Hear The Good News!
One of my summer intern duties is working with Solid Rock UMC's food pantry ministry called Martha's Place. Every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning a group of volunteers meet up at a double-wide trailer off of NC Hwy 27 and pack boxes of food for individuals and families in Harnett County who need food assistance. I have worked with several food pantry ministries in the past, so I thought I knew what good food outreach programs looked like. I was wrong. Martha's Place is an example good things coming in small packages.
On any given week Martha's Place distributes nearly 20,000 pounds of food. I'm not just talking about cans of green beans and Spam, but every box is filled with fresh produce, bread, meat, and a dessert to last an individual and a family for a least a day. Most of the food we give out is gleaned from local grocery stores. I am blown away that grocery stores throw away the fruits and veggies they do. The rule we follow as we pack boxes is, "if you wouldn't eat it, don't pack it." Occasionally we have to discard produce that has gone bad or is damages, but as a whole the food donations we receive are given out quickly. Even the food that is deemed inedible does not go to waste. We usually fill half of a garbage can with the discards. We either take that to our community garden to be used as compost or we donate it the local zoo or hog farms for the animals to eat it. The meals Martha's Place distributes are nourishing, but not extravagant. It challenges me to rethink the way I shop and consume food. It's about sustenance, not indulgence. (For full disclosure, I'm writing this as I sit at the local Bojangle's as I eat a Bo-berry biscuit and drink coffee).
One of the things I previously wrote about was the culture shock I experienced from living in a lower socio-economic community. There is nothing romantic about living in the rural south during a economic recession. A lot of people are out of work or are underemployed. I have never lived in a situation where my family lived from paycheck to paycheck or waited on pins and needles until the Social Security check came in. There is a lot of anxiety and discouragement in this community, and I cannot relate to it. My "I'm Gonna Save The World" mentality runs into a brick wall when I hear people talk about how they can't afford to go to the doctor or they are going to get evicted. Hopelessness is the best way to describe my mood for the past week. Then I met "Jimmy".
I first met Jimmy (I changed his name for blogging purposes) at Martha's Place the first Saturday I worked there. The first time I saw and heard Jimmy I noted that he suffered from some sort of cognitive and physical disability. I quickly dismissed it as a birth defect, something that was no doubt the result of inadequate prenatal care. You know, as a doctor's kid I am the expert at diagnosing these things... (please note the sarcasm). Jimmy came up to me and said hey. I patronizingly shook his hand with both of my hands and slowly and loudly annunciated, "Hello... I'm Katie... I'm the student pastor." Jimmy kept holding my hand and said, "Ma'am, I have some good news to tell you. God healed me from meningitis. I was in Intensive Care for three weeks. I couldn't walk. I couldn't talk, but now I'm driving. God healed me." I said something to the effect of, "well, I'm glad you had good doctors and went back to work." I made a mental note of his story, but arrogantly dismissed his claim of a miracle and attributed it to the wonderful advances of modern technology.
Over the past couple of weeks I have seen Jimmy at Martha's Place and other church functions. Every single time he sees a stranger he walks up to them and says the exact same thing, "Ma'am/Sir, I have some good news to tell you. God healed me from meningitis. I was in Intensive Care for three weeks. I couldn't walk. I couldn't talk, but now I'm driving. God healed me." It wasn't until this weekend that I was struck by Jimmy was doing. Jimmy is a miracle. He is walking proof that God is a God of healing and comfort. Sure, Jimmy wasn't cured by washing seven times in the Jordan River; but he has pretty much recovered from a serious illness that would have killed him without intervention, medical and divine.
After hearing Jimmy's story several times I was reminded that God is still present and working in the world today. The Church celebrates Easter and Pentecost - two holy days that are all about God's presence in the world. As post-Easter and post-Pentecost Christians we are to be people of hope. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:4, "You are one body and one spirit just as God also called you in one hope." It is easy to lose hope in times like these, and I am speaking as someone who wrestles with the hopelessness brought on by depression and doubt. Jimmy's story made me drop my guard. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "So we aren't depressed. But even if our bodies are breaking down on the outside, the person we are on the inside is being renewed everyday." God is on the move. As a people who profess faith and love in Jesus Christ we must remind others and ourselves that God is on the move, and it renewing us. Hear the good news, God is on the move!
