{"id":486,"date":"2017-05-10T09:23:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-10T13:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/cbf\/?p=486"},"modified":"2017-05-10T11:49:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-10T15:49:40","slug":"hungry-think-church-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/cbf\/2017\/05\/hungry-think-church-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"What do the hungry think of our church programs?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By Dr. Doyle Sager\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Doyle Sager is senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, Mo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was sitting in the church pew, luxuriating in the glorious Maundy Thursday music. This has become one of my favorite worship services each year. Our church\u2019s sanctuary choir and orchestra were making this holy night come alive as the Joseph Martin score came off the page and into our hearts. The crescendo built ever higher\u2026it was almost time for our communion service\u2026Suddenly, I was brought back to earth. I heard a voice, \u201cExcuse me, excuse me!\u201d I also felt an insistent tapping on my shoulder. \u201cExcuse me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard, the gentleman behind me, is one of our community friends. The homeless and nearly homeless of our small city have found a welcome here at First Baptist. Two Thursdays a month, we serve a free, hot community meal. Many of them have also discovered our church\u2019s weekly Wednesday night church supper. Most people pay for their midweek meals, but we offer them free of charge to our community guests.<\/p>\n

Once Richard had my attention, he continued in a half-whisper, \u201cWill we have Wednesday supper next week? And when is the next Thursday meal?\u201d As I did the calendar in my mind, I reassured him of the meal schedule and tried to return to the musical. It was still beautiful. It was still moving. But something had changed inside me. I looked up at our beautiful stained glass. I looked around at all the well-fed people (did I say that nicely?). I thought of the delicious snacks I planned to plow through when I returned home that evening.<\/p>\n

Several days later, I also reflected on how much time and money our church spends on our sound system, utilities and salaries (including mine). I also thought of the hours and hours we have spent and will spend discussing worship styles and worship tastes. And I thought again of my hungry friend\u2019s simple query: \u201cWhen will we eat again?\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. Music and worship are essential to the church\u2019s mission. If we don\u2019t praise God, the very stones will cry out. But the gospel needs feet as well as voice. Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, insisted that the Center\u2019s artwork depict the saints as working, not in repose. Saints work. They don\u2019t just sing, preach and pass around tiny communion wafers and cups. The Epistle of James reads, \u201c[Suppose] you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, \u2018Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!\u2019 and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup \u2014 where does that get you? Isn\u2019t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?\u201d<\/p>\n

Since I am a pastor and am supposed to be spiritual, I won\u2019t tell you that I became a little irritated when Richard interrupted my very meaningful Maundy Thursday meditation. \u201cCould this not wait just another twenty minutes?\u201d I thought. But I suspect that for the hungry and marginalized of our city, twenty minutes seems like a long, long time.<\/p>\n

I wonder what would happen if some of us, ensconced in our steepled hideaways, worked up the courage to ask the poor, the homeless and the suffering in our community, \u201cWhat do you think of First Church\u2019s programs?\u201d I for one hope that Richard and others like him will keep interrupting our blissful worship.<\/p>\n

Dr. Doyle Sager<\/a> serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Mo.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note: The views expressed here in columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interested in writing for CBF at Patheos? Submit your column idea to CBF Communications Director Aaron Weaver at aweaver@cbf.net<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I am a pastor and am supposed to be spiritual, I won\u2019t tell you that I became a little irritated when Richard interrupted my very meaningful Maundy Thursday meditation. \u201cCould this not wait just another twenty minutes?\u201d I thought. 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