Runners Feeding Others

The Largest Table has been selected as the fund-raising recipient of a newly organized UCC effort, Runners Feeding Others for the Nationwide Columbus Marathon, October 18, 2009. If you are participating with the race, please consider linking up with RFO to make your marathon (or half-marathon or 5K race) about more than just exercise.

Runners Feeding Others is the creation of Steve Wylie, a running member of First Grace United Church of Christ in Akron. He dreamed up the concept before competing in the Cleveland half marathon in May, and came home with donations for 2,500 pounds of food for the First Grace food pantry. Conference Minister, Bob Molsberry, thought that was a pretty good idea, so he's bringing it to the Nationwide Columbus Marathon (where he finished second last year). Rev. Leslie Carole Taylor, pastor of Trinity UCC in Thornville, is bringing a team from her church and designing T-shirts to commemorate the event. Want to get involved? Here's how:

• Share this initiative with others who might be participating in the Columbus Marathon races October 18.
• Contact Bob Molsberry (bobm@ocucc.org) to sign up for the very loose "team" that is being created. No worries about pre-existing conditions, dues, qualifying pace standards, or income levels. No meetings to attend. Just sign up, solicit donations for The Largest Table, run your race, and send your money in.
• Send checks on behalf of your favorite runner to The Largest Table, St. John's United Church of Christ, 59 East Mound Street, Columbus, Ohio, 43215. (If you didn't have a favorite runner, you do now. Bob Molsberry will be glad to forward your donations to St. John's.)
  
  Technical T-shirts will be available before the race. Price and design will be forthcoming. You must pay in advance (checks to Ohio Conference UCC, 6161 Busch Blvd. #95, Columbus, OH 43229).
  
  

The Old Wooden Doors

We had the doors on the East side of the building varnished last week. They are old, heavy, wooden doors; and the ones on the East side get battered by the wind, rain, sun, and snow so they need to be varnished frequently. Every time we do this I think of Howard Nicklaus.

Howard Nicklaus was the first person I met at St. John's after meeting with the search committee and going through the search process. From the moment I met him I knew he cared deeply about St. John's. He was involved in many ways - as an usher, the chair of the Personnel Committee, the maintenance team, and more. He would occasionally meet me on a Sunday morning with a friendly suggestion about something we could do to make things better, or he gently coached me on traditions of the church. I valued his guidance and support.

What I remember most, though, was how Howard would varnish the doors. As far as I could tell no one had asked him to do it; he took the doors on as a project he could do that would be helpful. Even when he faced physical limitations and some health challenges, he would still show up every couple of months with varnish and his paint brush and spend the good part of the day freshening up the beautiful doors. When he no longer could do it, I knew he was concerned about how it would get done. His quiet faithfulness continues to inspire me every time I smell the new varnish and walk through our doors.

Many, many people have walked through those doors. Some of those people, like Howard, have passed on to the saints of light. Some have been here for generations, and through their faithfulness and shared wisdom continue to inspire those of us who have not been here as long. This year we are beginning what I hope will become a new tradition, Heritage Sunday. On September 27 we will honor all of the people who have been members of St. John's for 50 years or more and thank them for their faithfulness to God and to St. John's.

The Breakfast Table

Yesterday morning my husband and I lingered on our porch over a wonderful breakfast of french toast made with walnut raisin bread, crisp peppered bacon, perfectly ripe cantaloupe, and strong Italian roast coffee. As we were cleaning up I found myself wondering why we didn't do this more often. A good breakfast with someone you love is a great way to start the day; it is also one of the primary ideas behind a new ministry at St. John's called The Breakfast Table: Awakening Your Mind, Body, and Soul (TBT).

Do any of the following describe you?

You love to spend Sunday mornings with the people you love, often over a good home-cooked breakfast.

You are a visual person and make connections more easily when you are able to "see" an idea come to life.

You are a "hands on" person and want to DO something because of your faith, not just talk about it.

If church is going to be meaningful for you it needs to connect with your everyday life in relevant ways.

If any of these resonate with you, I think might enjoy The Breakfast Table!

The first TBT is this Sunday, September 13 at 9:00 a.m. We have six Sundays slotted throughout the year for TBT and are in the process of forming a "feeding team" and a "creating team" for each day. TBT will include elements of every day life: feeding ... eating .. thinking ... doing. Our hope is that this experience designed for people of all ages will deepen our faith experience, and stretch our minds and hearts. TBT will seek to make our faith more relevant, more engaging, and more integrated with our every day lives.

We have two great teams in place for our first experiment with this new venture. The "creating team" includes Diane Powell, Gary Reiss, Dixie Lauer, John Yakscoe, and Pattie Budd. They are meeting with me to design what exactly we will do after breakfast. Tom Yost and Rick Yost are the "feeding team." I don't know whether they will be making french toast, flipping pancakes or dishing up strata, but I do know it will be delicious and you won't need to cook it yourself that morning. Just come and enjoy! It will be a great way to start the day.

Manna from Heaven!

One person called it, "manna from heaven!" She was referring to the amazing generosity of so many people over the past several weeks to The Largest Table. Jerry, a new member who worked at The Ohio State Fair, coordinated getting us all of the leftovers from the Ohio Poultry Association - we're talking hundreds of pounds of mashed potatoes, chicken, and turkey and other wonderful food! Suzanne, a friend a St. John's, linked up with the Leave A Mark Church who has planted an incredible community garden this year. For the past several Tuesdays Suzanne has been harvesting fresh vegetables from the garden, bringing them to St. John's, and cleaning them all so that they are ready for our Wednesday crew to prepare the next day. To see photos of the "first harvest" go to the Leave A Mark web site, click-on the “What We Do” link and then “Community Garden.” This is easy to navigate but for some reason I was unable to connect the link here.

