Monday, March 10, 2014

Front lines of hunger, second in a series

During Lent we are focusing on hunger and the need for clean water in the US and around the world. Part of that emphasis includes acknowledging and celebrating and learning more about people who are trying to make a difference locally, in the US and around the world on the front lines of hunger relief and making clean water available to all. Today is Sara Miles:



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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