17 Mar Rice & Beans in Community: A Note From Pastor Brown

Portlanders Matthew and Nina Horn relocated to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and joined the fellowship at Stahl Mennonite Church. They introduced their new church family to Rice & Beans Month, with the encouragement of Pastor Bob Brown. Even though the Horn family has since returned to Portland, Pastor Brown and Stahl Mennonite are continuing the Rice & Beans tradition as a 40-day Lenten experience. Pastor Brown shares the following thoughts about what this has meant for their church body:

Matthew and Nina Horn celebrate Rice & Beans Month in Pennsylvania

When Matthew & Nina Horn approached me about promoting Rice & Beans Month in our church, I was grateful to be able to give them room to share.

I was grateful because I believe that God gives us passion and excitement for things that we are called to, and both Matthew and Nina had a great deal of excitement for this cause. Too often church activities are connected to obligation, not passion. Church can become a place where people do things because they have to, but I don’t think that is how God works. It was great to see the Holy Spirit’s work in Matthew and Nina. When those of us who are leaders in the church see that kind of passion, it is a joy to cheer them on.

Rice & Beans Month turns something that is normally built on guilt or shame (fasting for Lent) into something that is a work for God’s justice. We get a glimpse of justice when we are giving up food, not just for our own piety, but as an act of solidarity with those who have far less than us. Justice shows up again when we take the money saved and give it away rather than indulge with what we saved. We choose to have less so that others can have something more.

Our community was so blessed both by the Horns, and by this program.  It added much richness to our time of Lenten reflection and repentance.

Pastor Bob Brown

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Article adapted from Hope Is Alive, a quarterly magazine publication of Lahash International. You can sign-up online to receive this free magazine.