Matthew 6:25–26
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
As Jesus speaks, he places in the hearts and minds of those listening an alternative vision of life that trusts that God is actively involved in all things, as seen in the birds of the air. Sometimes we claim that we are God’s hands and feet in this world — which we are in many ways. Ultimately, though, God is actively summoning us to clasp hands in community with those known and unknown, visible to us and invisible, to join God in God’s unfolding plan for Creation.
For several years I served as an associate pastor at Palms Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. During my time there, we had the opportunity to partner with a group of churches in Cité Soleil and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As our relationship grew, we were very aware of the food shortage evident in so many Haitian communities. When World Communion Sunday approached, our leadership began considering how we might extend Christ’s Table to our sisters and brothers in those churches. The Palms congregation invited other churches in the Beaches area to join in making food packets to be shipped to Haiti. The nearby Episcopal church and the synagogue joined in. Thousands of packets were made and shipped, beginning a many-year tradition of Extending the Table.
War, natural disasters and the climate crisis have brought incredible worldwide need for nourishing food. May we join others on the path of extending God’s generous table set before us to those who hunger and thirst.
Prayer:
Gracious and loving God, through Christ, you set a table before us that reminds us that you are present in and among all Creation. Guide us and lead us to extend your generosity in nourishing ways to those who hunger to be seen, heard, restored, and fed by the nourishing of their bodies and souls. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Carol DiGiusto is honorably retired and living in Jacksonville, Florida, following pastoral calls to several churches in the Presbytery of St. Augustine.
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