If you read The Hartford Courant on Sunday, you may have seen the front page article about the great struggle it is to feed all the hungry in New Britain.  The article included a great little write-up on Isaiah 58, including a picture of our very own Lori Cordero.  Isaiah 58 is a ministry led by Ray and Linda Labbe of Glastonbury that has been serving hot food and giving out free groceries from their truck (Big Blue) in New Brite Plaza almost every Saturday for over 15 years.  Our church has been privileged to be a part of the Isaiah 58 ministry for many years, supporting them both financially, by giving Christmas gifts to the children, and with volunteers.  Along the way have been some great people who have volunteered regularly, like Terri Baldwin, who was fluent in Polish and able to minister to the large Polish population that would come to eat; Kim Ferrero, who for a time coordinated a clothing ministry to the people who came to Isaiah 58; and Danny & Lori Cordero, who have been helping out for the last sixteen months.

I spoke with Ray today to hear more about the article and to let him know that some churches have contacted us about getting involved with the ministry.  I was shocked to hear him tell me that not all of the response to their ministry has been good.  Apparently, the health department read the article and wasn’t pleased about this little soup kitchen on wheels that has been operating under their noses for over 15 years, and consequently Ray has a meeting lined up tomorrow with a health inspector, where he will learn whether or not Isaiah 58 can even continue serving hot food to the hungry and homeless (how dare they try to give food away for free!)  Please pray for Ray and for Isaiah 58, and he’ll give us an update when he is in church on December 14th. 

In the light of my current sermon series on Death and the Life after that, I thought it would be worth reflecting a bit on the motivation behind Isaiah 58 and similar service ministries.  There is often a belief in evangelical churches that the only thing that matters is saving individual souls.  This line of thinking goes that everyone will die and go to either heaven or hell, and so therefore all that really matters is making sure that people are going to heaven.  If this is true, then there are two ways of viewing the work that the Labbes do.  The first way is to consider it a waste of time.  Sure, Ray tries to share the gospel every time he is there, but considering all the time and effort given towards giving people food, surely that could be better used to save the souls of men and women.  It’s like Stephen Baldwin, the Baldwin brother-turned-Christian, who said in his autobiography about Bono’s work with world leaders trying to eliminate third world debt:  “You would do far more good if you just preached the gospel of Jesus rather than trying to get rid of Third World debt relief.”

The second way of viewing the work they do is that by feeding hungry people, the Labbes and their ministry are plowing the ground of men’s hearts in order to make it fertile ground for the gospel.  In other words, feeding hungry people in and of itself is of no value, since both hungry and well-fed people who do not know Jesus will go to Hell, but at least feeding people can gain you a hearing for the gospel. 

 But is there any good in simply feeding hungry people because they are hungry?  Is that act by itself worship to God and a redeeming use of one’s time? 

 I would argue that there is overwhelming Biblical evidence to support the argument that feeding hungry people is in itself worship to God.  The second greatest commandment, of course, is to love your neighbor as yourself, and most people I know take care of their food needs regularly.  There is also Jesus’ parable about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where he tells his disciples that whatever they have done to the least of these (including giving the hungry something to eat), they have done to him, and that this fact will be a pretty important detail come the final judgment.  And the Old Testament prophetical books are filled with admonitions from God that His people care for the poor and hungry among them instead of trampling on them.  Exhibit A, naturally, is Isaiah 58 itself:

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (Isaiah 58:5-7)

True fasting, according to this passage, is not just about going without food.  It is working for justice, providing shelter for the wanderer, and – yes – sharing your food with the hungry.  Not so they might be converted, but because this act is itself worship unto God.  Why?  Because God is a God of justice and righteousness, and it is RIGHT and JUST in God’s kingdom for people to have food and WRONG and UNJUST in God’s kingdom for the rich to hoard food and the poor to go without.  To share your food with the hungry is to provide a witness to the way God intends for the world to be.  The ministry of Isaiah 58, and all food ministries like it, declare that in God’s kingdom, when God reigns and His servant are following the King, no one goes hungry.  And as we read in Revelation 22:2, the tree of life will stand in the new heavens and new earth, yielding its fruit every month for the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem.  No one will ever go hungry when God’s kingdom finally comes on earth as it is in heaven.  To feed the hungry today is to provide a window into the world as God intends for it to be, the world that will be on that final day.

So pray for Ray & Linda Labbe and the ministry of Isaiah 58, and be encouraged that, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:41-42:  “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

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