Ben's November Letter

Dear Friends in Christ,

There are two miracles of Jesus that are recorded in all four gospels. One of them is the
resurrection, held at the center of our faith and life together. We believe and live as though
death is not final. Our holiest day is Easter Sunday for a reason. The second is the Feeding of the
5000. In it, Jesus is preaching to a huge crowd that begins to grow hungry after hours of listening.
No one has brought much food. So Jesus takes five loaves of bread and two fish and begins
feeding the crowd. This small quantity of food never runs out—somehow they all have enough.
But this miracle, while beloved, has never occupied the center of our faith that the resurrection
does. Perhaps it should.
I’ll be blunt: as I write this on October 29, it feels like we are sleepwalking into catastrophe. As
the government shutdown drags on, funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) are not available. This puts 40 million Americans, including 100,000 in Hamilton County
alone, at risk of hunger. We will disagree about the government’s role in assistance to poor
people, and about who is at fault for the government shutdown. We can do those things while
remaining faithful Christian people. But I hope we can agree on this: Jesus doesn’t want people to
be hungry, and that we can do something about it.
I wasn’t there when Jesus fed the 5000. I don’t know if this was a supernatural intervention
where by divine will each loaf handed out was replaced by a new loaf and each fish replaced by a
new fish; I don’t know if this is a metaphor by which the experience of sharing creates general
abundance. What I know is that with God present—there was enough.
We are asking you for a lot lately. You will see stewardship letters soon for 2026 pledges. We are
actively collecting goods for Thanksgiving baskets. There will be collections for Bethany House
and Operation Give Back in the weeks ahead. It is a lot. I understand that. But as we move into
what may well become the greatest hunger crisis any of us have ever seen up close, we will be
asking for more still. Evergreen will be collecting non-perishable goods for NEEDS on an
emergency basis. We will be making gifts cards available as assistance for people who call the
office needing help. I will be buying and keeping some non-perishable goods available in the
office in case people stop by needing help. We are in contact with Operation Give Back and the
Sycamore School District about need that arises in those organizations. And it may not be
enough, when 1/8 of our neighbors becomes suddenly food-insecure.
I don’t know what comes next. It may be that by the time you read this, this letter obsolete. I
pray it will be so. But if the worst happens, I hope that we are able to be a visible marker of the
abundance that is here when God is present. I hope that if hunger comes—that we respond with
enough. Feel free to call, email, or text me with questions about facing this head on.

In Christ,
Rev. Ben