According to the website Knowing Jesus, the Bible refers to food 1,207 times. Jesus, on multiple occasions, refers to himself as the Bread of Life. We can read a couple of different stories that involve Jesus sitting down and eating with others. There is something holy and mysterious about sharing a meal together that really has a way of inviting others into our lives. There is a new(ish) song out called “Canyon” by Ellie Holcomb, and one verse in particular sums up well the power of eating together:
I walked into the desert and I found You
You set a table for me
In the presence of my enemies, to share with my enemies
NO LONGER MY ENEMIES, NO LONGER MY ENEMIES
NO LONGER MY ENEMIES
I love the transition this song makes from having a tough time with people, to eating together with people, to a renewed relationship steeped in positivity and love. This is what sharing a meal with someone can accomplish. Jesus knew fellowship together around food can accomplish a lot of good things!
Well, that is no less true today then it was in Jesus’ day. In the United Methodist Church, there is a joke, “where two or more UnitedMethodists are gathered, there is food among them.” Potlucks, fundraisers, meals to the sick, meals-on-wheels, dinner meetings, lunch meetings—only meetings with food are worth attending—you name it, and food has been a very important part of our life together. Here in this church, we have raised a significant amount of money to help pay down the Building of Faith (sanctuary renovation) loan by selling soup and hummus. We have monthly luncheons that go toward our General Fund. Not only has food been a significant way to raise funds, but it has also been a common part of our fellowship together. We have had Lenten dinners with other churches in our community, celebrated summer with a picnic, and pre-pandemic, had drinks and snacks present as a way to gather people between our two services together.
Why am I spending so much time talking up the importance of food? As we move into September, we will once again be relaunching many of our programs that are centered around food. I know that many of us are feeling disconnected from one another. I would invite you then to seize the opportunity to connect with one another again by supporting these programs. Place your order for soup and hummus when it comes around. Sign up to attend one of the Thursday lunches (dine in or take out) as your schedule allows it. Sit down together as often as you can and as is safe concerning COVID for you and your family, and break bread with one another. Let’s heal what feels as though it has been broken over the past year and a half, and let’s eat together. If you have not yet signed up for a Porch Party, please consider doing so. There isn’t a whole meal, but there is food! Maybe we aren’t enemies, but let’s be really good neighbors and really good friends by sharing our table with one another. Amen!
From one hungry light to another,
Pastor Hannah Loughman