Several years ago, I watched part of a documentary that followed the family of an elderly woman who lived in Appalachia in the South. The film crew gave glimpses and insights as they followed the family for a year. The woman had a number of children, most of whom still lived in the poverty in which they were brought up. They were now raising their children as they were raised.
The film focussed on family interactions, their lives together, their arguments, and various...
Several years ago, I watched part of a documentary that followed the family of an elderly woman who lived in Appalachia in the South. The film crew gave glimpses and insights as they followed the family for a year. The woman had a number of children, most of whom still lived in the poverty in which they were brought up. They were now raising their children as they were raised.
The film focussed on family interactions, their lives together, their arguments, and various struggles that each member of the family was experiencing. Underlying much of the documentary was the dream that many of the people had of "escaping" to a better way of life or just to find work. Most of them tried this but they always came back.
As one of the members of the family, an eighteen-year-old grandson, was mulling over the possibility of moving away and finding work, many in the family were trying to dissuade him from leaving. The grandmother was more philosophical in her response. The cameras were on her as she was placing a huge plate of cinnamon rolls on the table and she said that anybody could leave if they wanted to and if they wanted to come back, that was fine, too, there was always plenty of food on the table.
This was actually something I noticed throughout the film: despite their intense poverty, the family always had food on the table and it was there because together they used the land and the gifts God gave them to produce the food.
In our Gospel reading today, we hear the famous story of how Jesus fed a huge crowd of people with food that was barely enough to feed one person. The miracle that Jesus performed spoke to a reality deeper than filling our bellies. It speaks to the power of God in our lives and the fact that God can truly take care of all of our needs — both physical and spiritual.
In that documentary that I watched there was something else that the members of the family received — there was the love and support of family and friends, which was most often evident when they were at table. While they did fight and argue and disagree, there was evident a strong bond that could be called nothing other than love.
And love is what God really wants to bring us. It is what God wants us to offer one another. Through our offering of love to one another, we feed the souls of people just as Jesus fed the hungry masses. We take our meager talents and offerings, and, with the love and power of God, we can transform the world; we can be instruments of God satisfying the spiritual hunger of the people of God.
And that's what we are doing here in this Church today, gathered together at this altar to share in the One Bread and the One Chalice, the Body and Blood of Jesus our Savior. We are nourishing ourselves with a tiny piece of bread and a small sip of wine. But it is neither bread nor wine that we take. It is our Salvation. It is the food and drink of everlasting life. And the meal doesn't end at this table. We are called to go out and be the Body and Blood of Christ for those who do not believe, for those who feel alienated, for those who have lost hope. We are called to go out and to let others know that there is always plenty of food at this altar, there is always plenty of food when we gather together in prayer and in service of God and one another.
As Christians, we're not simply called to show up and eat every Sunday; we're also called to bring others to the Table of the Lord, to share in this meal, and to share in the love that God has given to us.+