On any given week Martha's Place distributes nearly 20,000 pounds of food. I'm not just talking about cans of green beans and Spam, but every box is filled with fresh produce, bread, meat, and a dessert to last an individual and a family for a least a day. Most of the food we give out is gleaned from local grocery stores. I am blown away that grocery stores throw away the fruits and veggies they do. The rule we follow as we pack boxes is, "if you wouldn't eat it, don't pack it." Occasionally we have to discard produce that has gone bad or is damages, but as a whole the food donations we receive are given out quickly. Even the food that is deemed inedible does not go to waste. We usually fill half of a garbage can with the discards. We either take that to our community garden to be used as compost or we donate it the local zoo or hog farms for the animals to eat it. The meals Martha's Place distributes are nourishing, but not extravagant. It challenges me to rethink the way I shop and consume food. It's about sustenance, not indulgence. (For full disclosure, I'm writing this as I sit at the local Bojangle's as I eat a Bo-berry biscuit and drink coffee).
One of the things I previously wrote about was the culture shock I experienced from living in a lower socio-economic community. There is nothing romantic about living in the rural south during a economic recession. A lot of people are out of work or are underemployed. I have never lived in a situation where my family lived from paycheck to paycheck or waited on pins and needles until the Social Security check came in. There is a lot of anxiety and discouragement in this community, and I cannot relate to it. My "I'm Gonna Save The World" mentality runs into a brick wall when I hear people talk about how they can't afford to go to the doctor or they are going to get evicted. Hopelessness is the best way to describe my mood for the past week. Then I met "Jimmy".
I first met Jimmy (I changed his name for blogging purposes) at Martha's Place the first Saturday I worked there. The first time I saw and heard Jimmy I noted that he suffered from some sort of cognitive and physical disability. I quickly dismissed it as a birth defect, something that was no doubt the result of inadequate prenatal care. You know, as a doctor's kid I am the expert at diagnosing these things... (please note the sarcasm). Jimmy came up to me and said hey. I patronizingly shook his hand with both of my hands and slowly and loudly annunciated, "Hello... I'm Katie... I'm the student pastor." Jimmy kept holding my hand and said, "Ma'am, I have some good news to tell you. God healed me from meningitis. I was in Intensive Care for three weeks. I couldn't walk. I couldn't talk, but now I'm driving. God healed me." I said something to the effect of, "well, I'm glad you had good doctors and went back to work." I made a mental note of his story, but arrogantly dismissed his claim of a miracle and attributed it to the wonderful advances of modern technology.
Over the past couple of weeks I have seen Jimmy at Martha's Place and other church functions. Every single time he sees a stranger he walks up to them and says the exact same thing, "Ma'am/Sir, I have some good news to tell you. God healed me from meningitis. I was in Intensive Care for three weeks. I couldn't walk. I couldn't talk, but now I'm driving. God healed me." It wasn't until this weekend that I was struck by Jimmy was doing. Jimmy is a miracle. He is walking proof that God is a God of healing and comfort. Sure, Jimmy wasn't cured by washing seven times in the Jordan River; but he has pretty much recovered from a serious illness that would have killed him without intervention, medical and divine.
After hearing Jimmy's story several times I was reminded that God is still present and working in the world today. The Church celebrates Easter and Pentecost - two holy days that are all about God's presence in the world. As post-Easter and post-Pentecost Christians we are to be people of hope. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:4, "You are one body and one spirit just as God also called you in one hope." It is easy to lose hope in times like these, and I am speaking as someone who wrestles with the hopelessness brought on by depression and doubt. Jimmy's story made me drop my guard. 2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "So we aren't depressed. But even if our bodies are breaking down on the outside, the person we are on the inside is being renewed everyday." God is on the move. As a people who profess faith and love in Jesus Christ we must remind others and ourselves that God is on the move, and it renewing us. Hear the good news, God is on the move!
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