Opening our Hearts

It almost went by without fanfare in our Staff Meeting Tuesday as we did our check-ins.  Stacy reported casually that over 60 people in blue hairnets packed 10,584 meals in about an hour for families in La Moskitia, Honduras, as part of our support for Send Hope and Reach out Honduras. Mardi began to give her report when I interrupted.

Me: “Stacy, how many of those 60 people registered beforehand, and how many came spontaneously?”  

Stacy: “We didn’t have any pre-registration.” 

Me: “Wait, on a summer Sunday, after the 11:00 service, and over the lunch hour, 60 people spontaneously decided to stick around, delay their own lunch, put on aprons and hairnets, and pack 10,584 meals for others? That’s nearly a third of everyone in worship at that service!”

Stacy: That’s right.

I was amazed.  

One could say that planning for 33% of your worshipers to stick around for work over the lunch hour was a bit short-sighted without a back-up plan, or at least a plan to serve lunch to those who do stick around to do work that would have taken longer.  

Or one could observe that God did something beautiful Sunday morning – right there in our midst: calling forth by heart the exact number of people God needed for this massive feeding of others. I chose the latter, and I was moved. 

Photo by Heidi Lawrence (Facebook)

I thank Sharon and Tom Brian for enabling this significant mission through Send Hope. I thank Heidi and Tommy Lawrence for championing our support of Reach Out Honduras. Most of all, I thank you – our church – for being a people who open your hearts to the needs of others. Our time for feasting came a bit later last Sunday. This Sunday our feasting will come a bit earlier, at the rail together, thanking God for God’s abundance and sufficiency as we open our hearts to the Spirit’s calling.  Blessings!

Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,