"Finding God in a Bag of Groceries"

by Sadie Shackelford, Messenger Intern

“Writing is my way of processing the world,” said Laura Lapins Willis, editor of the Sewanee Mountain Messenger and former director of Sewanee’s Community Action Committee (CAC) for 10 years. Willis’ book “Finding God in a Bag of Groceries,” a spiritual memoir about her experience with the CAC, was released this month by Nashville’s Abingdon Press. The book not only shares an assortment of stories about the relationships and memories Willis acquired during her time at CAC, but helped the author find resolution within her own spirituality. 

“I started the book wondering whether I should go to seminary and become an ordained Episcopal priest,” she said. But as the book developed, “It became more about the food pantry and less about me,” said Willis. While she decided to set aside the question of ordination, Willis found a different way to answer God’s call in her life, through writing and service. 

Writing this book gave Willis the opportunity to revisit the moments she experienced God at CAC and to reconsider the challenging situations she encountered. “I learned to be more vulnerable than I ever imagined, and I learned that I could find God in unlikely places,” said Willis. 

The book started as a series of diary entries the author wrote every night after returning home from CAC during 2000–2010. Over time, she realized she had enough material to compile a book. In 2009, Willis attended a writing workshop in Santa Fe for artists interested in the intersection of art and faith; faculty there encouraged her to begin her book. 

Willis was careful to obtain permission from all the people whose stories are in the book before publication because of the intimate details of each story. One of the goals of the book for Willis was to illuminate the often overlooked aspects of rural poverty. 

Advance readers of  “Finding God in a Bag of Groceries” who have written in support of the book include Desmond Tutu, Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town; Franciscan priest and social justice activist Richard Rohr; and Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene and Thistle Farms; as well as Pulitzer-Prize winning author Jon Meacham; Samuel T. Lloyd III, priest-in-charge at Trinity Church, Boston; and Bill Danaher, former dean and associate professor at Huron University College, London, Ontario.

Willis left CAC in the fall of 2010 to become editor and co-publisher of this newspaper. She and her family have lived in Sewanee since 1991.

A part of Otey Parish since 1974, CAC has cared for families in the greater Sewanee community by providing food and financial assistance for medical, dental, housing and electric bills.

“They came for the food, but I also think they came for the love” said Willis of CAC’s regular clients. 

Of her time at the CAC, Willis concluded, “I may have been helping the people who came to CAC, but all along they were also helping me.”

For more than 35 years, the CAC has provided food, financial assistance, and educational support for persons in the greater Sewanee community. 

The CAC is located in the Yellow House at 258 Lake O’Donnell Rd. Phone 598-5927. The CAC is open 9–11 a.m. each weekday and 1–3 p.m. on Wednesdays. Interim director Betty Carpenter is available 9–11 a.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment.