6.24.09

How many times have you been hungry? I mean without food and without access to food? Personally, I can’t think of a time that I have been hungry when it wasn’t voluntary (as in a time of fasting), and even in those instances, I always knew there was food in the pantry and refrigerator.

Do you know hungry people? I do.. There are people right down Franklin Rd. that haven’t eaten in a few days, are hungry and don’t have a back stock of food to draw from. Otter Creek loves to eat. We have cookouts, potlucks, receptions, gatherings, bake sales, dinners, breakfasts and just about every other form of getting together you can imagine – and at almost every one of them, we have food. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the folks at Otter Creek it’s that if you have a gathering and it involves food, you don’t have to worry about running out of food!! You don’t even have to get too worried that an open invitation without specifying what type of food to bring will result in too many green beans and not enough rolls. It just always seems to work out and we always seem to end up with leftovers. And that’s what bothers me. Not that we have leftovers, but that most of us don’t recognize the gift that those leftovers could be to people that are hungry. It’s not that we want people to go hungry. I’m convinced that we are a compassionate people and that we would acknowledge food as a basic right for everyone. It’s simply a matter that we don’t know what to do with the leftovers…

I think that comes from my first question – do you know hungry people? Most of us don’t – I know that before I started in this ministry role, I really didn’t know anybody that was hungry. But now I do know people and families that are hungry and I can’t just walk away from seeing food thrown out after an Otter Creek event. Every Wednesday night this summer we are having a community meal as a part of our time together. And almost every Wednesday night there’s food left over.

Earlier today I got a call from a woman who told me about her and several other woman living in a condemned house with no electricity or water. She called to ask me if I might bring them some food. I told her I’d be there later tonight expecting there would be leftovers from our meal. Sure enough, we had leftover BBQ, beans, slaw and all the fixin’s. I was able to load it up in my Explorer along with a few cakes and cookies we had stored in one of our church refrigerators. I headed downtown to a side street where several woman work during the evening. As soon as I pulled up I heard one of them call to another to tell her, “Your pastor is here.. I think he’s brought us something to eat”. We pulled up a table under a street light beside the condemned house and spread the feast compliments of Otter Creek. Out of the shadows came 4 other women who fixed themselves a sandwich, poured a cup of sweet tea and sat down on the street curb to eat. It was a blessing to be able to sit with them for a few minutes to hear about their day, listen to their plans for tomorrow and try to be a positive encouragement to them.

As we go about cleaning up from our church meals, let’s try to remember that just because we don’t know a hungry person doesn’t mean there aren’t people just a few miles from us that have empty stomachs. Enjoy your meal and eat to your heart’s content. But be aware of the excess that you take. Try to remember to put on your plate what you are going to eat. And if you are part of the clean up crew, look for ways to wrap up and package the leftovers so that those of us that know hungry people can take it to them. And if you’re ever interested in going to meet folks that are looking for where their next meal might come from, call or email me and we’ll go for a ride.