On Wednesday, as I sat with guests at The Largest Table, I heard comment after comment about how great it was to have fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, and of course a regular favorite - Nancy Dietz' taco salad. A couple of people mentioned that is so rare for them to eat fresh vegetables ... and these were so fresh you could smell that they were picked the previous day!

Amidst all of these generous gifts of food, we have lost some of our regular volunteers. A couple of people have left because of illness, and several other summer volunteers are heading back to school next week. As our guest list continues to increase, we are in need of some more volunteers. I am hoping they might fall from heaven, too - a few to help serve on Wednesdays from 11:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. and a few more saints who can help clean from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Floating Hope

Every morning I wake up to find a "quote of the day" from http://www.gratefulness.org/ in my inbox. I look forward to these short quotes that always help me put things in a positive perspective, but usually the quote is quickly discarded. Several days ago, though, one particular quote caught my attention and it has been in my inbox ever since.

When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens like one of those fluted Japanese blossoms, flimsy and spastic, bright and warm. This almost always seems to happen in community.

Anne Lamott "The Impossible Will Take a Little While," Plan B

I love this image! Returning home from vacation and re-entering the community of St. John's, I am filled with all sorts of hopes for this coming year. Hopes and goals are helpful; they give us vision and purpose. And yet, as I am listening both to the hopes and the concerns of others I recognize that several things will not unfold as I had first envisioned. My family will tell you that once I get an idea in my head: watch out! I get pretty determined to make it a reality. It is an on-going challenge for me to let go of "shiny expectations."

However, knowing this community as I do, I know that the outcome of a community effort is always better than a single effort. I have seen such great blossoming in this community so often, I have come to trust it. And I am looking forward to seeing what will be blossoming this fall.

p.s. I really don't know what a fluted Japanese blossom is; the above is my best guess from a little searching on google and my own imagination.

Needs versus Wants

I have just returned from my annual trek to Crystal Lake in northern Michigan. I had thought I would post a few blog entries while away, but instead almost completely “unplugged.” I did not compulsively check email. I did not call the office to check in. I simply let myself be. I can’t remember the last time I have “unplugged” so fully; it has been more than a decade.

I slept until I woke up, and then smiled as I curled up with a book later in the afternoon knowing that it would lead to a nap. I enjoyed walking for hours on end with no regard for what I might need to do next. I sat on the beach and strolled through art fairs and street sales and farmers markets. I spent a couple of hours at a time waiting and watching for the sun to set. I painted rocks with my niece and drunk lots of coffee with my husband. Delightfully, I was able to spend each day doing whatever I wanted.

My husband and I frequented a coffee spot that had the sign: We no longer serve breakfast before 10 a.m. We chuckled every time we saw it and speculated that the owner of this popular spot must not like to wake up early, or perhaps he or she goes kayaking or running every morning as the sun rises. Maybe he or she reserves the first hours of the morning to have coffee with his or her spouse! Whatever the reason, it doesn’t seem that it would be because it financially makes sense – it is what he or she must want to do.

On my first day back, as I caught myself saying, “I need to …” and then filling in a growing list, I stopped and inserted “want” instead. “I want to check in with the Tuesday Team so that I am not left to do all the work myself. I want to review resumes so we can hire an intern.” It made a world of difference in my attitude. I may not be able to wait until 10 a.m. to start my day, but I can be intentional about why I do what I do, and why I want to do it.

Cilantro, Heavy Lifting, and Sales Receipts

The "Tuesday Team" was back at it yesterday; we prepared Mexican Chili for today's lunch at The Largest Table. I woke up this morning looking forward to lunch - the smells were great as we were leaving last night! The chili will be served with a dollop of sour cream and a few snips of fresh cilantro from the children's garden. There was something really thrilling about being able to harvest a huge amount of fresh cilantro from right outside our doors and know that it was the children of the church who planted it. I am sure not everyone will opt for the cilantro garnish today, but I think it is what will make this soup.

I also have a renewed appreciation for Joan and Mary, and our core "Wednesday Team." Between all of the cans of tomatoes, beef broth and black beans that were opened to make chili for 300 last night, I think Latsi was opening cans for more than an hour straight! I am sure she will be able to feel the workout on her arms this morning. And then there was Stephanie who was able to lift our largest pots FULL of browned ground beef, onions, and peppers to drain them and return it the pan. But that is not at all unusual. Our volunteers often need to open that many cans. We always have full and heavy pots. The quantities of food we are preparing now are really quite amazing. I wish I had taken a photo of all of the empty cans - maybe I can get one later today and post it here. Think multiple cases that filled the entire back of my car! So, I have renewed appreciation for the physical labor that our volunteers engage in week after week.

I also have a renewed appreciation for their thriftiness. I am not sure how Joan does it. Routinely, she is able to shop for a meal to serve 200-300 people for less than $200. That is less than $1 per serving for a home cooked meal with all of the food groups. Repeat: I am not sure how Joan does it. I think of myself as a pretty good shopper, but I wasn't quite able to work her magic. I think she has the in with the loaves and fishes guy.