Finding Community in Church: The Missing Piece
October 15, 2024
"...give, and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap;
for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
~ Luke 6:38
May All Be Fed
A recent weekday at noon, I sat across from Saint John’s member Robyn Smith for lunch at Phil’s Ice House. Our topic at hand: Saint John’s mission projects. Because she is a member of the Risk-Taking Mission and Service Committee, I wanted to talk to Robyn about mission projects which inspire her and why.
Over our cheesy sliders and crispy french fries (the 78704 order is our favorite), we said grace over our meal. I gave thanks for the ways God nourishes us with food and the way God nourishes us through relationships. Then, I asked Robyn what made her interested in mission and service.
“Once I saw an interview with [actress] Alfre Woodard talking about how she grew up poor,” Robyn said, “and she made the comment that it’s hard to have hope when your stomach hurts from hunger.” With that perspective, Robyn started to gravitate toward feeding ministries in all the churches she and her husband served. Andy, Robyn’s husband, is a retired United Methodist pastor and district superintendent, and they have served all over the annual conference.
“In one of Andy’s early appointments,” Robyn said, “we were at the little Methodist church across the tracks from the bigger church and we had a small food pantry. We had a regular visitor to the food pantry, a guy who would come often. He knocked on the door of the parsonage on a Saturday night. We were surprised, and wondered what he would need while the pantry wasn’t open. He had two big bags of food to donate. He had gotten a job and wanted to help the pantry.”
“Often when I volunteer at food pantries,” Robyn continued, “people will take things for their neighbors, or not take all they are allowed to save things for others. In feeding ministries, there is a kindness.”
I asked Robyn what she likes about mission projects at Saint John’s. “I love how missions focused Saint John’s is. Most churches have a mission component, but mission is what Saint John’s is all about. It’s a major characteristic. Saint John’s and mission go together. Mission is front and center. You would be hard pressed to not find mission in the area you are interested in. We have projects from mental health to food insecurities to border ministries.”
At Saint John’s, Robyn volunteers at Hope Food Pantry, coordinates speakers for our communion rail offerings, and is helping to lead our Angel Tree this Advent. As we finished our conversation, we certainly felt nourished. We were fed by the lunch in front of us, of course, and by gratitude for the ecosystem of God’s mission work through Saint John’s. Through our mission work, people’s needs are met, and people who are looking for ways to help are connected to projects. All are fed, indeed.
Thank you for your generosity, dear church. Your financial gifts support these projects and more. Your gifts nourish those beyond our walls, and nourish the volunteers responding to God’s call in their lives to be in mission.
How will you give in the coming year to further these mission and ministries?
Because of YOU Our Church Changes Lives
Consecration Sunday is THIS SUNDAY, October 27, at both services
Inside our community and outside of these walls, your giving is an expression of how the love gathered here is transformed into changing the world out there. Your pledges will allow us to create an operating budget for 2025 that reflects the mission and values of Saint John's.
During worship this Sunday, all are invited to bring forward their estimates of giving after prayerful consideration of your family's pledge. You can submit a pledge online by clicking here or visiting stjohnsaustin.org/stewardship. We will consecrate these pledges and give thanks for the spirit of inward and outward generosity expressed so bountifully in our congregation.
Thank you for the generosity you show as we live out our church's mission statement: We are creating a community where God's love changes people, and God's people change the world.
