Children, Youth and Family Ministries
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Nov 23, 2014 (Last Sunday after Pentecost/
Christ the King Sunday)
The king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:34-36)
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 Next Tuesday, the Brookline Food Pantry will give out 400 packages of food – everything needed for a good Thanksgiving meal. Our parish has been asked to donate 325 boxes of Stove Top Stuffing Mix towards this effort. We need to collect 100 more boxes this weekend to reach our goal.I’m not worried. I have faith that we’ll do it. We know we need to feed our hungry neighbors. That’s what disciples of Jesus do.
The last Sunday in the season of Pentecost is known as “Christ the King.” In the gospel reading appointed for the day Jesus teaches that at the end of this age and the beginning of the next, the Son of Man will come with great majesty and fanfare, sit on his throne with all the nations assembled before him, and begin to separate them, one from another. Those who make the cut – the “righteous ones” – are those who have responded in helpful and specific ways to human need. Sometimes it’s really, really hard to respond to human need. And sometimes it’s really, really easy: you add a couple of boxes of stuffing mix into your grocery cart when you go to the store. For me, the 225 boxes we’ve collected so far represent 225 decisions to think beyond ourselves and to do the right thing. This collection of stuffing mixes feels like a sacrament to me – a visible sign of an invisible grace: God’s love, unearned and undeserved, working in us and through us to mend what is broken in people’s lives. One box at a time. May God’s grace and peace be with you until we see each other again. Becky Taylor, Director of Children’s, Youth & Family Ministries |