6: “Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and …improvise on instruments of music; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!” (v 4-6)

Amaziah, the priest of the temple, begged Amos to leave and prophesy somewhere else. Stop saying bad things about us, Amaziah said. This is the king’s territory and we are beloved, favored, and chosen of God. That’s why we have it so good.

Amos responded, yes, you are! Which is why you, of all people, should know how you are to live in relationship to God and one another. You have gotten lost in the satisfaction that comes from earthly wealth, power, and privilege. You believed that you deserve it, that you earned it, that it belongs to you and you can do with it whatever you will.

But your power and privilege is an illusion. And when the illusion fails, you’ll realize that you have nothing.

That’s because living life in the absence of God, there is only nothingness and Amos uses prophetic language to describe this nothingness saying, your wife will be sold into indignity, your kids will have no life in them, you will lose all you hold dear – including your land (which, for the people of Israel, meant their identity). You will even lose the dignity of your life and your death.

But God, who is steadfast in love and mercy, responds to our hubris, offering mercy and a way to go. In the vision of the plumb line, God asks Amos, ‘What do you see?’

‘A plumb line,’ answers Amos.

Right, says God. “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” (v 8-9)

In other words, by the mercy of God, all that the people cling to, all that seems desirable to them but leads to their destruction must be removed. All will seem lost because those things – the luxuries, the power and wealth, the success, and the approval of the others in their elite circles – had seemed so important, so supremely important.

But God, who loves us with steadfast love, knows that these things are to us humans like pills are to an addict. They are a lie and they lead us to death. They trick us into believing that we are satisfied and happy even as they destroy our relationships with God and one another. They cause us lose sight of the suffering of our needy sisters and brothers – those who are hungry, homeless, infirm, and alone – because we are too focused on ourselves and what we think we need/want/deserve. They also lead us into error, tricking us into believing that we are the source of our success, our wealth, and our happiness.

Detaching from these things is a lot like detoxing from an addiction – it’s painful at first. The body and mind fight against it. We cling to the lie which is preferable to the truth that is coming into view – the truth that in their absence, all that’s left is emptiness, nothingness. It feels like desolation.

And, in fact, it is desolation, blessed desolation: complete emptiness, the utter destruction of a false reality we had constructed for ourselves. It is only in that complete emptiness, in the stark, cold, darkness of the tomb, that the people of God (then and now) stripped of our illusions of power and self sufficiency, can discover what is truly important – what is true at all – life in the presence of God.

From that place of desolation we call out to God who is always there waiting to save, remembering again, or finally, that it is only God who saves. We believe that our salvation is in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, God, who came to live among us, to minister among us, and to give his life for our salvation. Jesus did it and it has been done – once, for all. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. No amount of obedience or good works can save us. Indeed, they are the fruits of our salvation, not the means to it.

We need to remember that if we do anything good it’s because the grace of God has been lavished upon us, compelling us to do our part in Christ’s continuing work of the redemption of the world. If we do anything good, it’s because the Spirit of God lives in us and touches the world through our grateful hearts and willing hands. If we do anything good, it’s because we have “heard the word of truth,” believed it, and surrendered ourselves and our lives to it.

Therefore, no matter how many modern-day Amaziahs ask us to stop speaking the truth, we won’t stop. No matter how many of them condemn us for welcoming all into the Church, all into presence of God, we’ll keep doing it anyway. And no matter how impossible or desolate the path ahead seems to earthly minds, we’ll continue to pray for and gratefully receive the grace and power to do what God would have us do.

I close with a prayer from Sir Francis Drake:

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Amen.

Weaving Christian formation into the fabric of our lives

One of the strengths Redeemer possesses is our love of and devotion to our children, and right now, the Holy Spirit is moving among us in a big way, leading us to act on a very important part of our call as a community of faith: the formation of our children as Christians. As we welcome new families into our community, we are experiencing a renewed desire to provide structured and meaningful programs and activities to help form our children in their faith and life.

One of the curricula available this year for children ages 3 years through 5th grade is called "Weaving God's Promises." This is a three-year, lectionary-based program which teaches children how God's promises of salvation weave throughout our lives, not only in church but in the world. This curriculum gives children a strong foundation for a lifetime of faith.

"Weaving God's Promises" is Scripturally-based and tells stories from the Old and New Testaments with a focus on the life and teachings of Jesus. A second focus is on the Episcopal Church itself, teaching about church practices, how to use the Book of Common Prayer, and the principal sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. Finally, the program covers Christian living, including the practices of prayer, service, and outreach. There are lessons on Advent, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter, as well.

With online accessibility, individual teachers and parents can download activity pages and student pages for each weekly lesson. The curriculum offers age-appropriate lessons for pre-school through 1st grade; 2nd-3rd grade; and 4th-5th grade. These age ranges can easily be arranged as best fits our needs.

A presentation/demonstration of this program will be offered at a breakfast gathering between the services on Sunday, July 29. At that time, an opportunity will be given for questions, as well as a chance to volunteer to teach and/or assist with any grade level. Please join us as we show how "Weaving God's Promises" can help us to live into our passion for bringing God’s little ones among us to a real-life experience of faith and service.

We will also be discussing a bit of restructuring for ourselves in order to pursue our call to lifelong Christian formation. We offer up the option of moving our second service from 10:30 to 11:00, allowing enough time between the services for a bit of coffee hour together, then ample time for Christian formation to take place. This would also enable those who are serving at the later service as well as those who are in the choir, to participate in Christian formation. As it is now, one has to choose between choir and Christian formation.

