Beggars looking for bread

I've heard someone define a community of faith as "beggars looking for bread and telling others where to find it." The image works for me. We are each looking for that which will nourish us, feed us, sustain us, strengthen us --- seems to me a community of faith is as good a place as any in which to find this.

The image of "beggars" humbles us and puts us on an even footing with our fellow beggars in the search for nourishment. If you've ever visited one of the old churches built circa 17th or 18th centuries one notes how high up is the pulpit. The preachers of the day towered above their trembling congregants as they preached down to them and often told of pending wrath. Not my style. Yet, I've preached in pulpits where I had to climb a few steps to enter and in pulpits where I was enclosed very uncomfortably and felt...well, trapped and caged.

I much prefer the "church in a round" style of design where everyone is on the same level and sits in a circle to be able to see one's neighbor and the pastor moves among the folks or, if going from notes, makes use of a small lectern placed in the center of the congregation. Often when beginning a new appointment a congregant would ask, "So, what do we call you?" "Sally is fine," I replied. More times than not the parishioner was a bit taken aback and stated, "No, I mean do you like Reverend or Pastor?" "I like Sally, that works for me." My favorite reference was from the kids who called me Rev Sal or from one parishioner who took great delight in calling me Padre.

It seems to me when one is part of a group about seeking nourishment and being fed, titles are quickly discarded...as they should be. I must confess, however, when in need of a perk, I do still, on occasion, drop the Reverend Snyder line....sigh.....

Why I like the metaphor is the implication that we are to be invested in one another and are to help one another, to help all the others....no exceptions. I who remain top of the list of persons least-likely to be ordained am in no position to question any one's calling. Yet, I do believe that being involved in ministry must have a prophetic foundation. The ultimate goal must not be about earning (as if we can) enough heaven points to make it in, the goal must be about active help, proactive compassion and shared labor for others. If I know where there is bread and tell only the folks like me or those whom I like and think are good enough and virtuous enough, then I have ceased to be a beggar helping my fellow beggars to be strengthened and have become a "bread baron" controlling and judging and ignoring persons still hungry and still searching.

We need to be asking why so many persons, and many of them in their 20's and 30's, find organized religion irrelevant and inconsequential. Perhaps we've grown complacent or we don't want to put in the work or listen to what they would tell us and then make the necessary...gasp!...change.

I was raised in a home where my grandmother and my mother baked home-made bread. One of the best things is that first slice of warm bread! I was raised in a home where when persons who were lost or hungry or impoverished would knock on our door they were welcomed in and a fresh pot of coffee was brewed and a loaf of bread and strawberry jam was placed on the table and shared.

Happy Pentecost.

sj;