These clients from The Living Room (click on photo to enlarge) are making their way outside to the street where hot soup, sandwiches and other basic needs are waiting for them. I like to think of it as "divine resources coming into contact with human need". Most importantly, love is expressed in the human touch. The Living Room is a city run shelter in Hunts Point, arranged like a cafeteria, with no beds or any privacy, simply tables and chairs. They're allowed to sign in and stay there but just imagine having to sleep sitting up in a chair? Don't close your eyes too long lest your belongings get stolen by another client. A very troubling sight. Nonetheless, a room filled with people. Real people.
Manna has a reputation of making good soup. Not homeless soup. That kind has no flavor. But love soup filled with care, attention and tremendous flavor. "Que sopa" was the highest compliment Manna Of Life volunteer Lydia Villanueva could receive. You see, she started making the soup at 3a.m. and could not return to bed until the soup finished 4 hours later. But that was not a problem for her because she cooked it with a divine energy. Its the stuff that comes from above when you are about the business of the kingdom of God. Alejandro Rente, a Cuban native who fled the revolution-ravaged island in '62, insisted on meeting the woman who made the soup. When I brought Lydia to him, all he could do was kiss her hand and exclaim, "que sopa!". He experienced the heart of God through a cup.
He, being a connoisseur of good food (what Cuban isn't), knew that there was something more that just a pot and some ingredients dumped together. He could takes the flavors that come from love for the one being served. The food that's cooked at home for family is "made with love" (Elena Valentin). Could this be? Could incarnational ministry have a taste to it? Could the flavors in food satisfy another deeper kind of appetite in every human being that lives apart from the true Manna? I'm gonna start cooking. That will be my new sermon for the streets. Away with words! Start sautéing some garlic!
