I'm Hungry!

I’m Hungry!
The past week I was on a mission trip with part of our cluster—people from congregations at Serena, Harding, Marseilles, and Seneca joined together to travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to work and learn and experience God together…There were 11 who traveled from IL to the city and we picked up one of my former youth when we arrived. I do have to share with you that there were no other participants from Sheridan and Norway other than myself who joined on this trip…I share that not as a guilt trip or as a shock factor…But I share that as information to encourage you to very strongly and prayerfully consider what that means to you and what that means for you…Mission trips are not something that are just for youth or just for children…They are for all people…Mission trips are also not just for those who we are serving, but also for those who are serving…Whenever I come back from a mission trip the struggle is always on how to share what has just been experienced…I can share with you the statistics and the list of what we had done and what we saw and the places that we visited…We left the church we were staying in Sharonville Ohio every morning at 9 to begin work by 9:30 and sometimes didn’t return home until 10 or 11 at night. Yes, they were long days but they were filled with so much activity both by what we were doing and filled with activity from the Spirit…We worked primarily at 2 different mission sites…There was a team who was working on painting at York Street United Methodist Church—they were painting an old house which had been transformed into the place for their children’s ministry program. The walls were white when they started using the house and have been transformed into some of the brightest colors you have ever seen! Pastor Janine Walker is the pastor at York Street and grew up in the Over the Rhine neighborhood which is the area that we worked. Some of you may have heard of this neighborhood in Cincinnati before as the place where several years ago the riots happened in Cincinnati…Following police brutality and years of resentment in the community, it overflowed into riots throughout the city, but primarily focused in the Over the Rhine area…I can tell you about the poverty in this area, but it’s something that you have to experience for yourself to get the full effect of what is there…I can tell you about the buildings in this area—how many of them are boarded up and abandoned or have been claimed by many of the homeless population in the area…I can tell you about Wesley Chapel Mission Center which is under the direction of Becky Costello…During those riots in Cincinnati and the Over the Rhine area…Almost the entire city was shut down, but everything in Over the Rhine was shut down…Except Wesley Chapel Mission Center…The children arrived safely at Wesley Chapel everyday for their after school program…You may wonder, well how did that happen? If there was violence in the streets and riots, why would the children be so safe?? Well, it’s because the drug dealers became the security for those children. They protected both the children to and from school and to and from Wesley Chapel…I can tell you about the Vacation Bible School we did while we were at Wesley Chapel…I can tell you that every day we had 50 or more children…I can tell you about the Deshyla curling up in my lap and cupping my face with her hands and saying, “Tell me about Jesus.” But that’s something that you also have to experience for yourself…I can tell you that those children sang the VBS songs very well and knew every word and every action…And I can also tell you that I have never heard a group of children sing VBS songs with more passion, enthusiasm or heart…I can tell you that, but that’s something that you need to experience…I can tell you about serving breakfast on Sunday morning at Nast Trinity UMC—waking up at 3:30 eastern time and serving at 5:00 am…I can tell you that we went through 900 eggs, 300 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and served over 600 people…But again, you need to experience the people’s laughter, tears, anger, frustration and gratitude as they came in…I can tell you about the man who came to my station and offered to trade his services of cleaning up the church just so he could get 2 cups of juice…I can tell you about the men and women who came through and said “thank you for being here. Thank you for smiling…Thank you for caring.” I can tell you about worshipping with New Covenant United Methodist Church which is a new faith community that is a worshipping community of Africans…I can tell you that they have been formed for 18 months and that they have done community outreach, that people drive to this service from Kentucky and Indiana…I can tell you that there were less than 20 people in the service…I can also tell you that I have been in very few worship services where I have felt as much joy and gratitude to God…That those 20 who sang the songs and hymns sang louder than a congregation of 100…That every single person in that service either lead a prayer, sang a song, read scripture or shared their testimony…I can tell you about State Ave UMC which is another small membership church…On Sunday morning they may have 2-15 who are worshipping together in the sanctuary…I can tell you about Pastor Nilsa Silaceti who is the pastor there and Miss Tracy who offers a children’s program on Tuesday evenings where children hear stories about Jesus, learn life lessons, and know that there is someone who cares about them…I can tell you about the stacks of donations that need to be sorted in their closet—some that are junk and some that are prizes! I can tell you about their sanctuary and feeling the presence of God in their midst…And I can also tell you that as you look at the stained glass windows with the beautiful pictures of Jesus, you will see the bullet holes that have pierced the glass…I can tell you about the extreme poverty and desperation in that area called Lower Price Hill and those children who attend State Ave…I can also tell you about Kimmy and Miteya who are in jr. high & high school and are planning on going into college to study business and photography because of what they have experienced in places like State Ave UMC…Or Sammy & Binsea who were so in awe of scissors—new scissors that they used each one to cut their paper…
