Reach Out With Comfort
"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." -- Romans 12:13
One tradition I love is providing food for those who are coping with a death in their family. It's just something we do, especially in the Deep South. We take food to the house -- wherever the family is staying -- and we feed the family either before or after the funeral service.
I think this may be mostly a Deep South thing. One woman I know tells a funny story involving her northern Virginia daughter. It seems the daughter's friend had a death in her family. Naturally, the woman's daughter took food to the house. People seemed to think she was crazy. Oh well. In my world that just means she was raised right.
We were intended to care for people. It's all through the Bible. Oh, it doesn't say take food to the house of those who are bereaved. But we are to provide care, share our food, take care of widows and orphans. We are to "practice hospitality" whenever we can -- just as Jesus would do.
I hear some of the older folks complaining and worrying that young people today don't take food when they should. They expect the older women to take care of it because they always have. In some cases, they're right. Some younger women are full of excuses. They have children and jobs and responsibilities. Other people do too. One friend, slightly older than me, takes congealed salads. She makes them the night before and drops off the food on her way to work. Whoever is serving knows to look in the refrigerator and place it on the table before the meal. Another friend writes detailed notes for her husband to cook a casserole she prepares ahead. She even writes down when he needs to have it to the designated feeding place. My neighbors, also juggling jobs, kids and elderly parents, buy food at the local deli. It doesn't matter how the food gets there. It just matters that it does.
This is something that churches traditionally have headed up. The Sunday school class hosts the meal that comes before or after the funeral service. But what happens when the person wasn't involved in church? What if they aren't Christians? Are they to be without comfort? Are they to be left cold in their time of heatbreak?
No. They aren't. We are to reach out and provide comfort -- and food -- to those in need. Jesus wouldn't prequalify somebody. Why do we? Of course, we can't take food to everyone's house. But we can look around us and help who we can, because we can.
The local contemporary christian radio station has a promotion going. It's called the drive-thru difference. They urge people to buy the food for the people in the car behind them and give them a short note explaining why. It could be anything. Groceries. Gas. A gift card. Just something to let a stranger know they're important.
No matter how we do it, we need to do something. We need to seize every opportunity to show people how much Jesus loves them by letting them see Him in us. It's about touching lives -- just the way Jesus touched mine and yours.
