Non-fiction

I mostly read fiction. Because my 6 or 8 favorite authors just cannot write as fast as I can read and to flex my mind muscles once in a while, I have been known to pick up a non-fiction book. At Seeds, Monday night worship, a few weeks ago, the name Leonard Sweet came up. Dr. Sweet is the Dean of the Theological School at Drew University. His writings were recommended and the church library happened to have a copy of "A Cup Of Coffee At The Soul Cafe" so I checked it out, both from the library and by beginning to read it. I should know better! Rarely do I stop reading right in the middle of a fictional story to think about what I've read. Since this isn't true with non-fiction, it takes me a lot longer to read a book. If I happen to own the book, I like to make margin notes and underline and highlight and leave pieces of paper marking the spots I want to revisit. I don't own "The Soul Cafe" so all I can do is put in little pieces of paper markers. I want to share one of those with you. The following is quoted from the book: Here is a a recent interview with a sharecropper's child in Selma, Alabama, by Raymond Wheeler of CBS-TV: "Do you eat breakfast before school?" "Sometimes, sir. Sometimes I have peas." "And when you get to school, do you eat?" "No, sir." "Isn't there any food there?" "Yes, sir." "Why don't you have it?" "I don't have the 35 cents." "What do you do while the other children eat lunch?" "I just sits there on the side" (his voice breaking). "How do you feel when you see the other children eating?" "I feel ashamed" (crying). If I had tried to guess how this child felt, prior to reading his last answer, I would have guessed several feelings before I got to "ashamed". I'll tell you that his child's situation made me "mad"! I'm mad at me. I'm mad at the United States. I'm made at humanity in general. Why don't I do more? Why don't we do more? Why should any child be hungry or feel ashamed that he doesn't have the money to eat? In this particular case, we aren't even talking about a 3rd world country, we are talking about the United States, the most blessed country on Earth. There are those who are at work. I have teachers in my family and I've known many dedicated teachers. I've never known one who didn't spend at least some part of their paycheck to try to help some child live a little bit better. I have another friend who volunteers to feed the homeless one day every single week at the Samaritan Inn. This same friend is also very involved with the support of an orphanage in Haiti. At Maple Springs, members donate cash and food to our community food pantry. When we do our semi-annual project to package meals for shipment to very poor countries, we have volunteers from age 5 to 85. Many are doing as much as they can. I'm not. "And whoever causes one of these little one who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea." Mark 9:42 NKJV You cannot teach of a loving god if you cannot be heard past the rumbling of an empty stomach. A child going to bed hungry will find it hard to say his prayers. If you feel that you will be outside of your comfort zone volunteering to feed the hungry (and I would urge you to give it a try), then buy a little extra food when you grocery shop and give it to a food pantry. Donate a little bit of money to an agency that has a good reputation for feeding the stomachs and souls of the hungry. If you feel you can, volunteer to rub elbows with the hungry at the Samaritan Inn or anywhere else feeding the hungry. In Winston-Salem, Green Street United Methodist serves dinner every Wednesday evening. Go help set up, serve, and clean up. You won't need to work hard to find a way to serve both God and the hungry. I'm nowhere near where I would like to be in this endeavor. My prayer is that I'll find places where God is already at work and will join Him there. I ask that you hold me accountable. When you see me, ask me to tell you what I'm doing about feeding the hungry. I hope to never find myself able to help a child (not just a youngster, but any child of God) who is ashamed because he is hungry and realize that I have not done so.