Yesterday afternoon, Micah, Ben, Heatherlyn and I were sitting outside at Caribou planning the Community Hunger Concert for August 15th. Let me rephrase that, Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to warm my soul beside the fire of three creative and talented people as they began to give shape and form to what should be a great evening. We were sitting in the sun until a table with an umbrella next to us became available and we decided to grab that table instead. As we did, a man sitting at another shaded table got up and took the sunny table we were leaving saying that the sunny seat looked really good to him. In the warmth of the sun and the cool of the shade, we all laughed about the musical chairs we were playing.
The sun seeking man walked by a couple of times as we were meeting, off to grab a cooler and return to the warming rays. As he shuffled by us, he smiled warmly at the shade sitting crew. Our meeting went great, with the type of energy you garner when people are engaged in things they are passionate about and expressing themselves freely and openly. (To be honest, it felt a lot like Summer Grace for those of you who were there). The conversation stayed mostly on a musical track, with an occasional diversion to the topics of swearing, trips to Africa, living the gospel, and photography (check out the pics Jason took of HL and Ben Sunday). Our conversation turned to caring for people in (and as) community, in a broken world where relationships and lives suffer. I shared my plans to meet some folks at Let’s Dish later that evening for an impromptu mission to prepare meals for a family that was off to spend their 4th of July weekend surrounding their father with love and care as he entered into his last weeks of hospice care.
As our meeting wrapped up, we said our goodbyes and headed our own ways to our next appointments. I was the last to leave the table and the sun soaking man struck up a conversation as I walked by. (As often happens, the next appointment for me was not the one I had on my calendar.) The neighbor on the patio said that the seat in the sun looked pretty good to him as he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had six to nine months to live. Colon, kidneys, bone. My heart dropped as I gazed into his eyes and asked how he was doing with that news. He said with a wry smile that he was still putting sunscreen on and hadn’t given up…but the sunshine sure felt good.
Another woman, who up to this point had been a silent member of the patio community, got up from her chair and walked over and joined us in the conversation. She asked the man if it would be okay if she prayed for the man. She offered him hope in God’s ability to work miracles and he gladly received her words. I told him that he could be sure that there would be a whole community of people lifting him up in prayer. (God’s personally delivered blue prayer cards are powerful, so please add this man to the prayers you lift before God). As the conversation between three strangers closed, I walked away in awe of God’s power to compel us to act in order that those whom he loves would be comforted and know that they are not alone in their struggles.
A few hours later, a handful of compelled people gathered at Let’s Dish to be hands and feet. We prepared meals, laughed, and lived a deeper life as we supported a friend in Christ and a family who needed some sunshine as death looms and lurks in their future. I thought about how food is such a vital part of life together and the tremendous blessing it is to share food and companionship around the preparing, serving, and eating of food. I thought about how many people would be sharing meals this holiday weekend, family and friends gathering at cabins, on decks, at campgrounds, in homes. And then I considered all the stories about Jesus eating and serving food and drink in the gospels…Confusing those who follow him with talk of eating his body…Giving life to those he feeds…A new life…Beyond the limitations we see at work in our lives…A new life…That even death cannot conquer!
When we finished preparing the food we walked across the parking lot to Target. Our hope was to add some items to the over sized cooler to liven the celebration of life that this ordinary yet holy cooler was destined to become a part of.
Water balloons, super soakers, freezies. Chocolate. Gifts to enjoy the sunshine.
Gifts, to enjoy the Son.
A Son who makes a promise to all of us in John chapter 10:
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Sunshine.
For all of us.
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