Finding God in a Bag of Groceries: Sharing Food, Discovering Grace

by Laura Lapins Willis

If your pantry was empty, your children hungry, your electricity cut off for nonpayment, and you saw no prospect of support, what would you do? For a decade in a rural Tennessee community, you went to a shabby building behind a church and found Laura Willis. Running a program to help the needy, Laura discovered a world of people she never knew: the lonely and unemployed, chronically poor families, and middle-class folks surprised to be struggling in a great recession. And to each, she offered a bag of groceries, a compassionate ear, and a heart of love. Taking a tiny food pantry and watching it grow to feed hundreds, Laura learned about her own hunger for God and began to discern her own spiritual directions, learning how her calling card a bag of groceries could be a gift to others and to herself of abundance and grace."

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Christianity, Religion, Church, Memoir

ebook

First published June 1, 2013

Reviews

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUMMARY: If your pantry was empty, your children hungry, your electricity cut off for nonpayment, and you saw no prospect of support, what would you do? For a decade in a rural Tennessee community, you went to a shabby building behind a church and found Laura Willis.

Running a program to help the needy, Laura discovered a world of people she never knew: the lonely and unemployed, chronically poor families, and middle-class folks surprised to be struggling in a great recession. And to each, she offered a bag of groceries, a compassionate ear, and a heart of love.

Taking a tiny food pantry and watching it grow to feed hundreds, Laura learned about her own hunger for God and began to discern her own spiritual directions, learning how her calling card—a bag of groceries—could be a gift to others and to herself of abundance and grace.

REVIEW: Laura Willis took over a small, church food pantry while trying to discover if she should go into ministry. She instead found her ministry in that food pantry. With honesty and humility, Laura describes how her life was blessed as she blessed others. She makes mistakes and also grows as she serves the needs of a small rural community where "Beaver Cleaver" and "Father Knows Best" isn't the norm. Her comments are thought provoking as she learns what works and doesn't work to serve these people and still respect their dignity, humanity, and beliefs. Laura learns most importantly that to truly help people first you must listen and then respond. A very interesting non-fiction read.

FAVORITE QUOTES: "..poverty can be an absence of economic prosperity but also a spiritual emptiness."

"I should not have dispensed advice without being asked. No one likes to be nagged about how to live his or her life, with all the implied judgment that comes along with those words."

"It is so easy to judge people, to decide what's right for them, and to be certain about the lives of others. And we are often so wrong, either with our intent or our time or both."

"...Jesus doesn't just show up on Sunday, or in church, or in those blessed bags of groceries. Jesus is in the messiest places of our lives. And Jesus calls us to love those places where He comes to us, even when we don't think we can do it."

"Our common neediness stems from our long for the good news of God's kingdom, our yearning to be free from sin, and our need for the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. The stranger and the starving and the hurting remind us we all hunger for God."

"But when we listen, through silence and through service, God puts the next step in front of us."

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, easy-to-read account of the ministry of a woman in Sewanee, TN. It's simple but full of honest truths that serve as an important reminder to me that Christian service is not for the purpose of solving the problems of others. Christian service exists so that we might better learn to love one another and discover within ourselves the deep need to know God.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not quite what I was expecting. I thought it would be a more linear accounting of the growth of the food pantry during the ten years it was apparently ably run by the author. The book does accurately and unblinkingly portray the author's service to those entrenched in generational poverty in Tennessee. With no background in social work or serving the poor she quickly learns that good intentions aren't enough. Problems with deep roots are not easily fixed and the author wisely realizes it isn't her job to fix the issues and with humility also recognizes that her life is broken as well. Throughout the tens years the author served as the director of the emergency services agency she struggles with whether she is being called to take the next step and become an Episcopal priest. Eventually she decides God is calling her to serve in other ways and surprisingly takes a totally different career path.

I would have liked to know more about what she did to grow and expand the work of the food pantry and how she conveyed the spiritual nature of the work to the volunteers involved, but obviously that was not her goal with this book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read "Finding God in a Bag of Groceries (Sharing Food, Discovering Grace) by Laura Lapins Willis. In this short (14 chapter) memoir, the author gives an overview of her 10 years as Director of the Community Action Committee (CAC) in Sewanee, Tennessee. This college town is home to The University of the South, an Episcopal-sponsored institution, providing a stark contrast between privileged students and people in the surrounding area living in conditions of abject rural poverty. In a serendipitous way, the author's search for "what next" in her life after several high-powered jobs, brought her to the CAC. As she wrestled with the decision whether she had a vocation to the Episcopal priesthood or not, her day to day job gave her the opportunity to be of service to others. It was Laura's job to not only help feed people by passing out bags of donated groceries, but also at times to minister to them in other ways - providing funds to pay a utility bill, help with transportation and housing, or just to listen and pray with/for them. As she (and the reader) finds out, sometimes the ministering is not financial, but spiritual and emotional.

