I was hungry and you gave me food to eat
Harvest Festival Blackburn Cathedral CE 04 10 15
“I was hungry and you gave me food to eat…”
Our Harvest Festival reminds us yet again of the central place of food for our life, our sustenance and survival and our celebration. We eat in order to live, even though I’m told that some live to eat; and we know that often there is great joy in eating with others.
Today we remember in our prayers people who work in food production, and all who are involved in providing, distributing and receiving food and aid. At every Eucharist we acknowledge God’s gift of life, God’s sustaining of our lives, and God’s call to us to be stewards of life and creation, in glad partnership with others.
“I was hungry and you gave me food,” are words of the King in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats – which are followed by the words, “and thirsty and you gave me a drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick or in prison and you visited me.” But not surprisingly first in that list comes feeding the hungry.
The consecrated bread is elevated at the Eucharist, but the matter doesn’t end there. Bread is to be shared, distributed, since Jesus is bread for the world. This year at our Harvest Festival, we encourage you to give food for the Blackburn Foodbank to aid local people in need, and also to give to the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal, which this year is in support of both Christian Aid and Tear Fund, and focuses on Colombia and Malawi.
All of us depend on the land, God’s good earth, for food, even here in urban Blackburn. But some people live so closely to the land that their health, survival and hope depend upon it.
In 2002 in Las Pavas in Colombia 123 families were evicted from their land, and since then their life has been a struggle, with many of the children suffering from chronic malnutrition. Christian Aid has been working with a local organisation, Corambiente, which employs a nutritionist. Food supplements and vitamins are blended with local ingredients – lentils, beans, oats and quinoa, and children are given treatment for intestinal worms. Help is given in setting up kitchen gardens and orchards, and with clean water, food preparation and food hygiene.
This initiative is inspired by the Gospel, and is a practical expression of hope.
“I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.”
In Malawi tor many people the search to find food is an almost daily battle. Although many are farmers, the country in recent years has suffered from extremely unpredictable weather, including floods and drought. Teafund’s Eagles project is helping farmers adapt to climatic change by introducing drought resistant crops and small-scale irrigation. Families are being helped to grow enough maize, sorgum and millet to feed their families the whole year round. Eagles is also working with local churches in combating chronic poverty, food insecurity and ill health.
“I was hungry and you gave me food to eat.”
Today’s simple lunch in the Crypt and your donations in large blue box at the West End of the Cathedral will support these projects through the Bishop of Blackburn’s Harvest Appeal, and your gifts of food will aid the Blackburn Foodbanks in its work among local people facing financial crisis and hardship, including parents who do not yet know how they will provide food for their children over the weekend.
“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.”
Today we thank God for the generous love of God seen in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and in God’s creation. As we share in this Eucharist, we pray that all may be enfolded in the love of God, and we pray that we who are well-fed will so respond to those who hunger, that we will welcome Christ, by whose body and blood we are sustained.
“The Body of Christ given for you,” “You have given us the Bread of life, bread to be shared.”
“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.”
