On Sunday February 16th, an email dropped into the inbox of my UCJ email address. I did not recognize the email address – so my eye scanned over it. The subject line looked like a headline from the Ledger Transcript, so it didn’t grab my attention either. I opened it to scan over it quickly before deleting it.
I was only half paying attention. The email did not address me by name, but I could see, after reading the first sentence, that it was not a news article or a piece of junk mail as I’d originally thought. It was actually kind of interesting. It described a program that delivers groceries and fresh produce to the homes of school age children to make sure they have something to eat when the local schools are on break.
Wow, I thought… That’s cool.
This problem had never even occurred to me. Of course! For school age students who depend on school lunch for their only solid meal, breaks must be hard. I remembered how I used to jump for joy when school went on break! I never realized that my delight when school let out, was a privilege! But this email helped me see that, clearly, it was.
What do you do when school lets out and all you have to look forward to is weeks of being hungry?
You probably don’t jump for joy!
The email continued. The writer, a lady who introduced herself as Becky, told me that her Gotlunch program (a program that was a ministry of the Rindge Church – covered the food needs of eligible students for 11 weeks in the summer and also during all the other week-long vacations during the school year.
That is amazing! I thought. It’s so great that the Rindge Church is doing this!
And that… that is when I really got excited about this email…
I’m reaching out today, Becky wrote, because the program is looking for a new physical space to call home.
What?
Oh my!
It turns out, the GotLunch program was being run from the Parsonage of the Rindge Church, but, in an effort to address their fiscal concerns, the Church had decided to sell that building.
I know that you house the Jaffrey Food Pantry, Becky continued, so I didn’t know if a partnership between our programs would make sense or if you even have space that would accommodate us…
**
In the story from John’s Gospel that Debbie read for us, (thank you Debbie!) Jesus and his followers are in Bethany, staying at the home of Lazarus. Now the name Lazarus is familiar to you, of course, because, as you know, he was the man who benefited from Christ’s most dramatic miracle – he had died and in a series of dramatic events, Jesus brought him back to life.
In this story, we hear that Lazarus is sitting and relaxing in Christ’s company, but that’s all we hear about him. The focus of the story shifts to his sister Mary, who is sitting at Christ’s feet. The text says that Mary is busy anointing Christ’s feet with Nard, an expensive perfume.
Now I don’t have a great deal of experience with perfume. I don’t use a lot of it, myself. Being such a sweet smelling fellow…
My experience with fancy perfume is limited to childhood memories from the 1970’s when my father would return from long trips abroad, with fancy bottles of perfume that he bestowed upon my mother with great ceremony.
But I’m afraid he was disappointed in her reaction.
The problem was that my mother, the practical mid-western girl that she was, didn’t really knew what to make of those intimidating bottles of perfume. They were meant to make the women feel special, but I think they had the opposite effect on my mother, who felt like she wasn’t special enough for the perfume!
I remember how excited I was when she opened one up and let me sniff it. It was like I was being allowed to sample some unattainable luxury.
“Now don’t spill it!” she admonished, “No horsing around!”
The stuff was precious!
There wasn’t a lot of it.
I know this is a little silly, but just to make a point, I did a little internet sleuthing and I found out that Baccarat Rouge 540 – a perfume that is supposed to be the rage for women today – sells for a mere $475 a bottle. And that is on sale. OK, but how much of the perfume is in the bottle?
2.4 ounces.
2.4 ounces!
I don’t think my Dad spent $475 dollars.
But I do think those bottles were about 2.4 ounces.
- So what?
So… Did you notice how much perfume Mary was putting on Christ’s feet?
One pound!
One pound?
In our modern units of measure, a pound is equal to 16 ounces!
That’s nearly 7 times the amount of perfume that is in the bottle of Baccarat Rouge. So, translated to modern prices, Mary’s bottle of perfume would be worth about 7 times 475.
That’s $3,325.
But wait…
Did they even use pounds as a measure of weight in Christ’s day?
I was skeptical, so I did some more research.
I know this is kind of silly, but bear with me.
It turns out that the original Greek word that has been translated here as “pound” is the word litra which, according to scholars, was an ancient measure of weight commonly used in the Mediterranean during Antiquity. Don’t ask me how they know this, but they believe it to be about 11.6 ounces.
That’s almost exactly the same size as a regular sized 12 ounce can of soda that you can buy at the gas station today.
So if you like, you can imagine Mary pouring a can of coca-cola on Christ’s feet, and wiping it with her hair.
Yuck!
Hopefully the scent was not as sticky as coca-cola… and smelled better!
My point is – that’s a lot of perfume.
No wonder, as the text says:
The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
That seems a little too generous doesn’t it? I mean, who does that?
