Scripture: Hebrews 13:16
Introduction:
Soup Social: Soup Swap and Tasting
This fellowship program is a heart-warming get-together that includes a meal for the women gathering and our neighbors.
Invite the women to bring several containers (either plastic or mason jars) of their signature homemade soup or favorite purchased soup. Those who choose not to bring a soup could be encouraged to give a small donation for utensils, bread, and salad. The soup containers should be cold but ready to be heated in either a crockpot, microwave, or stove. Prepare signs to identify the different types of soup.
Fellowship Around the Tables and Soup Tasting
Invite those who brought soups to share about the kind of soup they brought, whether it is a family recipe, a soup with a special story, or a favorite international flavor. As women fellowship around the tables, provide small cups of the different soups, salad, and bread. Include trivia facts as conversation starters. A variety of trivia can be found at the link below. You may also want to focus on famous soups of the world.
Soup Swap and Sharing
At the end of the meal, invite the women who brought soup to swap with one of the other women. One container of each kind of soup could be set aside in either the refrigerator or freezer to be shared with those living on the street on a cold night.
Devotion:
Share the story of “Stone Soup.” As it is a folk story, there are many different versions, but all of them have the story’s same moral. The “Stone Soup” story can be found at the link below. A simplified version of the story can be found in the second link.
- https://stonesoup.com/about-the-childrens-art-foundation-and-stone-soup-magazine/history-of-the-stone-soup-story-from-1720-to-now
- https://www.learningtogive.org/sites/default/files/handouts/Story_Stone_Soup.pdf
I am sure the soup tasted delicious to everyone in the village because it was delicious and because everyone contributed. What a clever traveler, getting everyone to give a little bit that made for a scrumptious and nutritious soup. It certainly was not the stone that an important function.
Anything in life is so much better when shared. The principle of sharing is found many times in the Bible; one example is the young boy who shared his two fish and five loaves that eventually fed over 5000. When we share, something happens. God blesses and multiplies. In Hebrews 13:16 we read: “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
When The Salvation Army was founded, the motto “Soup, Soap, and Salvation” was quickly introduced and adopted by all. We are about meeting human needs. If someone is hungry, we offer them a meal; we help clean them up, and then we share the gospel with them. This is our foundation and motivation, deeply rooted in the love of God and His love for His people.
But we don’t stop there. We invite every person to join us on the journey, each contributing something, and before we know it, we have created something lovely, fragrant, and beautiful together. Each with different talents and contributions, yet adding to the whole.
The secret to a good soup is quality ingredients, sufficient time for the flavors to blend, and much love and warmth. Here in our fellowship, where we gather, each created in the image of God, sharing time and life together, loving one another, we have the perfect recipe for life-giving and heartwarming soup for the soul.
Will you add to the flavor? God has gifted you uniquely, and what you can contribute is precisely what is needed. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:13 that we are the “salt of the earth.” Salt has an essential function, in fact, several vital functions, one of those being to bring out the flavors. We want people around us to see and fully taste that the Lord is good. May each of us be deeply rooted in Him and in His love and warmth so that we may be the salt that brings out the God–flavors in life for all to see and experience.
Benediction:
May God bless you with His warmth this day. May the love of Christ fill you. May He show you clearly how He wants to use you and your gifts for His glory and the benefit of others. May He be pleased with your sacrifice. May “Soup, Soap, and Salvation” be your motto deep within and stretched to reach those who need to hear. Amen.
