As we come to the Table this Sunday, I want to share a story about Johnny Dunlop, a pastor in the Western Highlands of Scotland.
Johnny was in the infantry in the British Army in World War II. His unit was surrounded, and he was captured, and ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Poland. The conditions in the camp were so bad that many of the prisoners who were starving and would throw themselves against the barbed wire fence hoping to be shot so their suffering would end.
One night Johnny was so depressed that he walked out to the fence thinking he would end his miserable life. He sat down on the ground. He heard movement on the other side of the fence. It was a Polish farmer. The farmer had a half of a potato in his hand. He thrust the potato through the barbed wire. As Johnny took it, the man said, in heavily accented English, “The Body of Christ.”
Who knew that a potato could give a man hope? You may feel like you have nothing to share, that your hands and voice aren’t worth raising. But it may be that your small offering, however small, is something that opens the door to the Kingdom of God for someone else. Your half of potato, barely enough food, becomes part of the feast that feeds someone’s hunger.
So as we come to the Table this Sunday may we commit to live abundantly, opening our hands, sharing what we have, confident that our meager resources, in God’s hands, will always be transformed into abundance.
Terry Hanna