"Work Together, Expect Miracles"

Sermon by The Rev. Cindy Carter 

August 25, 2024

The gospel readings for the four Sundays in August have all come from what is many times called “The Bread of Life Discourse,” a talk Jesus delivered in the synagogue at Capernaum. Because John’s Gospel does not include an account of the blessing of the bread during the Last Supper, this talk, which takes up much of John, Chapter 6, has often been interpreted as a communication of Jesus’ teachings about the Eucharist.

But, today I want to go back for a moment to the story that we read right before this Bread of Life Discourse. It begins Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, and we read it this year on the last Sunday of July. It was a story about a whole lot of hungry people who had come to hear Jesus preach. One of Jesus’ disciples, Philip, realized that the crowd would need something to eat but he also realized that the disciples had nowhere near enough money to get lunch for these people.

Then, another disciple, Andrew, said – Wait a minute! There’s a little boy here with two fish and five barley loaves. But, how will that ever be enough to feed all these people? (pause) But…

We know the rest of the story. Jesus asked the hungry folks to sit down, he thanked God, he passed out lunch, everyone ate all they wanted, and the disciples picked up all the leftovers. Way more leftovers than what the little boy had shared.

(Pause)

And, it all began with two fish and five barley loaves.

My story this morning begins in September 2012, not with fish and loaves, but with thirty-five bags of rice and beans.

I had arrived as the new rector at St. Mary’s Church in Andalusia in the summer of 2011. Somewhere I had either read or heard that it was a good idea for churches to have a “signature” outreach ministry – an outreach effort which would identify, or define, the parish. So, not long after I arrived, we began having meetings for anyone who was interested to talk about an outreach ministry like this.

It soon became clear that for St. Mary’s the outreach effort had be about food. St. Mary’s had a reputation for good cooks, second Sunday potlucks, an fund-raiser – a Cajun “feast” that sold out every year, plus home-cooked Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the community.  It had to be about food.

And, we agreed we didn’t need to recreate the wheel. I had heard an idea from my friend Bill King, an idea about something called a rice and beans ministry. We decided that our Rice and Beans Ministry would be open to all, no questions asked or i.d. required, on the third Saturday morning of each month.   

So, in September 2012, with those thirty-five bags each containing 3 lbs. of rice and 2 lbs. of beans, a sign outside the church, and an announcement on a local radio station, we began. 

About a week before we opened for the first time, I encountered a local elected official, who questioned whether there were people poor enough and hungry enough in our community to come for a bag of rice and beans. My answer to this official was, “We’ll see.”

It was simple and pretty small. But, people did come. 

A few months later, a simple “to go” breakfast was added then soon “enhanced.” Breakfast became a sit-down affair with decorated tables and take outs, too – usually something like scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, a biscuit, cheese grits, fresh fruit. 

Over time, additional food items to give away were added - a bag of non-perishable groceries and a loaf of bread, plus the rice and beans. And, other groups around town wanted to get involved. A high school club (Saturday mornings and food drive), LDS missionaries (volunteers), the local humane society (repackaged pet food from broken bags), a community college service club (coat and blanket drive), the Imagination Library in the county (books that were returned).

Of course, growth meant we needed more money. In 2014, we held the first        St. Mary’s Annual 5K and Fun Run for Rice and Beans. Race sponsorships from local businesses and organizations became our major funding source. 

There was also another kind of growth - another church in our diocese began a similar ministry, and the Presbyterian Church in town began offering one lunch and one breakfast each month. We shared what we had learned with them, although their ministries were unique to them. 

Always, from the beginning, at our Rice and Beans Ministry, we had a small re-purposed sewing box and a stack of note cards at the door so our guests could drop in anonymous prayer requests. Each of those requests was given to a parishioner the following day at church and that parishioner committed to pray for the request in the following month. 

Before Covid, most Saturdays we gave over 100 units (rice, beans, bread, non-perishables) food to take home and served around 200 breakfasts. Of course, there were modifications during covid and things are now back “to normal” again.

The Bread of Life. It is food that feeds our souls; and we most often think of it as what we receive as we come to this table. We meet Jesus here in a real way, as the bread to distributed.

But, at our Rice and Beans Ministry, we found that we also met Jesus in a real way in the kitchen cooking breakfast for people, handing them a loaf of bread and a bag of food to take home, even putting on a community race to raise money. We experienced all the challenges and rewards that come any time we get close to Jesus and the work that Jesus gives us to do.   

We were fed the bread of life as we made relationships with our guests and as we prayed for them.   

The author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor has written about finding “Altars in the World” and writes beautifully about the altar we find when we encounter others and build community in the practice of service.  At St. Mary’s, we found an altar in our parish hall and around plastic tables.   

Miracles happened there at that altar, just as they happen at this altar. You may have heard me speak about the miraculous journey of forgiveness that my friend Debra began as she handed a plate of scrambled eggs to the mother of the man who had murdered her father. 

We saw a miracle unfold in the life of a woman named Dawn who first came as one of our guests, but then became a member of our congregation, joined the choir, was confirmed, and became a dedicated volunteer at our Rice and Beans Ministry (a volunteer who still picked up her food to take home). Dawn was in, what we came to learn, was an abusive relationship; it was the people she met at St. Mary’s who helped her get to a safe place and free from that relationship. That was a whole series of miracles.

And, we experienced the miracle of community – working together in the parish, working with others in the larger community, and seeing the friendships that formed around those tables on Saturday mornings (e.g., birthday parties).

This morning here at All Saints, we welcome four new souls (Meredith, Emerson, Miller, Rosie) to this table, as the water of baptism is poured over their sweet heads. We welcome them to share the bread of life with us at this altar and at all the other altars in the world where they will meet Jesus. Altars where miracles will happen and community will be built. 

You may have already noticed or you will notice soon I hope, a phrase here at All Saints. Work together, expect miracles. Work together, expect miracles.

I love that phrase. And, I believe it, because I’ve seen it.

AMEN.