I can tell you thousands of stories about our trip…I can even share with you the amazing stories of grace that we experienced…The moving of the Holy Spirit…Christ being lifted up in the middle of the city…The places where I saw God…I can tell you all those things and you better believe that I will…But I also have to tell you that it’s something that you just have to experience for yourself…To hear about the joy is very different than to experience the joy…To hear about the children is very different than seeing the children…Hearing about the children on my lap is very different than feeling two small arms around your neck…To talk about the hunger that these our brothers and sisters in Christ have is something far different than to see it for yourself…
Our story from Genesis is the story of Esau & Jacob….I have said it before…Genesis is a book that is filled with some really dramatic stories…Some of it has to do with understanding the cultural norms of the time, but cultural norms aside…These are some really fascinating stories that come from the book of Genesis…Over the past few weeks we have heard the stories of Abraham & Sarah—unable to have children, then having children in their old age…The story of Ishmael & Hagar being cast out into the wilderness…The story of Sarah’s death and Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah…And that’s where we pick up…Isaac & Rebekah’s relationship.
As a somewhat continuing theme, Rebekah & Isaac have trouble conceiving a child until both prayed to God and she conceived a child…But as soon as those twins were in her womb, she almost regretted it and wanted to die herself. You see these weren’t like other babies…These two babies in her womb fought constantly…It was incredibly painful for her to feel the struggle happening inside of her…She prays to God to find out why this is happening…And God tells her that this fight and struggle will continue outside of the womb too…Her two sons will constantly fight and the younger will serve the older…
When the children are born she & Isaac name the firstborn Esau because he was covered with red hair…Esau becomes Isaac’s favorite child…The second child born was holding the heel of Esau and was named Jacob and became Rebekah’s favorite child…This struggle of being each parent’s favorite continues their whole life…As Jacob prepares a meal, Esau comes in so famished and so hungry that he sells his birthright to Jacob…He gives Jacob the right to be called the firstborn—which means that he gets all of the rights that being the firstborn gets—a special blessing, all the property of his father, all of the inheritance…He gets everything being the firstborn and Esau sold Jacob this right for a bowl of soup…
Have you ever been that hungry that you would sell everything that you had just for a bowl of soup? That you would do whatever it takes to get full? I saw that over and over in Cincinnati…Sometimes it was literal hunger as people pushed one another to get to the front of the line at the soup kitchen or as the children ate snacks at Wesley Chapel which may have been the first food that they had eaten all day…But there is also the spiritual hunger…Those that were willing to risk everything just to experience God…Those that walked out on a limb because God told them to step out in faith…That kind of spiritual hunger that you are willing to give up everything to be filled…Have you felt that spiritual hunger? Have you risked everything just to be filled by God? I don’t know if you have or not…That’s a question for you to ask yourself and answer honestly…I can tell you for myself that I thought that I could answer that I had risked everything to be filled by God until I talked with Becky Costello at Wesley Chapel Mission Center and they don’t know if they’ll have enough money to continue running, but they’re still going to keep doing ministry until the money runs out…I thought that I had risked everything until I sat with Nilsa and she told me each one of the children’s stories at State Ave…I thought I had risked everything until Janine Walker talked about the after school program that they have at York Street which happens only sporadically in the summer because they have no air conditioning in their buildings…I thought that I had risked everything for God, but now I’m not so sure…Have you risked everything just to be filled by God? How hungry are you?
Esau was so hungry for a bowl of soup that he gave away everything that he had…Now, for him it really was a silly decision that he made…He was filled for a little while and then was hungry again…The hunger that he felt came back again later…But when God fills our souls, it’s a satisfying fullness…It’s a true fullness…It’s not a passing and fleeting hunger…
What are you hungry for? Are you hungry to see justice in our community? Are you hungry to see more people know the love of God? Are you hungry to see more children sing the songs of Jesus? Are you hungry to share the Good News of the Gospel with everyone that you meet? How hungry are you? Are you hungry enough to risk everything so that God can fill you? Are you hungry at all???
My friends, my prayer for you is that you are in deed hungry…And that you are so hungry that you risk everything to fill that hunger…Because the fullness that you receive from God is something that I can tell you about…But it’s something that you just have to experience for yourself…