A Positively Poetic Priest

Sara’s friend Steve would visit from seminary sometimes and enjoy the simplicity of the food pantry. While other people see the food pantry as helping people, the volunteers saw it as community building. “”Like, its not about doing charity for poor people. We’re bringing people together to share food and praise God. What else do you want? That’s church.” “That’s communion,” I said. “Jesus’s Table.”” (223)

 Sometimes the goal of helping other people means having to set aside your own priorities. Sara Miles describes the response she got when she introduced St. Gregory's to the idea of starting a food pantry in their sanctuary. "[Donald, the priest] smiled when I told him I'd been inspired by the new Table, with its inscriptions. "That altar was extravagant -- six thousand dollars or something," he'd remember later. "And then you came and said, fine, now let's use the Table to do what it says." Donald sighed, recalling his anticipation of a fight. "I thought, wow, this will be interesting. We just spent all this money on an altar, and now we're gonna bring in people who will scuff it?"" (111-112)

While Sara Miles knew that she was following God's vision for St. Gregory's, she also had some personal feelings she had to deal with. How could she start a food pantry when she didn't like the idea of charity? "Charity had always slightly creeped me out: There was nothing quite as condescending as the phrase "helping the less fortunate" rolling off the tongue of a white professional, as if poverty were a matter of luck instead of the result of a political system." (107) How do we reconcile the views of other people and our own mission? How do you help other people while acknowledging the broken systems of our world which are not fair?

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 827 For the Conservation of Natural Resources) While many aspects of personal wholeness and health are internal and solely personal, Environmental Wholeness is an aspect of our lives that is many times out of our control. Having Environmental Wholeness means living in a environment where you feel safe, from daily natural elements and from abuse from other people, and where there is room for you to live, move, and grow. We can do many things to make sure the environment around us is safe and makes us feel secure, however sometimes there are aspects of our environments we have no control over. The natural world around us does many wonderful things for...