A BIG Thank You

This has been one blessed year at Saint Benedict’s. I am especially thankful for your support of and involvement in the Ministry of Feeding. I’ve wondered how to tell you of the successes we’ve experienced this year. Could I tell you how many people have eaten dinner with us at our community dinners? Maybe I could tell you how many people we served at the homeless shelter, Drexel House, or of the wonderful time we had with our Roman Catholic friends who partnered with us. Perhaps I might tell you of the numbers of hungry families and individuals we helped through our food bank. No, none of those will do. You see, numbers can represent “scarcity” thinking. Even so-called good numbers like how many and how much. It’s just the other side of the anxiety coin: “We won’t have enough!” Abundance is not just the reverse of scarcity; abundance isn’t the lack of scarcity! Abundance, Kingdom living, is the awareness of the constant Love of God, the threading through of our lives by God’s Grace and our choosing to live grounded on that. We choose abundance rather than fear.

So, how do I report to you? I can start by thanking you for all of your prayers for this ministry and for your presence in this community. Your very presence strengthens all our ministries. Thank you. I can thank you for your generous financial support for this ministry, for your open hand to those who are hungry and homeless. Thank you. I can thank you for your hands and feet, for your willingness to  wait tables, set up, clean up, help shop, drive a van, talk to strangers, carry heavy bags, accept fatigue and tiredness, set plans, think of the future, point out difficulties and solutions, be patient, be HERE for each other as we work our way into this new ministry. Thank you. I can speak to you of renewed vigor and excitement. I can tell you about the Suffering Christ and the Risen Lord and I can show you Him in the people we serve and in each other. We are truly living into the Abundance of the Kingdom. I can feel it in the air. I can see it in your faces. Thank you, all of you, each one of you. Every one of us is a part of this whole picture. Each of us has a part in this, a big part. As we begin a new year, let us commit to our Lord and to each other a continued journey into Kingdom living and the awareness of the eternal abundance of God. Blessings to you all.