Let me start with a confession: I never refuse the gift of a book. I may not read it immediately, but I am honored when someone wishes to share with me a book that has impacted them I some way. For All Who Hunger: Searching for Communion in a Shattered World is such a gift.
In the Missional Imagination class I teach for Central Seminary (Shawnee, KS), we talk about creative ways to engage our culture with Christian presence. One of our students in a class last summer was experimenting with dinner church in her home. She was gathering friends regularly for a meal, fellowship, and worship. In class and in subsequent conversations, she reported some of the lessons she was learning. Out of her interest, she discovered this memoir and shared it with me.
Emily M. D. Scott’s work is a memoir—more of a reflection of a spiritual journey than a recitation of facts—and she clearly identifies it as such. Scott joined with friends to establish St. Lydia’s in Brooklyn, New York, where worship takes place over a meal. As founding pastor, she identifies some of the struggles of starting something new, an expression of the Body of Christ that brings together people who seek community, engagement, and hope in a large, diverse city.
The theme of hunger is central in her writing. Those at St. Lydia’s—the Lydians-- hunger for community, for meaning, and for spiritual insight. The worship led by Scott is Christ-centered, affirming the place of the Eucharist in feeding the soul:
“Holy food for holy people,” I say, and break the bread. We are holy not because we are good but because we are loved. We are loved not because we deserve it but because we are of God.”
Hearing these words reminds us of the God of grace who understands all of our hungers.
On another level, however, this is an account of a young minister coming to grips not only with the issues of loneliness, urban decay, and racial inequity but her own identity, calling, and sexuality. She acknowledged readily her own imperfections and struggles with but never abandons the journey toward wholeness.
I came away from the book with a reminder that hunger comes in many forms and that the mission to the church is to identify and respond to those hungers as the Body of Christ.
This reading also encourages me to seek out other memoirs of believers seeking God’s leadership in these challenging times. Thank you, Emily, for sharing.
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