Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Yesterday members of St. Luke's joined hundreds of others at the annual Grace Hunger walk through downtown Grand Rapids. They walked because hunger continues to be a major problem in our world. More than 840 million people in our world (that is three times the number of people living in the United States) are malnourished. Not only does the lack of food severely affect their intellectual development and their physical well-being, but it is also life threatening. Every year, 6 million children under the age of five die as a result of hunger - every year!

For most of us these are impersonal statistics. There are a few times when I have felt hungry, but I cannot say that I have ever experienced real hunger, and I certainly have never come close to being malnourished. In fact, I have rarely looked hunger in the face at all. But it has happened. Actually, it happened a lot when I was teaching in Africa. We lived in a very poor village on the edge of the Namib dessert. You could not walk through the village and not notice the poverty and the hunger - the little children with distended stomachs who looked at you with hunger in their hollow eyes - eyes which sparkled with wonder and gratitude when you handed them an orange. But then my daughters and I would go back to our house and sit down to a meal such as most of these children had never seen.

Hunger is a major problem in Africa, where almost half of the people are living on less than one dollar a day. But hunger is not only a problem in other countries. Twelve million American children are suffering from hunger today, and 40,000 babies under the age of one living in this country will die of hunger before we celebrate another Easter. During the 1960's American made great strides in reducing poverty and hunger. In that decade, the number of children living in poverty in the United States decreasing by almost 45 percent. But the next two decades saw this trend reversed as the number of children living in poverty here increased by 46 percent. We who live with such abundance seldom get to see the face of hunger in our world or even in our own cities, but it is there - staring out at us with hollow eyes - and the problem continues to grow.

There is no small irony in the fact that poverty and hunger is on the rise in a nation that enjoys an affluence and an abundance unmatched in all of history. Hunger today is not the result of a shortage of food, not in the United States and not in the world. For the world produces more than enough food to feed every man, woman, and child alive today. Still almost one out of every seven people goes to bed hungry every single day.

This reminds me of another irony. In 1965, the number one song for the year was written by Mick Jaeger and recorded by the Rolling Stones. Its lyrics were not particularly poetic or profound, and the melody was catchy but lacked the quality of sound produced by another British band from that era, the Beatles. Nonetheless, almost 40 years later, this song has been recorded and released by Britany Spears. The song that sits at the top of the charts for the year 1965 is "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." The plaintive cry of these lyrics captures the spirit of a whole generation, and reflects one of the great ironies of our age.

"I can't get no satisfaction" is a sad commentary on a generation of young people who grew up having everything money could buy - a generation spoiled by over-indulgent parents. Nonetheless, this was a generation that could get no satisfaction. This should not be a surprise, for it is not a new phenomenon. One of the wealthiest men from a previous generation, a man named John D. Rockefeller, was once asked how much money was enough. He answered with disarming candor and insight, "Just a little bit more."

This comment from Rockefeller and this song from the Rolling Stones both suggest a hunger that goes beyond food. We can have bulging bank accounts and still not have enough. We can have more food than we could possibly eat and still feel empty inside. The hunger that haunts our society today is not so much physical as it is spiritual. It is a hunger for love and acceptance, a hunger for meaning and purpose, a hunger for security and for value. It is, at its very heart and core, a hunger and a thirst for God.

We all know this kind of hunger and thirst. We have felt this hunger in our own hearts and in our own lives. And we have seen this hunger up in the searching eyes of people around us who are looking for something more than an abundance of things, who are looking for inner peace not just prosperity; for affirmation not just affluence, for a sense of security not just superiority, for a sense of community, not just convenience.

In the book of Revelation, the apostle John gives us a vision of what such satisfaction looks like. It is a vision of heaven where the Lamb of God sits on a throne surrounded by a great multitude of people who have passed through the barren wilderness and the dry dessert, and even the valley of the shadow of death to find salvation and peace. John does not use the word peace in our text, but that's what he is talking about. The Hebrew word for peace is "shalom," and it means more than the absence of conflict. It means completeness and well-being - having all that you need. It includes prosperity as well as harmony with others. But real peace, true shalom, is grounded in spiritual wholeness, is based upon harmony with God. This peace requires being in relationship with the Lord - a relationship that is marked by love and forgiveness, a relationship that provides a sense of security and of joy. Shalom is just another word for satisfaction, and we get satisfaction, real satisfaction, lasting satisfaction, only in and through our God.

John's vision in the book of Revelation is as vision of a place where there is no more hunger and no more thirst, a place where the Lamb will be a shepherd who leads his people to springs of living water, and where God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Do you hear the echoes of Psalm 23 here? "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures" - no more hunger. "He leads me beside still waters" - no more thirst. "He restores my soul" - it's more than just food and water, it's also the peace of God. "I shall fear no evil" - there is a sense of security and hope. "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" - this is a vision that will not fade, a peace that will last forever.

This is not just a future vision - this is also a present reality. We do not have to wait until heaven to experience the peace of God. We do not need to wait until heaven to get any satisfaction. For our sense of satisfaction does not depend upon an abundance of things - it depends on the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus. So Paul can write in his letter to the Philippians, "I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need." Now, Paul was no Polly Anna. He wrote out of his own real-life experiences. That is why it is so remarkable to remember that these words were written while Paul was in prison.

Years ago I heard a story about an Amish man who had learned this lesson as well. He was not living in an Amish community, but he was living as an Amish man - in a simple house, simply furnished and without electricity. One day he was leaning on the fence, watching his new neighbors move into the house next door. The movers carted in all kinds of fancy appliances, electronic gadgets and plush furniture. After everything had been moved in, the Amish man introduced himself to his new neighbor and said, "If you find you are lacking anything, or if any of your appliances bread down, just let me know and I will show you how to live without it."

That is satisfaction. To have all you need and to know it. We who have such an abundance - not only physically but also spiritually - are now in a position to reach out to those who are hungry and to those who are hungering for real Shalom. It is in giving that we receive. It is in feeding others that we are filled.

If you want to have a sense of satisfaction, if you are looking for a peace that passes our human understanding, then look to John's vision. Look to the Lamb on the heavenly throne. Let Jesus be your shepherd and he will lead you to green pastures and quiet waters and you too will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.