In this E-pistle:
FIRST FOOD AND FRIENDS – REMEMBERING WHO WE ARE
WE’VE A STORY TO TELL
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY
Park’s First Food and Friends Saturday is tomorrow (meet at the church no later than 8:15 a.m.; call John Carr for details). In my Extra! Extra! Read All About It (click here) posting yesterday, I referenced the law of gleaning from Deuteronomy 24. Gleaning – leaving the margin of the field unharvested – was demanded of the people entering the Promised Land as and act of justice and an act of remembering. The grain left at the edges of the field was to be used by the alien, the fatherless and the widow. The abundance of the land is a gift from God, and while the worker of the land was to reap its benefits, God reserved a portion for those who had no land to work. It was a matter of justice. It was also a matter of remembering. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this,†God said. Our work at First Food and Friends is always a privilege as we serve our guests. It is also a matter of justice. These “marginal†people have a just claim to a portion of the abundance of the land. And it reminds us of who we are: unworthy recipients of God’s amazing grace. Why not join the First Food crew tomorrow morning?