"what Is The Father's Will?"

“What is the Will of the Father?”

Matthew 7:21-23

Last Sunday I had a very humbling experience.

I had heard about the Ministry we have with the Community Kitchen and wanted to take part.

It’s one of our best kept secrets.

I was told to meet Kathy Stanfield, Jack and Debra Pitkin, Mike Bourne and possibly the Meagher’s down on Holtzclaw Avenue at 6 a.m. the first Sunday of every month…

…they have been doing this for 17 years.

I wanted to help them make and serve breakfast to the people who eat at the Community Kitchen…which serves 3 free meals a day, 7 days a week.

When I got there at about 5:45 in the morning it was still dark.

I hadn’t been to the Community Kitchen in a while.

The first thing I noticed was that on the sidewalks were people curled up, some in sleeping bags and some not.

At the corner was a big bunch of tents—a tent city—where homeless people live and sleep.

There were some folks milling around.

And across the street from the Community Kitchen there were tons more make-shift tents—another tent city.

I got out of my car and had a conversation with an elderly woman who was wearing a Sponge-Bob Square Pants knit cap on her head and had only slippers on her feet.

She told me about how much her feet were hurting.

When I told her I was a the Pastor of Red Bank United Methodist Church, she said that she would like to come to church, but would need to get some new clothing first.

I tried to assure her that it does not matter what a person wears to Church.

I was already feeling like a bit of a sham.

After-all, I had slept in a nice house the night before with my wife, two children, dog and about 50 tropical fish.

I had a lot of clothing to choose from that morning that I actually was able to pay money for.

As a matter of fact, I had worn one set of clothing to the Community Kitchen but had brought an entire other set to change into when I got to church.

I have never had to sleep on a sidewalk surrounded by dangers and who knows what.

I have never had to go without a shower for days, perhaps weeks.

I have never had to live near a place in the downtown of a city simply because they feed me three meals a day for free.

I was raised in white middle to upper middle-class American Suburbia.

And although I made many mistakes and went down lots of rabbit holes as a child, teenager and young adult—I always had a strong safety net to catch me when I would fall—my parents.

I lived in a part of town where I was surrounded by many good role models who inspired me and helped teach me what is possible in life.

My parents made sure I did my homework and we ate breakfast and dinner together.

We went to church together as a family.

I never had to doubt their love for me.

They paid for me to go to college.

How many of the folks living on the streets near the Community Kitchen have had the same advantages as I?

In what kinds of conditions did they grow up?

Were they abused?

Were they even shown real love?

Mike Bourne has been making the eggs for breakfast at the Kitchen for many years—the eggs that Phil and Teresa Elkins purchase and crack the day before.

Jane and Jack Pitkin brought the sausage.

Kathy is the coordinator.

When time came for the doors to open and the good folks living on the streets of our city to come in for breakfast each one of them thanked us for what we were doing.

Again, I felt like a sham.

I mean, come on.

These are my fellow human beings.

It is the very least I can do; it was no sacrifice to be there and to serve.

I left feeling a bit changed.

I had been reminded at just how difficult some of our fellow human beings have it, and how unfair and cruel this life can be.

I left realizing that I have so very much and others have so very little—nothing at all, really.

And I left wanting to do more.

See, this is really what Christianity is about, in my opinion.

What we are doing right now, worshiping God together, is incredibly important…don’t get me wrong…it is vital to our spiritual vitality, and growth to worship the One Who so loves us.

It is also incredibly important because we need one another so very much.

We need to be in relationship with each other—to be in relationship with other Christians, to hold one another up, love one-another and seek to go out into the world together taking the love of Christ with us.