"When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, 'This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.' Jesus said to them, 'They need not go away; you give them something to eat.'"

~ Matthew 14:13-16

Making Good Food Accessible for All

In 1948, the great leader and theologian Rev. Howard Thurman wrote a poem called "The Work of Christmas." Every year, there are moments when I am drawn to its words. Here is the first half of the poem…

"When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry...."

Feeding the hungry is the purpose of the Austin CROP Hunger Walk. According to the Austin Chronicle, residents of our city continue to struggle with food insecurity. The numbers are striking: Texas has the second-highest rate of food insecurity in the country. According to a May 2024 report from Feeding America, roughly 187,000 people in Travis County were food insecure, a number which the Central Texas Food Bank estimates will increase to 208,000 people this year and includes one in five children.
 
This is why Church World Service teams up with communities all around the globe to improve food security through CROP Hunger Walks. These walks are community-based events held to support the global mission of Church World Service, a faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster.
 
In our text today, we notice that Christ cares for those who are hungry; wherever we go, we have opportunities to extend the Lord’s Table beyond places of worship and into the communities where we live— to offer food and hope to all who seek it.

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary New Testament Professor Jennifer T. Kaalund provides great commentary on the feeding of the 5,000: "The miracle of Jesus feeding more than five thousand men, women, and children is a widely studied miracle. Some scholars focus on the blessing of the loaves and bread and suggest that this miracle is perhaps the precursor of the communion meal. Others focus on the satiated crowd or the symbolism of the twelve full baskets. While all of these observations are notable, the simple detail that Jesus did not send the people away is also remarkable. Instead of commanding them to leave, he orders them to stay and sit down on the grass. He then gets to work doing what he has come to do — curing every disease and sickness among the people. The multiplication of the loaves of bread and the fish harken to the previous parable that Jesus speaks to the crowd concerning the mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven produces a plentiful harvest from the smallest of seeds."

Please consider serving our community by becoming a walker, giving, or doing both for this year’s Austin CROP Hunger Walk. Funds from this year’s walk will benefit the following local organizations (click on the names to find out more about their individual missions):
 
Central Texas Food Bank
Casa Marianella
Micah 6 of Austin
iACT for Refugees
Hope Food Pantry
Faith Food Pantry
Urban Roots

The real "work of Christmas" involves us taking that which we have been blessed with and using it to improve the wellbeing of those around us who may be suffering.

Tags: food insecurity, crop hunger walk