What's for dinner?
A couple of years ago I posted a meme on Facebook from SomeEcards-a sarcastic, hilarious, sometimes offensive site that offers E-cards for every occasion. This one I remember because it recently came up again in my Facebook memories. The “card” shows a woman with her hand to her brow, pretending to faint from pure exhaustion, “The kids want dinner AGAIN?” Then I commented, EVERY.SINGLE.DAY
If only I’d known that parenthood involved the daily, dreaded question, “What’s for dinner? EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. From the time they were born needing to be fed every two hours, to the toddler years when we didn’t dare go out of the house without packing a variety of snacks, to the school years chaotic mornings feeding them and preparing for lunches too. Now with three teenagers in the house, we are often eating on the run, on our way to or from baseball games or choir rehearsals. Sometimes I ask them, “What should we have for dinner?” “Pizza!” is always their response.
Food not only keeps us alive, it gives us LIFE. Food is a central feature not only of daily life but major events too--birthday parties, wedding receptions, graduation celebrations, even special meetings at church provide food and community that is lifegiving.
“The number one biblical image for God’s abundance is the feast,” says Rolf Jacobson, Old Testament professor. Throughout the bible, time and time again we read about feasting as a sign of God’s abundance.
In Deuteronomy (14) the people bring a portion of their grains to the temple, not for sacrifice, but for feasting. “..you shall eat your grain, your wine, and your oil. In the presence of God you should eat them.
In Isaiah (25) a feast of rich foods and well aged wines is a gift from God.
Psalm 23 “The Lord prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies.”
Psalm 104 The psalmist praises God saying, “You bring food to gladden the earth.”
In each of these biblical passages God’s abundant love for their people is made known through feasting on the abundant gift of food.
Today’s scripture readings also center around food.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good”
“I am the bread of life”
And a paraphrase from the first reading thanks to Beau Surrat, “The Angel of the Lord tells Elijah to get up from his nap and have a snack. Elijah had a snack and was no longer hangry.”
Of course there’s a little more to that story. Elijah is suffering after winning a strenuous battle on a mountaintop. And now he is alone in the wilderness at the end of his strength, literally asking God to kill him so he won’t have to face the hardships of another day. An angel is persistent in trying to pull Elijah out of his funk, waking him from his nap twice, and prodding him until he eats the whole meal. I can hear the angel say, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”
This story makes me think of those times when we offer food to those who are suffering, knowing that the journey ahead will be too much if they don’t get some nourishment.
Freshly made casseroles brought to the family grieving the recent death of a loved one.
Fruit baskets given to someone recovering at home after a hospital stay
A meal train set up for someone going through cancer treatments or for a family with a newborn at home.
Sharing a bucket of ice cream with a friend after a break-up or job loss.
In all of these situations food is shared, and nourishment for body and soul is given.
The angel does not try to minimize or fix Elijah’s suffering. They don’t say, “Buck up Elijah your situation isn't so bad.” or “I know exactly what this feels like, you’ll get over it.” No, the angel simply shares a meal with him, tells him to eat and he’s sustained for his 40 day journey ahead, sustained every.single.day. The suffering did not go away. Everything was not fixed. But he had what he needed to move on one day at a time.
Emily McDowel, a blogger and cancer survivor, has made a line of empathy cards that are delightful to read and give. They speak the honest truth about suffering often in snarky ways. She writes about the reason she started designing these cards, “The most difficult part of my illness wasn’t losing my hair, or being erroneously called ‘sir’ by Starbucks baristas, or sickness from chemo, It was the loneliness and isolation I felt when many of my close friends and family members disappeared because they didn’t know what to say, or said the absolute wrong thing without realizing it.”
There is nothing we can say to another during times of suffering that will fix it, but we must not stay silent, or worse absent, from other people’s pain. But we can go to the one who is suffering and feed them. Bring a meal to a friend or, now in these COVID days, have a meal delivered. Invite someone over for dinner. Volunteer to prepare meals with the Night Ministry for youth who are homeless. Sign up to work at a food pantry. Make lasagna for a stranger through the program Lasagna Love.
Nothing we bring or say will make the suffering go away. But when we share food with another human being it is an action of love. Feasting in abundance is God’s way of saying “I love you” and it is one of the central ways we say “I love you” to each other.
And where did we learn this? Who showed us that food and love are connected? God. We learned it from God. God who loves us so much that God gives us food to give the body and heart strength, oil to make our faces shine, and wine to gladden the human heart. Through it all, through this food, God is saying, “I love you.” God promises that in the midst of our pain a table will be set before us in the presence of those who hurt us, and in our times of sorrow; and our cup will overflow with blessing.
Jesus proclaims, “I am the bread of life,” and when we eat the bread and drink the wine from this feast, we hear him say, directly to us, “I love you. I am the bread of life and my love for you is eternal. Whoever believes that promise of my love has eternal life”
Jesus is the bread of life that sustains us in ours. He promises to be with us throughout our life, no matter what trials life may bring...EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.