The new schedule would look like this:

8:30 am: Holy Eucharist (said)
9:30 am: Coffee hour (Main Parish Hall) and/or Choir rehearsal
10:00 am: Christian formation for all ages (runs till 10:45)
11:00 am: Holy Eucharist (sung)

This structural change is offered in response to many of our parents who said that getting their young children up and ready by 9:30 was stressful and often impossible. In addition, the older youth and some of their parents have expressed an interest in meeting later in the day. This change would allow formation for older youth (grades 6 and up) to begin with lunch, immediately following the later service.

This change is also is in response to choir members who expressed an interest in participating in and/or leading the formation discussions. Finally, it is in response to those who regularly attend the early service, but would like time to meet and get to know those who attend the later service – which is when most of our newer members attend.

Please share your thoughts and ideas on this with Mother Valori, Deacon Pam, RoseAnn Evans, or Matthew Kiggen and remember to MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR SUNDAY, JULY 29! We look forward to seeing everyone, sharing breakfast, and planning our life of formation together!

Joyfully yours,
Mother Valori and RoseAnn Evans

Serving in God's name with the help of an HHH grant

As you have heard, Redeemer is the grateful recipient of a Human Hurt and Hope grant in the amount of $25,000. This grant is designed to help us continue and grow our feeding ministries - The Shepherd’s Table, Food Pantry, and Community Garden - and will help us to:

• keep up with the financial demand our feeding ministries have place on our resources
• hire a part-time program manager to oversee the feeding ministries and expanded programs
• use the time between breakfast and lunch for life-skills education and training, health screenings, referrals to local help agencies, job preparation, as well as the hiring of a part-time social worker to schedule and coordinate this part of the program
• expand the Community Garden to increase the harvest for use in the Shepherd’s Table
• expand and open the Community Garden to more Shepherd’s Table guests as well as other church partners who will use their harvest for their own feeding ministries
• engage the local community in addressing hunger and poverty in our area through our ministry so that the people we serve cease to be a concept (the poor) and become people whose lives and stories we know and care about.

Since many of our Redeemer members are new, I’ll share a portion of the cover letter I wrote for the grant as it offers a concise history of the means by which we answer Christ’s call to us to serve in his name:

"In February, 2010, The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer launched our premiere mission: The Shepherd’s Table. We served our first lunch on February 17, 2010 to 35 people and have been serving each Wednesday ever since. We began serving breakfast in addition to lunch in April, 2010, one of only two local churches providing both meals on our feeding day. The Shepherd’s Table now serves an average of 350 meals each Wednesday. In addition, our Food Pantry ministry gives out an average of 50 bags of food and supplies (toiletries, diapers, feminine products, etc.) also on Wednesday.

It has always been our priority to serve friendship as well as food. Knowing that the majority of our guests are dealing with hypertension, diabetes, and other physical issues, we want to serve as much fresh, healthy food as we can. We are also feeling compelled to teach our guests “how to fish,” rather than just handing out the cooked fish to them. Responding to the needs our guests bring to us, we also want to help them make connections to the local resources that will improve the circumstances of their lives.

Redeemer shares our space with an African-American Pentecostal Church, Living Waters Ministries. We invited our friends at Living Waters to become our mission partners, sharing in our feeding ministry, which they have done enthusiastically. They had discerned a call from God to serve in exactly this way, but due to economic hardship, had been unable to do so. Given the surprisingly sharp rise in demand for the Shepherd’s Table, Redeemer would have been unable to continue this important mission without our mission partners at Living Waters. In fact, the leadership teams of The Shepherd’s Table Ministries are each comprised of one member from Redeemer and one from Living Waters.

God’s abundance has been undeniable and spiritually nourishing for so many involved, both volunteers and guests. The demand, however, has outpaced our resources. We are, therefore, re-birthing ourselves, formalizing the mission by writing policies and procedures, developing volunteer trainings, etc., to enable us to write for grants from other sources to support and grow this mission."

Operating the Shepherd’s Table, Food Pantry, and Community Garden is not only a call from God, but a gift to us at Redeemer. Serving others in God’s name using the gifts of our building, our amazing kitchen, and our compassionate people has been a big part of our healing as a faith community, enabling us to find our own path to rebirth and renewal these last three years.

For those who are new at Redeemer, you should know that we started our feeding ministry with no money set aside, watching in awe as the abundance of God flowed into us and provided what we needed to serve. It was an inspiring and exciting experience. Two years later, these ministries continue to inspire and excite. We invite you to join in, serve with us, and be inspired – by God, the ministries, and our guests.

I wrote this grant, with the help of Caswell Martin, your Jr. Warden, because the demands of the ministry had begun to strain our financial resources. Knowing how tight the economy has made all of our budgets, it seemed a good idea to look beyond ourselves for additional resources. That doesn’t mean that we’re relived of our need to commit our financial and other gifts to this ministry. We just don’t have to do it alone, thanks to the generosity of Human Hurt and Hope and the Diocese of Western North Carolina.

I am happy to announce that Dan Allen has agreed to be the part-time Ministry Program Manger and Larena Cherry has agreed to do the social work portion of the expanded program. Please consider volunteering to help them. There are even more ways you can help now with the expanded programs thanks to the grant.

Ask anyone who volunteers now – you get so much more than you give. That’s how serving God always works - we give a little from our faithfulness and God gives us back a hundredfold.

Also, if you haven’t made a pledge to the church, please consider doing so. According to our canon law, our budgets are formed from pledged income only. Unpledged monies, also called loose plate collections, won’t reach the feeding ministries except on the third Sunday of each month when they are designated to go there. In addition, the loose plate collection is designated for a missional purpose each week and does not support general church operations.

If you have any questions about the grant, the feeding ministries, or how you can help, please contact me. If you know of other resources that can financially support our work, please let me know. The grant search continues…