Hunger of the heart

By Toby Mommsen

Lord,

… I’ve been thinking about how

this faith business you’ve given us really isn’t

about doctrine or dogma or even belief.

It’s about this hunger we have, and how we fill it.

Hunger is faith’s engine. It’s the driver of all our doings,

and it either leads us to Your table of mercy and abundance,

or it leads us to fill ourselves with food that does not satisfy.

Sometimes I wonder why You gave it to us, this insatiable craving.

“Our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee,” wrote St. Augustine.

But rest implies stasis, stagnation, boredom.
God save us from rest. No, our hearts are hungry
until they feast on Thee.

– Fred Bahnson

That’s from a prayer by my friend Fred. His hunger led him to work at the intersection of physical hunger and hunger of the soul: food and faith. Growing food, meeting God in the sharing of toil and the harvest.

“It’s about this hunger we have, and how we fill it.” Fred is onto something here. I know that hunger, and I would guess you do too. It’s deep in each and every one of us.

Jesus spoke of the wise man who built his house on the rock. Perhaps like you, I searched for that Rock, desperate to know if his promises were really true for me. While never lacking food, hunger drove me to get up early, to find a solitary place to read and listen for God’s voice. Disquiet pushed me to risk the unknown, to step out from home and comfort, to search for a faith solid enough to build on for life.

That hunger is a gift from God, though often the quest is arduous. Gnawing questions have no easy answers – innocent suffering? broken relationships? finding peace of heart? Where is God when it hurts?

In Jesus’s first words of the Sermon on the Mount, we hear “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

What are we to do with this hunger? Inner emptiness is not always hunger for righteousness. Finding meaning and purpose in our lives is a hunger. We can fill ourselves with food that does not satisfy—not truly. We can be dull, or satiated, or bury the flame of hunger, when our best efforts don’t seem to bring us peace.

“Hunger is faith’s engine. It’s the driver of all our doings,” Fred says in his prayer.

But does faith remain an individual matter? Did Jesus call his disciples to journey alone?

In a recent regional gathering of Nurturing Communities folks at my community in Farmington, Pennsylvania, I heard something about this. Each of us in the circle was invited to share our “journey toward community.” (Although that word “community” can mean many things, the meaning we shared that day was “intentionally sharing our lives for discipleship of Jesus.” This too takes many diverse forms: just come to a gathering of NCN to get a glimpse of this refreshing diversity.)

As unique as each story was, the common theme was God’s call to find a life we can share with others. Hunger is still an engine, driving us on a search through years of reaching out, coming together, struggles and trials, painful separations, stresses and changes—and still the longing burns in us: to know God in one another, to learn to lay down our life for our friends.

“One another” stands out in the New Testament: this one word highlights the importance of belonging to a group that shares life. “Have the same care for one another” and 20 other “one-another” verses appear in Charles E. Moore’s essay “It Takes Work,” chapter 13 in Called to Community: the life Jesus wants for his people.**

Fred’s prayer ends with “our hearts are hungry until they feast on Thee.”

Feasting—in heart-to-heart fellowship, in generously sharing food and celebration—is possible already now. Lord willing, Nurturing Communities Network will gather this October at Camp Loucon in Kentucky, welcoming many friends both new and old. We’ll talk and hear about loneliness—a hunger for true companionship now felt by millions. We’ll work together to strengthen community: the way of life Jesus taught his people, and the answer to our world’s “epidemic of loneliness.”

“Healthy Communities in an Epidemic of Loneliness” is the theme for the next international gathering of Nurturing Communities Network. We’ll meet again at Camp Loucon near Leitchfield, Kentucky on October 11 – 14, 2024. Seekers for life together pursuing of the way of Christ are welcome. For updates and info, email nurturingcommunitiesnetwork@gmail.com.

Toby Mommsen lives at Spring Valley Bruderhof, Farmington, PA, and currently serves on the leadership team of NCN.

** Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His People. If you’d like a free copy of the book or Ebook, email ncnplough@gmail.com and include your address.