On the first Saturday in December, 341 families received food at the Christ Episcopal Food Pantry.

It may sound like we repeat this too often, but when we restarted the Food Pantry with Debby Campbell and Peggy Walck in charge, we were serving 35 families. This exponential growth is not a surprise but it is a challenge.

And everywhere now it is a challenge for so many people to find food for their families. Christ Church is blessed to have had the volunteer numbers grow along with the need for them as well.

Here we are, too, in Advent. We wait Christ’s arrival. The opening of doors and hearts to those in need is precisely what Christ asks us to do. Out of need, a real community has grown. This is where Communion happens too. This is where love matters along with music and dancing, because what is church without that too.

In these graced moments during Advent, giving and receiving are holy acts. The sharing of time and the actual passing of the peace.

It is a Eucharist without liturgy. But I do believe the Gospel message is present in everyone’s heart and in the work and concern that food, without which there is no life, can be shared and provided.

If you have not yet witnessed the Food Pantry at work, please join us for the next Saturday (12/16) we distribute food. If you are not able to attend or don’t feel physically capable of the work, please consider donating to the Food Pantry. There are so many ways to do that.

The current fundraising project, Paint the Town Red, has 100 red bows to sell that can be purchased with or without an adding of a name in memory or in honor of.

I have found working for the Food Pantry to be a constant renewal of my Baptismal Vows. But more than that it is how I see us furthering our commitment to making peace in this world. Here in the Fellowship Hall, peace lives and love grows.

Deborah Emin