October 22, 2009
Hunger. You know what that feels like. You’ve felt it at some point, those pangs of an empty stomach waiting to be filled.
Thankfully you probably didn’t have to stay hungry for very long.
And thanks to the efforts of ministries that have chosen to follow Christ’s example in meeting needs, neither do people like “Poppy,” who spends most of his days occupying a table at Linn Park in downtown Birmingham.
“Here, you will never be hungry,” he said, glancing at the men and women gathered around the park’s patio. “Birmingham people will feed you. Birmingham is the only place where people on the streets won’t get hungry because most of the time, somebody is going to come through and feed you.”
Having lived in the city for 40 years, Poppy has slept under bridges and trees and on park benches. He’s helped build banks, waved construction flags and sold cigarettes at 25 cents a pop.
But there haven’t been many days Poppy has gone without food.
“It’s because people here have religion,” he said confidently. “They really believe in their religion, and their religion says to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, give to the poor and help the hungry. They see this as a way of showing that.”
People like those at Journey, a community of faith connected with Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham, in Birmingham Baptist Association, see giving food to the dozens occupying the downtown area as a way to introduce them to Christ.
They, along with those from three other area churches, take meals to the park on the second Friday of every month.
It doesn’t matter what brought a person to this point, said Rob Duncan, Journey’s logistical coordinator for the ministry.
“We’re going to provide a meal, give a good message and meet their needs as best we can,” he said, citing Christ’s call to care for the “least of these.” “We just think it’s scriptural to meet needs. It’s not for us to judge … but to meet needs and present the gospel, and hopefully we’re presenting it in words but also in actions.”
It’s the same reason that Ann Miller and her husband, Charlie, decided to get involved with a local soup kitchen.
“It’s so basic to who we are” as Christians, said Miller, a member of Lakewood Baptist Church, Huntsville, in Madison Baptist Association who has been volunteering weekly at the Rose of Sharon Soup Kitchen for nearly four years.
But she admitted she had fears about getting involved with people in need initially.
“I don’t know if it made me feel more responsible for them and I didn’t want to deal with it,” Miller said. “But God … led me to come to the ministry, and now I’ve never done anything as rewarding in my life.”
Duncan noted that some Christians choose to miss the blessing.
“A lot of times, I think we’re the other two in the good Samaritan story. We cross the street on the other side and walk away,” he said.
But there are not enough excuses to negate the responsibility God has given His followers, Miller said.
“God is calling us. … I think we know it deep inside, but we run away from it and just don’t want to devote the time, the energy, the resources or whatever. It’s easier to pretend that this is what they want and this is what they have and go on. We (as Christians) get caught up with each other because that’s easier.
“But God loves those people as much as He loves us, and if we can’t at least give them some relief … something is very, very wrong with what we claim.”
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