The Power of a Congregation: Our Smart Choice

   Tonight members of Trinity Episcopal St. Charles will gather for Smart Choice distribution, a low cost food service that our church is a hub for. What it does is provide the essential food items in prepackaged boxes for much less than it would cost at the super market. But the amazing part of the program is the people can buy boxes to donate to our local food pantry. There have been months where we fill their freezers with chicken and vegetables, food items they often are in need of. One thing this project shows is how powerful a congregation can be when they come together on a project.

    The food program touches people in many different ways, here is Robert's story as told by our program leader:

Our Episcopal parish focuses on our mission – Faith. Compassion. Community.  One of our outreach programs provides low cost food through SmartChoice.  This program provides quality food that normally costs less than 50 percent as compared to local grocery store prices.  This is made possible since nearly all the distribution costs are eliminated through the donation of time of parish members.

Though it takes a lot of time and effort to provide this program to our community, our reward is in knowing how thankful people are in having such a beneficial program.

I remember Robert – a disabled quadriplegic veteran who lost the use of his arms and legs in Vietnam.  Robert’s mobility was limited to his motorized wheelchair and he paid a teenager to drive his specially equipped van to run errands on Saturdays.

One Saturday, I recognized the van as it pulled up to our parish.  For convenience, I found Robert’s order and carried it out to the van where I was met by his driver so that Robert did not need to leave the van.  A few minutes later, I noticed that the van was still parked with the ramp extended to the ground and saw Robert guiding his wheelchair up our sidewalk. I first thought that there must be something wrong with his order. 

Robert came into our parish hall, stopped his wheelchair and said, “I didn’t get the chance to thank you for such a wonderful program.”

Sometimes a simple “thank you” is more than just a courtesy – it is a tremendous reward for doing God’s Work.

The Episcopal Project: My Journey with the Episcopal Church

    I am what you refer to as a cradle Episcopalian, or someone who was born into the Church. My parents made the decision for me to be baptized and from that point on it started my journey. As a young child my family always attended church on Sundays, often against my will.  I had trouble understanding what they were talking about during the sermons and the parish members always asked me a thousand questions about how things are going. Each Sunday I patiently waited for the last candle to be extinguished and ran to the common room to check if there was a cake this service, if not I was ready to leave. I didn't question at the time why my dad forced me to sit quietly in a pew for an hour once a week. It was just something I had to do.
    As I matured and began to question the world around me I had a few battles with my faith. At age 7 I attended Camp Phoenix, an Episcopal summer camp here in Missouri, and really started to understand the importance of reading the bible. I fell in love with the concepts and the virtues and the idea that God loves all. During the day we studied the Bible and swam in the lake. We had night time services with campfires and spiritually charged prayers that sent me home feeling the need to spread the word of God. We were high energy and standing with Christ. Of course life sent me on a few spirals and I began to lose my connection to the church. It was becoming just something I had to do on Sundays again, a reason I couldn't stay at my sleepover with the rest of my friends. In fact I refused to get confirmed like the rest of my family had. I did not want to stand before God and claim I have been confirmed in my faith when I was still very much so struggling with it.
    I am now 20 years old and I am finally beginning to understand what my father had in mind by sending us to church. It was not about us being forced to take on his Christian views, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind if we walked away non believers. What the Episcopal Church did for me was help to shape me as a person. I learned loving God did not mean feeling guilty for your sins, but feeling the need to spread his love in your daily life.
    The Episcopal Church taught me acceptance because of how amazingly diverse our congregation was. There were LGBT households, homeless members of the church, and people from around the world.. all worshiping together. My time with God lead me to soup kitchens and food distribution and things that meant a whole lot more than showing up on Sunday. But by making us go with him each Sunday gave us a community we will be a part of for life. Those people who cared about me as a small child still ask me how my life is going today, and look forward to seeing me. At moments when I feel like I have no where in the world I belong, I know there is a place for me at my church where I will be accepted and listened to without judgment. Rather than dreading talking about school after church I now look forward to coffee hour where I can see so many familiar faces that remind of what faith is really about. Because my father sent me to church, I not only deepened my faith but I deepened my humanity. For this reason I will always be grateful towards him.