Over the last week I heard of a man I know locally in Woodhouse Park who was hungry. He went to a friends place where he knew he would always be welcomed in - at all times of the day and night. He was welcomed in but there was nothing to offer the guest for the night. The man was so hungry that he ate half a tin of tuna cat food that was left in the fridge - on a bread roll with salad cream.This is both very bizarre and very sad to me and when I heard the host tell the story I thought about what food was in my fridge and cupboards at home and the food I had thrown away that week too.
A growing vision for our church is not quite to feed the hungry but to meet and eat with the hungry and to have some days when we come to know hunger ourselves. This fasting and feasting is the pattern of our lives anyway in this community as some in our congregation and community live hand to mouth and others, like me, do not. I feel terrible guilt about this but perhaps the guilt does not help. I know that some money goes on a liquid diet and that some of our friends drink alcohol as a buffer to life. I have heard their stories and seen their bruises. There is violence mixed up with being Good News. And in the week when a friend was beaten up recently he was drunk and he was talking about God and church in the pub and two men waited for him and jumped him. The same week we were reading about Paul getting beaten up and chased out of town and Barnabus and others helping support him and give him a bed for the night. The closer our lives seem to come to the lives of those in Acts the more dangerous and fragile our lives are becoming in Wythenshawe.
And back to food again...each month we share communion and it is increasingly important for us as a community of Jesus. During the week we house in our church building a community cafe where people can come and have a meal with others and if people are strapped for cash the church can cover the cost. We also have tins which are given to us (mainly carrots, peas and very cheap 9p beans) which we can give out on occasion. What is most often wanted is company with food - so our vision grows - for people in Woodhouse Park to share food and company at church and in our homes. This means for at least 3 people connected with st. marks that they have decided to open their homes to people who, for a variety of reasons, do not have a home. Others in the church have done this in the past and been burnt by their experiences - one man had money stolen from his home and he said it was hard for him to offer a bed for the night again. And yet there are some single people, couples and even a few families who do not have a bed for the night in Wythenshawe. Some sleep in the parks in the good weather, some sleep in the airport lounges in the cold but are often moved on.
So the vision grows - food with company - growing food together which we are joining with families with toddlers for, fruit-picking together from each others gardens and helping chop and freeze it or give it away or bake it into pies, and making & eating meals together. We hope that people do not have to eat cat food often - and that when we hear about it we will change our own ways so that food is shared not wasted and meals grow friendship. This is the Good News of Jesus Christ in Woodhouse Park and our vision is growing from it.
Come and visit us - and bring your prayers to us if you can. Praying from a distance is easier and safer but praying with us may change our relationship with each other. We need your support, and tins of food, and company to share and cook and be sharers of Good News. We are a fragile people - and like Paul, we could do with more support at times and this is one of those times.
