For Such a Time as This

Perhaps the most profound challenge I have faced in the eighteen years that I have been ordained is my experience with the people who come asking for assistance. Some of these people haunt me to this day, either because I helped them or because I could not. How does one help a teenager, perhaps homeless, who comes to the church seeking a place to get warm, sleep awhile, and maybe get some food? I gave him a bag full of coffee hour muffins from the freezer, invited him to sit in the warm sanctuary, where he laid down and fell asleep on a pew, and I kept watch over him until I had to leave. He rode off on a bike, and I never saw him again. 

How does one help an out of control woman who comes panhandling after worship on Sunday morning, moving through the crowd of parishioners having coffee in the narthex? How to respond appropriately to her erratic, perhaps psychotic angry yelling? I offered her what I had, but it wouldn’t do, she wanted more and more, and left, angry, and yelling obscenities. I never saw her again either. 

And yet I am, you are, we all are called for such a time as this, called to respond to the needs of the world, to be the hands and heart of Jesus, to be a reflection of God’s love, to cloth the naked, feed the hungry, visit the sick and those in prison, to tend to the least of those in our midst. In the words of Isaiah this morning, to help rebuild the broken state of the world, to offer hope, to be generous, to rebalance the iniquities that allow for poverty, homelessness, inequality in all its forms including our long history with racism, and the newly rising tide of allegations, abuse, sexual misconduct  and violence against women and children. 

For such a time as this, we are called. 

Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, along with the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA church, Elizabeth Eaton, have called us for such a time as this, to pray, fast, and act. Every month, on the 21st day of the month, beginning last May, through December 21 of next year, we are to set aside time to pray, to fast, and to act.

Why the 21st of the month? That is the date the SNAP funds, food stamps, run out for families because we do not give them enough to buy food for an entire month. Erin and I have noticed a marked increase in visits to our food pantry from the 21st of the month until the beginning of the next month. But, lest you think that food stamps actually help people, I assure that the needs are far greater than what is given. There is virtually no assistance for people over the age of 18, everyone is expected to get a job. Don’t give me statistics on the number of people who reportedly scam the system, because I can assure you that there is a backstory that the statistics do not reveal. People are not given enough food stamps to live on for a month, they are required to find jobs, but we do nothing to help them get jobs. There are no regional initiatives to respond to the lack of jobs, and if one is lucky enough to find a job, it's usually minimum wage and we do nothing to assist with childcare, transportation, gas, or car insurance. 

And so, on the 21st of each month we pray for a more just world. We fast in solidarity with the hungry. And we seek ways to act to bring forth God’s love.

At our food pantry we get a few people now and then who want to take advantage of us. Our aim is to feed people, as many as possible in as dignified a way as possible. And so we hold people accountable to self-manage and respect others who come. We tell them, take what you need but leave food for others. And even those who have scammed us from time to time hold to this principle,  when we tell them that is our sole requirement - take what you need, and leave some for others. 

In fact our food pantry has become so generous that even those who are recipients of the food are beginning to help out. For Thanksgiving food distribution two of the pantry recipients came and spent all of Monday and Tuesday managing the food distribution, helping people get what they need and leave something for others. These two are coming back this week to help with Christmas food distribution. For Thanksgiving we ran out of turkeys twice. I went to Kroger, the one on the north side, where the manager allows us to purchase as many turkeys as we need, and to get them at the sale price. I bought 10 more turkeys, and while standing in line to pay for them, the woman in front of me donated $20 for the turkeys, because they were for the food pantry. 

For such a time as this. In the season of joy and glad tidings, of shopping and gift giving, and holiday parties. For such a time as this, when loss and despair heighten, and grief takes hold in a deeper way, contrasted with an often false message of cheer. For such a time as this, to be generous, to care for others, to work to right the injustices of the world. For such a time as this to fast, pray, act.

This Thursday night, December 21, we will gather with our local sister church, St. Paul Lutheran, for a Longest Night service, to participate in our call to common mission, to pray, fast, act. We will pray for the many ways people are grieving today, for the loss of loved ones, for the loss of hope, for the chipping away at our civil liberties and hard won efforts to right injustices. This month we are asked specifically to pray, which does not take away the incentive to fast and to act, but focuses our efforts primarily on prayer. We are to pray for one of the 17 UN Sustainable Goals to create greater balance in the world, to reduce poverty, increase education and employment and the one we will emphasize - bringing greater equality in all its forms. We will sing, meditate, anoint and pray for healing and wholeness, and share the simple meal of Holy Communion.

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that God is at work in every human endeavor to bring forth justice, peace, and love. God is in every act of compassion and generosity that human beings manifest. God comes to us in the incarnation, in the word made flesh, in the life of Jesus and every time care for others, feeding people in mind, body, and spirit. 

A reflection on one of the reading for Advent 3B, Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11