A miracle in Kansas
Dwell in the word, then in the kitchen
By Julie B. Sevig I SUSAN PFANNMULLER
t’s no secret that doing something for others can help people regain a sense of purpose, perhaps even put a spring in their step. There’s some pretty good evidence in Kansas that the same can be said about a church. Alix Pridgen is a third-career pastor of Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Prairie Village, Kan., just south of Kansas City. Last fall she had an idea, a nudge from the Spirit really, that pushed its way right into a sermon. In some ways it’s no surprise that, as Pridgen said, “we were being called to feed the masses.” Resurrection and five other churches were well into “Dwelling in the Word” (lectio divina or contemplative Scripture reading) with John 6:1-15, the story of the feeding of the 5,000. And the Spirit apparently has no regard for a pastor’s
day off because that’s when the idea for a meal ministry came to Pridgen, who soon discovered sobering poverty and hunger statistics about wealthy Johnson County. “I asked [program directors] if they believed a hot meal was needed in our area, and I thought they’d crawl through the phone line and hug me,” Pridgen recalled. No organiza- tion was offering a meal in this county, where poverty had tripled in the past three years. About a month later, Pridgen preached a sermon that challenged members to action. She summarized what members had envisioned two years earlier when all ages and groups were asked to imagine what they saw happen- ing at their church—from above on an imaginary balloon ride. Repeatedly, they reported dreaming of a church of great diversity and service: many languages, ethnic foods, music and helping others.
After both services, people rushed up to her and said,
“We have to do this!” By the end of the month, leaders emerged for a ministry to provide free Saturday breakfasts. By mid-March permits and licenses had been obtained and necessary changes made to the kitchen. Agencies and indi-
Sevig is an associate editor of The Lutheran. 18 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Mike Duff and his daugh- ter, Mary Anne, 10, along with Doug Killion (right), help prepare breakfast at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Prairie Village, Kan. The church organized a Saturday hot breakfast program to help counter the ris- ing poverty in Johnson County.
viduals donated food and money. “We didn’t think it was possible,” Pridgen said. “We wondered, ‘How will we ever pay for it?’ We laughed, like Sarah when told she was going to have a baby. People thought we were nuts. But God was calling us to feed the masses.”
And the last Saturday morning in March when they served breakfast, they expected masses. Well, 70 people anyway. Instead, 20 came, including a man who had 17 years ago emigrated from Kenya and his four children; a Spanish-speaking family of six; an elderly Ukrainian couple who spoke little English but enjoyed the meal; and a family whose dad had lost his job just before Thanksgiving.
Pridgen has made her way around the community to tell more people about this free breakfast—nurses at elemen- tary schools and the Head Start program. And perhaps that is fitting. It was the congregation’s children, after all, who had said they should be feeding the hungry. “The kids have patiently waited,” Pridgen told the con- gregation in her sermon. “And two years later, God knew something about us that we didn’t know ourselves ... that we could help each other out, and that this would be a place of laughter and joy and gladness.” M
For more information, contact
apridgen@lcrpv.org.
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