Pastor feeds travelers' body and soul
Jun. 30, 2006 News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh * (615) 742-5458* Nashville {401}
NOTE: A UMTV report and photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.
By Lilla Marigza*
The Rev. Alan Ashworth has built a ministry around a basic principle--when you're tired, the smallest kindnesses mean a lot.
His church is the New Hope Union United Methodist Church in the mountains of Virginia, just a mile and a half from the Appalachian Trail. His outreach is to the thousands of hikers who travel the trail each year.
Ashworth sees himself in each of them. "The solitude is what first pulled me to the wilderness," he explained. "I think God speaks to us outdoors."
The trail is more than 2,000 miles long, running from Maine to Georgia. Ashworth has found that most people on this journey are at a crossroads. They come for solitude and answers.
"We have young folks who are finishing their education, beginning to wonder what to do with life," he said. "And we have folks who have just retired and are wondering what to do with life. Most everybody is looking for something."
The trek across 14 states can take six months or more. What Ashworth and volunteers offer the hikers is a hot meal at a time when many of these wanderers have hiked for weeks and encouragement is appreciated.
"They're a fourth of the way through when they come here and the fun of hiking has departed and the work has begun," he added. "It's an unsettling time."
John Ritke from New York followed a sign on the trail inviting him to a breakfast buffet at the church. He sat down to a hearty meal of sausage biscuits, waffles, eggs, grits, and baked apples.
"They've got everything you could possibly want here," Ritke said. He has lost 15 pounds since his journey began and this is the first hot, home-cooked meal he's had in weeks.
There will be no sermon around the breakfast table. Hikers eat, rest and go on their way. The meal comes with no strings attached but it offers volunteers a chance to share God's love through fellowship.
One hiker shared what this simple experience has meant to him. "It makes you wish you could take the whole mentality that goes on, on the trail, and bring that out into the world... to show people how generous the world can be."
This same hiker noted that the element of surprise adds genuineness to the whole experience. "To wake up in the morning, hike for an hour, and find out there's a free, all you can eat breakfast... it's mind blowing."
For Ashworth, this lesson is the purpose for his ministry. "I know in my own journey, it was unexpected kindnesses that continued to draw me to the Lord."
Another element of the ministry is something more spontaneous. Ashworth likes to call it "trail magic." Trail magic is a kindness when you least expect it - like an ice chest set along the trail to surprise passing hikers with something cold to drink.
The cooler is stocked with cold drinks and a copy of the New Testament for the taking. The travel-size Bibles are also offered at each breakfast meal. Ashworth uses the free meals and fellowship as a way to reach people who might not otherwise come to church.
Some people take the kindness at face value, according to Ashworth, while others question his motives. The pastor said he finds inspiration in his own life experience and knows these simple acts will stay with each of these travelers long after they leave here.
"We want to feed bodies but we want to feed minds and spirits as well," he said
*Marigza is a freelance producer in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5458 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org
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