**
Becky Beaton – the lady who coordinates the GotLunch program, is a busy lady.
It turns out that she recently became the Executive Director of the One Hundred Nights, a Keene based non-profit that provides shelter and crisis services for the growing population of unhoused people in New Hampshire. That’s her day job. She is also pursuing her second Master’s degree – this one in Community Development.
But even though she recently made this big career move and took on a lot of new responsibilities, Becky has not let go of the GotLunch program.
“Food insecurity and housing insecurity go hand in hand” she says.
So it didn’t make sense for her to give up the GotLunch program when she became the executive director of One Hundred Nights.
Clearly, for her, the two roles are not an either or. Since the problems are related, her efforts, too, are related. She would just have to work harder.
In addition to providing food during all the school vacations, GotLunch also provides weekend bags throughout the school year.
“Right now,” Becky says “we are serving 24 children with the weekend program and 88 children with the school breaks.”
Amazing. One wonders if she has any time for herself?
That seems a little too generous of her, doesn’t it?
I mean, who does that?
**
Meanwhile, back at the ranch – or rather back at the Parish Hall – a small, but mighty group of Bible scholars were meeting with me on Wednesday afternoons for a series of Lenten discussions about the parables of Jesus.
It is always valuable to have a group of people interpret something together – and of course Christ’s parables are fascinating texts to look at. These discussions have been wonderfully nourishing for our faith.
One of the themes that we have discovered, over and over, in Christ’s parables, is that God is depicted as being very generous.
Maybe, instead of beginning our prayers with phrases like “Almighty God,” or “Gracious God” we might consider saying “Generous God.”
For example – if you take the position – as most interpreters do – that the father, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, represents God – then this God is generous to a fault. Of course, the most dramatic generosity that the father offers is welcoming his wayward son back home with a big feast. But the father was also generous at the beginning of the parable when he gave that foolish son his inheritance early.
I mean, who does that?
When the older brother complains about the party, the father doesn’t get angry at him either – but also promises him everything.
This God is generous over and over again.
Another day, when we looked at the parable of Rich Fool, we saw that, directly after that parable, Jesus talks eloquently about how generous God is:
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.
and again:
‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
This faultless generosity is then presented as an ideal for us to follow:
Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven… For, Jesus concludes: where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
**
No sooner had I finished reading Becky’s email, then I sent it around to a bunch of you folks. This set things in motion. Did it ever!
Everyone responded like I did. Amazing! This would be such a wonderful addition to our already robust hunger ministry! But would we be able to provide them the space that they need?
The choir room was suggested.
We convened a meeting with Becky and her team.
Becky and Kerry came to look at the choir room. They loved it.
But the time frame was tight. Gotlunch had to be out of the Rindge parsonage by a certain date – and a school vacation week was coming up.
Our crew fairly leapt into gear.
And clearing out the choir room was no small matter.
There was scads of choir music to sort through. Heavy quilt crates to move. Piles of files to archive. Massive file cabinets to relocate. Rickety desks to donate. Massive truckloads of trash to take to the dump. Owen said that Jerry’s truck looked like one of the old photographs from the depression when the Okies piled mountains of stuff on top of their trucks.
A whole crew of UCJ folks worked long and hard on this, for no pay and very little glory.
This spirit of generosity is pretty incredible!
I mean, who does that?
**
After a couple weeks the room was almost ready for the GotLunch program to move in.
They had lined up a bunch of high school volunteers to help them get everything in… but….
Ugh…
There was only one thing left… sitting in the middle of the choir room like a giant, gorgeous tortoise.
The old grand piano!
I had a lead on a church that might want it.
Owen was turning over rocks left and right trying to scare up a lead, in case my angle fizzled out.
In one of my conference events, I’d met a pastor from the UCC church in Mont Vernon who is a fabulous pianist, and who was interested. She just had to get it past her people.
At last, she came to see the piano and fell in love with it.
She was growing her music ministry at the Mont Vernon Church – and by helping us, we could grow our hunger ministry.
So it worked out!
We gave it to them.
We gave them a grand piano!
That’s pretty incredible.
I mean, who does that?
**
As we gather this morning, a billionaire is running around gleefully firing federal workers and destroying the nation as we know it…
Oh, dear God… We live in a dog eat dog world.
Don’t we?
No one does anything unless there is something in it for them!
Do they?
Who feeds hungry children, just because they need to be fed?
Who does that?
Who works tirelessly to support and sustain such a program?
Who does that?
Who just gives away a grand piano to support another churches’ music ministry?
Who does that?
We do.
Why?
Because God does it.
God is ridiculously generous.
And so are we.
Amen.