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Question: What can we do with a little spare
change? For over twenty years, members of our church family have dropped off their spare change (and bills) in the silver tray during coffee hour each Sunday. Some may have thought they were paying for their cup of coffee, but instead they were participating in a major mission project! Supplies for coffee hour are provided by the Diaconate, and all the money deposited in the silver tray is used to fund a monthly meal for our hungry neighbors. Over the last two decades members of our church family have gathered on the third Friday of each month to prepare and serve a meal through the Bread of Life ministry. Our menu routinely includes enough for 150 servings of shepherd's pie, cooked vegetable, rolls and butter, canned fruit, homemade cakes, coffee and punch. This provides enough food (hopefully) to satisfy all guests who come for dinner and enough for take-home meals for the weekend. Some leftovers are also taken to shelters by BOL staff. All of this is paid for through the spare change given on Sundays and a few donations from individuals or groups in the church. Thanks to the careful shopping of Jim Hickey, this vital ministry is able to survive on a shoe string budget! Some months we have been short on funds or volunteers, but God has always provided - either a surprise donation of money or food, or some new volunteers arrive unexpectedly to help with the meal. This is a contemporary example of one of the Bible's favorite stories: Jesus' feeding of the five thousand - when He used five small loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people. (Matthew 14: 13-21). What we consider meager offerings of money, time or talent can be transformed into exciting and transforming means of ministry. Today, November 17 is another time to share in the BOL ministry. The cooking and serving times have been adjusted and we will now begin preparing the meal at 3:30 p.m.; serving at 5:30 p.m.; and clean up to follow at approximately 6:30-7:00 p.m. We always welcome new volunteers to work at the meal - especially between 5:15 and 7:00 p.m., and/or to bake cakes at home. If you would like to see where your "spare change" is transformed into meaningful ministry stop by some third Friday afternoon. And the next time you deposit a few coins (or bills) into the silver tray and enjoy a cup of coffee and snack on Sunday, remember the hungry neighbors you are helping. Jesus said, "When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink...(for) whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me." ( Matthew 25:35, 40 CEV).
Pastor Martha Dominy |
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