The author takes the reader along on a journey of discovery, not only into lives of those who are helped by this outreach ministry, but into Laura's own heart, her relationship with God and what it means to truly "be Christ" to those around you.

Do not be deceived by this book's simple, easy to read style; I found it compelling and profound reading (my book is filled with underlines and turned down pages). In her willingness to trust God's path and be of service to others, her life was enriched; as she ministered to the needy, God ministered to her. She has a gift for writing from the heart.

I highly recommend this book - I think it would be of interest to book clubs, bible study groups and people of all ages who are interested in serving others, even if they are not sure where to begin. It is about living what you believe and how that can change you. There is much food for thought here.

[K. Lincoln · Rating 4 out of 5]

My pastor ordered this for me to read as my small-city midwestern church wants to somehow expand its downtown mission to include some sort of food pantry/community meal.

We're trying to go about it thoughtfully, instead of just "throwing things at the wall to see what sticks." I thought the book would be about more of the nitty gritty details of Laura Willis' day to day running of a food pantry, but what the book is more about is Laura finding God's voice and her own vocation.

One of the main themes of the book is Willis' questioning the role she wants to play; Episcopalian priest or layperson ministering to others. There is a central scene in the book where a client whose daughter was born prematurely comes to Willis and begs her to baptize her daughter. This request causes an uncomfortable focus on Willis' beliefs: say yes and minister to someone in need despite going against the rules of her church or say no and leave the client heartbroken?

There are other, equally complicated and unanswerable scenarios Willis' clients bring to her: a teen age daughter already cutting herself and abused by drug-addicted parents, a man begging for mortgage money who loses the house anyway, an elderly couple supporting their extended family who Willis encourages to submit an application for a Housing Assistance program who resists moving, and more.

What stands out for me amongst all the scenarios, and what is another theme in this book, is the brokeness of not only the clients' lives, but her own life and her own need to manage and false belief she has the power or knowledge to fix anything.

Willis grapples with a broken world and a broken system and finds small moments of peace and love in them.

A worthwhile book for our mission team to read while we begin to search for our own role in how we can minister with respect and acknowledgement of our own brokeness and God's love.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

How many people have found meaning, purpose, and pleasure in ministries that involve food--stacking and distributing boxes, bags, and cans, providing or hosting a meal to guests? Contributing to the annual letter carrier's food drive? If you've been there, done that, you'll enjoy reading about this ministry that began as a "small pantry start" at a rural church in Sewanee, Tennessee, and grew to a sizable enterprise, while always engaging each individual and each family as unique. I love how the people in each chapter come as alive on the pages as those in almost any novel! Finding God in a Bag of Groceries will resonate with anyone who has volunteered for municipal thanksgiving dinner. Folks who have gone with their church a day or two each month to help with lunch at St Vincent's, Salvation Army, or Father Ryan's. If you've helped out with federal commodities in the church gym or Nearby Christian Center.

Although Laura Willis barely references chapter or verse of scripture, her actions and words demonstrate a living sense of ways people who give food - and people who receive that essential stuff of creation - discover the presence of a gracious Creator in the Spirit-led disciples who minister food. She's not preachy at all, and freely admits the steepness of her own learning curve at some junctions along the way. Excellent choice for a church council, session, consistory, or vestry, for the board of directors at Nearby Christian Center to study and consider.

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Christians sometimes we need help, and sometimes we need to help those around us.  We need to reach out, reaching out to those in need is something Jesus did from the earliest days of his ministry.  Sometimes our desire to reach out and change lives ends up changes us, makes us realize that we need to reach out too, that from time to time we need the help of those around us.

In the midst of real poverty, in the midst of real sorrow sometimes reaching out can seem hard, and sometimes we want to fix things that either those in the midst of the struggle don't want to have fixed or true proud to have fixed.  We see problems perhaps in areas that they do not.  And sadly sometimes those who need help end up taking advantage of the very people who are trying to help them.  Perhaps they are testing the person reaching out, perhaps they are just seeing how far they can push them, but it hurts when that happens.

