OUT OF THE DARK

 

                                

                                                          December 24, 2023

 The ocean expanse, the sunlight dramatically breaking out of clouds . . .My initial thought: "it looks like electricity overcoming the profound darkness". Seems to me it has the elements of a metaphor. A metaphor has to do with meaning, surplus meaning and not factuality. The fact here is a sunrise over the Atlantic.

   Isaiah, a Jewish prophet, spoke of  "a people who sit in darkness seeing a great light".  We have an abundance of "darkness" surrounding us in many manifestations ---wars, atrocities, hunger, climate crises, political, economic, fears ad nauseum

    Noting the Lukean narrative of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem, the long-ago Episcopal rector, Phillips Brooks wrote that "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight". This year that city is devoid of traditional Christmas celebrations and "the hopes and fears" run rampant.

   With Isaiah's vision in mind, dare we hope  that the above picture can be a metaphor for LIGHT'S ultimately overcoming the Dark.

    Satchel

Are You Hungry ?

 

Well, Thanksgiving Day has come and gone.

Did you eat well ? And, in the next few weeks as Christmas comes near, there will be more feasting. At least for most of us who read and write this post.  Then there are the others.  You know, the folks for whom there will be no abundant food; rather meager fare will be their lot.

   While  it suits many of us well-fed ones to dismiss 'the others' as either lazy, 'sorry', substance abusers, and similar criticisms, the Deeper Reasons for Poverty and its sibling, Hunger, are not so simple. Sure, there are some whom others might call 'Freeloaders', I doubt many willingly seek hunger either for themselves or their children. Proposals  for the total elimination of hunger exceed my capacities  or purposes for this post. Rather, what can you and I do to alleviate hunger  (not just at 'charitable times') as an ongoing concern . 

    After all, there are compelling reasons--humanitarian, justice, religious, political--for involvement, at various levels.

    I collected an array of quotes expressing the importance, no, the Imperative to "feed the hungry".

  ."If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one."  Unknown

  ."There's enough on this planet for everyone's needs but not for everyone's greed."   Gandhi

  ."Extreme poverty anywhere is a threat to human  society everywhere."    Kafi Annan, UN Sec General

  ."If I am hungry, that is a material problem, if someone else is  hungry, that is a spiritual  problem."

   Paul Farmer

 ."You pray for the  hungry. Then you feed them. This is how prayer works."   Pope Francis

  ."When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor  has no  food, they call me   a communist."  Dom H. Camara

  ."When people were hungry, Jesus didn't  say, 'Now is that political or social?' He said, 'I feed you.' Because the Good News to a  hungry person is bread.                       Archbishop Desmond Tutu

  ."Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of Justice."                                                                       Jacques Dival

   The Bible contains over 2100 references to giving to and feeding the 'poor'.  In the Christian tradition, the lectionary reading for last Sunday was Jesus's parable about doing benevolent kindnesses even to those of  lowest  circumstance was the same as extending those to himself.

Here in our county, the outreach of the Food Bank has been joined by an organization called the Chatham Alliance (www.Chathamalliance.org).  Volunteers at its affiliate, The Chatham Chuckwagon,  weekly prepare, freeze and give  nutritious meals to members of the community free of charge.  You can see other aspects of their work on the website. 

    Chef Sera Cuni of Cafe Root Cellar used her $10,000 first place prize from a nationally televised    cooking competition to launch 'Feed Well Fridges'. She and Susan White and their volunteers salvage perfectly good foods that grocery stores would be required to discard.  They create nutritious miracles to address local food insecurity.  I strongly urge you to visit their website  www.feedwellfridges.org .  

   Are there similar outreach programs where you live to which you can offer assistance ?

    Bon appétit !

        Satchel

   

 

     

  

  .