Sara Miles founded the food pantry at St Gregory Nyssa in
California several years ago and is now the church's director of ministry. Since that time she has become an practical-minded
spokesperson on issues of food and hunger in the US. Her most recent book (February 2014) is City
of God: Faith in the Streets.
This
quote appears on the St.
Gregory website:
“Honeydew melons. Purple and green plums. Peaches,
nectarines, spinach, yellow tomatoes, red tomatoes, cherry tomatoes,
artichokes, lettuce, potatoes, onions, scallions, crookneck squash, pears,
stringbeans, okra, apples, broccoli, mangoes, zucchini....on Fridays, our
sanctuary is a vision of God’s ridiculous, over-the-top abundance. And packing
up the leftovers to take down to the soup kitchen, or to serve at coffee hour
on Sunday; wrestling boxes of watermelons or composting crates of overripe
apricots, we can reflect with new understanding on St. Gregory of Nyssa’s
observation that ‘the fruit of mercy yields much fruit.’
“Outside the pantry our people are gathering. A bunch of second-graders chasing
each other up and down the sidewalk, screeching happily. A cluster of Moldavian
refugees. A very sick prostitute and her faithful, exhausted friend, sitting
together on the steps sharing a cigarette. Some gossipy Salvadoran moms; a few
tattooed ex-cons; an old woman with her Bible. We set up a table outside with
pitchers of cool water and glasses, and talk with everyone. People start to go
in to get groceries: some give us stacks of plastic bags, or offer to take a
turn helping at the table. A few have brought food—a couple slices of birthday
cake, a box of powdered milk, some extra cans of corn-- to share.
“It takes so little to see God in this world. You just have to open the door.”
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