In need of a meal

October 4, 2007

Last night the kids and I ate at a local church that hosts a free community supper each Wednesday night. I've seen the sign advertising the supper week after week as I drive by doing my errands. The opportunity to take part finally presented itself yesterday.

I was a little bit apprehensive about going to a community supper probably hosted primarily for poor and homeless people in the neighborhood. After all I have enough money to feed my children & then some. But for the two weeks that Damien is gone I need a cooking & washing dishes break now and then (one that doesn't involve ordering pizza - which my 2 gluten intolerant children can't eat without subsequent tummy aches).

In spite of my fears of not belonging I took the kids anyway, because let's face it, a free meal is a free meal. Simply said I was blessed. We were welcomed without reservation. Even afterward, when I explained to the minister that I wasn't a mother barely able to feed her hungry children but just a temporarily single mother who needed a break from cooking, we were welcomed with open arms and told to "come again" over and over.

After we ate we volunteered to help with clean up, I always prefer to clean up someone else's kitchen. The kids & I were given a bucket and dish clothes to wash the tables. The kids worked, with joy, like troopers. They gathered salt & pepper shakers, cleared tables and gently told the elderly to "take their time" while they were wiping the tables beside them. My heart was full watching my children serve these strangers. Both those who had provided the supper and those who needed a meal just as we had.

Last night's experience humbled me and showed me again how the body of Christ, the church, should operate. We come together, offer what we have to give and care for those in need - all around a meal.