Devotion for February 04,2021 from Pastor Barbara Caine of Holy Redeemer:
Did you know there is a shortage of Grape Nuts? I’m serious. My housemate’s family (God bless them!) shops for us and they’ve had a really hard time finding Grape Nuts cereal lately. So, do you know why we can’t find any? During this pandemic people have been hoarding Grape Nuts! I kid you not! I could understand hoarding ice cream, or chocolate chip cookies, something really good, but Grape Nuts? It’s hard to fathom, but it’s true!
What is it about us humans that we are tempted to hoard food, or anything, for that matter? Well, it’s been an issue with humans from way back. The Israelites, as they wandered in the desert, were given the gift of manna, “a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.” They made it into bread and it sustained them for forty years. Because God wanted to teach them not to hoard, if they gathered more than they needed it would go rotten. Yuck! So, without hoarding, they maintained their community for forty years. Somehow they made life work. Wow! They were amazing, that community of faith, and they are an inspiration to me in this time.
And so are you all! I’m so grateful to be a part of a community of faith!
You and I may not know each other personally, yet we know each other, in a way. We are all one community of faith. I’ve seen you in Zoom meetings, and talked to you on the phone, and prayed for you as we continue to stay at home to protect each other from this terrible virus. And I know you’ve prayed for me, maybe not personally, but I feel the prayers. I hear from others how you’ve shopped for each other, taken each others pets to the vet, prayed for each other, and that you’ve received and performed countless other act of kindness, and in so many ways encouraged one another.
This is the gift that God has given us, each other, this community of faith. Like manna, we are given each day God’s love and grace, and each other, along with the knowledge that our community of faith has our back. So, we don’t need to hoard Grape Nuts (although we are forgiven if we do), because we have all that sustains us, love, even at a distance, from God through all of us, bonded in faith! Take care!
In Christ,
Pastor Barbara