Hungry

Screenshot from Carnegie Museum of Art; 
https://cmoa.org/event/performers-at-play-ceremonies/

      There’s an apocryphal story of a group of hungry people with long spoons, all gathered around a stewpot. When they try to feed themselves, they are unable to, as the handle of the spoon is longer than their arms. However, when they try to feed the person on the opposite side of the table, because the distance apart is the length of the spoon, they are able to offer nourishment to one another. 
     We are fed, my friend Chris reminded me recently, when we feed each other. 
     As we are still in this COVID time, we are getting tired and annoyed by the isolation, the distancing, the lack of contact – all of it. And in many places, restrictions are increasing; draining our energy even more than ‘normal’ as we can’t go to our tried-and-true practices of getting together, hugging, breaking bread together, etc. 
     This week, it would be easy to be caught up in the sadness; as we have seen royal grievers sitting alone (and lonely); as we have felt absences in our own lives. 
     We are hungry. Individually and collective; emotionally and spiritually. We are hungry, and the metaphorical spoons we need to feed ourselves remain obstacles. 
     But we are not alone. We are distanced, but not hermits. We have the opportunity to use what we have to reach across the 2m table (as it were!). We can offer nourishment: through prayer, friendship, random acts of kindness, compassion. Through phone calls, letters, distanced walks, grocery pick-ups. Whatever we do to help and connect with one another is a way that we reach out to feed someone else, and we can trust that we too will be fed – by the action of feeding each other, and trusting that we are in this situation together. 
     Perhaps this is why so much of Jesus’ teachings have to do with food; he was regularly feeding and being fed, and highlighting the power in that relationship. What a great reminder for us to consider our own hunger and our opportunity to nourish.