Jubilee
Jubilee. To us the word implies great happiness; everything is right with the world and I am incredibly joyous. The word was born in the Old Testament and is taken directly from Hebrew. Literally it means the horn of a ram. In that culture a ram’s horn was made into a trumpet, so jubilee came to mean trumpet. According to Leviticus 25 a loud trumpet was sounded on the 10th day of the 7th month every 50th year. It announced liberty throughout the land, the restoration of property to its rightful owner, slaves are set free, etc. That special year of restoration was called the year of Jubilee. The word for ram’s horn became trumpet then it became liberty and freedom from all oppression.
The prophecy of Isaiah 61 uses the imagery of the Year of Jubilee as a backdrop to talk about the ministry later to be accomplished by the church, by you and me. It calls us to reach out beyond the borders of our local building and congregation a minister to the needs of the poor, the unfortunate, the hurting, the addicts, and generally the entire culture around us.
We at the River have touched many needs through our ministries, from buying boots and mittens for kids at the school, to a steadily growing need for food for many. This is our commission as the church: to find ways that we can reach out in the name of Christ.
I have to confess that our food bank ministry is stretching me. A few years ago we had a metal cupboard filled with assorted donated groceries. A few weeks ago we had a small room where we served over 100 families per month. Last week we moved to a slightly larger room across the hallway. On Wednesday we hauled 2 pickup loads of groceries from HACAP in Hiawatha at total of about 3,300 lbs. It had a retail value of about $5,000. We paid just under $.10 on the dollar. Really cheap! But on Thursday we had 50 people show up asking for food. And again this week another 50 people. We are forced to revise some policies, tighten some rules, adjust our procedures, and wonder “how are we going to feed them all?” We need more food donations, more money donations, and more volunteers. We are doing the work of Jesus, reaching out to poor and need in our community. We are reminded that he fed 5,000 people from one sack lunch. And he said we could do even greater things if we believe. Will you believe with me?