Laura Lapins Willis, writes about what it means to reach other to others in Finding God In A Bag of Groceries, sometimes it is the small things that matter the
most to those in needs.  A bag of groceries when the cabinets are bare.

[Missy Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

In fourteen short chapters Laura Willis reminds us how something as simple as a bag of groceries can change someone’s life. Quite often it is the person sharing the groceries that is changed. Laura Willis served for ten years in a rural Tennessee ministry providing help to the community. She leads us through her time with the Community Action Committee with stories of the people who touched her life. Laura Willis makes the connection of how people are hungry not just for peanut butter and beans but also for the word. For anyone who has worked in a food ministry this is a humble reminder that compassion and grace are just as important as the food we share.


I encourage you to look into helping with a local food pantry. It could be as simple as collecting cans to meeting with clients. Many are not aware of just how much time and heart goes into a ministry like this. Laura Willis has done a brilliant job sharing the mission from both aspects.

[Ann Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading Finding God in a Bag of Groceries, I was touched by the stories of those that Laura Lapinski Willis served. I found myself confronted with my own prejudice beliefs of those in need. I got the book because I wanted to read about someone who built a program serving others, and got so much more about the "others".
The author was struggling with her desire to become a Episcopalian priest. This became an annoying distraction to me because she kept bringing it up, and I found it irrelevant. She was already ministering to people.
It was an enjoyable, quick read that would make for good discussions.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the ways that God meets us through serving others, specifically about the things that Willis has seen as she worked with poor people in her rural community. It has a lot to say about food and calling and church work and cycles of poverty. I enjoyed it, and I think it would work best as a discussion book. Recommended for: people who liked Take This Bread by Sara Miles.

[Jan Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spiritual journey of someone struggling with her call to the priesthood while also struggling how to best serve those in need. Food for thought as you consider how you would respond in the situations she describes.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright so here’s the bad news. I read this book within a week of reading Something Beautiful For God, the story of Mother Teresa. Now it’s not fair to compare Laura Willis & Mother Teresa, so I’ll do my best to avoid that. HOWEVER. The feeling you get is Laura is the center of this story. The constant refrain is, should I become a priest (she is Episcopalian; sorry papists). The better question implied by Willis is do I need to enter the priesthood if I already spend my life loving people?

This decision weighs on her when people she loves want to take the next spiritual steps for example a woman she helps wants to be baptized (which only clergy can do in her denomination); she does for which I give her kudos! In talking to an addict she notes that person takes the priest more seriously than the same advice she just gave. Is it the office that grants authority, or is authority derived from doing the work of the office? I would argue the latter.

To anyone who has worked with those in abject poverty in Laura’s account of working in rural Appalachia may see a different venue but not an unfamiliar tale. Her town of Sewanee, which feels like a made-up prop town at times, has seen better days and from where she sits behind the desk at the Community Action Committee she can help some hungry people.

The practical idea starts out great. "Following Jesus always starts by doing the next thing God puts in front of us." Actually, the practical idea comes at the end. The beginning and most of the book is what I’d call poverty porn. The abject squalor is the story, it is the point. It’s like whenever people tell a story it’s 98% how terrible things were followed by and then it got better, the end! People prefer salacious details, but because Willis stories often end with, then I gave them a bag of groceries, the 2% is unable to make us feel resolution about the rest. I understand that’s point of dealing with cycles of poverty, but it’s ultimately dehumanizing. Victimizing the victims one more time.
She doesn’t skip over stories of people who made bad choices or her initial revulsion at the state of their lives. She opines a system not built to lift people out of poverty and the cycles that keep them there.

Offering a listening ear and a bag of groceries is sometimes the only thing you CAN do. Willis admits what everyone who has been heartbroken over others eventually learns, “ that God does not call us to ‘fix’ things” . She readily admits she can’t fix the things about herself she doesn’t like. But rely on the fact that God can and does “fix” and often all we CAN do is love.

If you’ve never worked with the needy, this book may be a great discussion starter. It may force you to confront prejudiced beliefs about those in need. What it should confirm is we need more people loving others whenever the is an opportunity. Give a ride, donate clothes, fill a bag of groceries.

In the end, if you want anyone to believe there is a loving God, we must go love them in His name. And no you don’t have to be a priest to do that.

[Christine Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finding God in a Bag of Groceries was a very timely read for me. I have spent a lot of time volunteering at a local food bank and working with people just like the author. This was a surprising, thought provoking, revealing, and inspiring story of working with people who have fallen on hard times and may need a hand up. The story was enjoyable and I liked all the parallels that I could see with my own experiences. This was a nice read for me.

[AngelaGay Kinkead · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have a food pantry, or volunteer in feeding ministries of any kind, or donate food to one of the above -- this book is a quick read, accessible, relevant, and inspiring.

[Tonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

a bag of chips.. I couldn't get enough of it. Now, I am not with a partner that cheats but I used to be.

And you see it all the time. What a great wealth of information. You MUST read this book.. Now, really if both aren't going to work on things it won't work, but this book isn't for that. It is for rebuilding.

Along with changes in the workplace and the explosive growth of electronic communications, there has been a skyrocketing rate of infidelity. Today, up to forty percent of American marriages endure the pain of a cheating partner. The media is filled with stories of married politicians finding their "soul mates" and titillating instances of unfaithful celebrities. But in the homes of ordinary people everywhere, infidelity triggers complex emotions and events that affect everyone involved. Many marriage and personal therapists have adopted a "me first" mentality, prompting hurt spouses to end their relationships. Psychiatrist Scott Haltzman, retired Brown University professor, recommends exactly the opposite. The Secrets of Surviving Infidelity teaches both the victim and the perpetrator of infidelity how to acknowledge their feelings, reduce their sense of despair, and begin the difficult task of rebuilding a strong relationship.

People who cheat act much like those who have other addictions, and brain scans of love-struck individuals show a dramatic increase in the release of dopamine, the same brain neurochemical associated with cocaine abuse. Haltzman does not excuse infidelity by labeling it a sex addiction; it’s not orgasm that drives a partner to cheat. Instead, Haltzman coins the term "flame addiction" to describe how, like a moth drawn to the light, people feel compelled to have extramarital intimacy despite all the negative consequences.

People who have been cheated on feel shame, rage, and injured self-esteem. Many of them fear abandonment and find it hard to cope. When both partners have made a commitment to move forward together, however, Dr. Haltzman validates each person's feelings and puts them into perspective, offering sound advice on how to recover their equilibrium and reestablish a committed, trust-filled relationship.

Laura's book is such a blessing. What she planted is more than just groceries. I wish there were more people in the church like her!!! God bless her!

[Sue Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of a reading program at my church or I would never have picked it up. The title just seemed hokey The more I read I realized that the title did make sense since the purpose of The Community Action Committee was to actually give away bags of groceries.

The book is very simple and easy to read and is full of the experiences of Laura Willis who was in charge of giving out these groceries. She goes into detail about how the people that received the groceries were very poor. The groceries was one way of touching the families as well as giving them food. Most of the families accepted the food graciously and were thankful. Those people touched her heart. Laura does a good job of describing how she felt loved by many of the families and how her experiences made her be closer to God.

It is a book that makes you think about how rewarding it can be to reach out and help those in need.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't what I expected but it did open my eyes. I thought this was a book about God directing what you eat. But it was far from that, this read was awe-inspiring. Willis shared her testimony about working in a food pantry and sharing God's love. Willis continued to work where God planted her...taking notes, getting to know people, and helping those in need. Willis was walking in her passion and living the Word of God on a daily basis through her service to the community.

She put words to what I've known for years - "when we listen, through silence and through service, God puts the next step in front of us." When you "pray, listen, give and receive with beloved hands...God will come to you in the most remarkable ways." He has a plan for all of us.

[Natalie Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story about a place that "hangs in the tension between those who have abundance and those who have had few resources for generations" gave me a new perspective on the agencies that bring aid to the poor. How powerful the simple words of "How can I help you?" are. I thought about my faith and what it means to be human for many weeks after reading about the work and people of the CAC. This is a powerful story about loving people of all kinds and how people who choose God's path can make a difference in this world.

[Debra Hale-Shelton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book after learning that another student in my online writing class had written it and that it had been endorsed by Desmond Tutu. I enjoyed the book, read it faster than most and found it motivating as well. It would be hard for someone to read this book and not feel both the need and the desire to help the needy, which in a way is all of us.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review at Englewood Review of Books! http://erb.kingdomnow.org/tag/laura-l...

[Billie Walden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, quick read, gets a little redundant preventing a five star review. Definitely worth the read!

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really makes you take a hard look at yourself

[Kathy Hassig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I read for the UMW reading program. I wasn't sure about it at first but as I got into it I didn't want to put it down. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

lacked a little depth but generally interesting