Sacred Meals

On my wish in 1993

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford, CT

4B Epiphany, January 28, 2018

Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:1-28

May God’s Word be Spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point us to the living word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As many of your know, I am a cancer survivor. I had bone cancer when I was a teenager. One of the blessings that came in the midst of that very challenging year was the opportunity to be granted a wish by the Make-A-Wish foundation. For my wish I went to New York City to see Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables on stage. I was flown there in a private jet and driven around in a limo. We got to go shopping and go backstage. It was a lot of fun. The absolute highlight of the weekend was an amazing dinner at an Italian restaurant just south of Central Park. We had a private dining room in which they fed us a multi-course feast. It was an amazing and delicious meal. There was perfectly cooked pasta and some of the the most tender and succulent fish and meat I have ever eaten. And then it was all capped off by an amazing assortment of desserts! That dinner was 25 years ago, and my family still talks about it!

I couldn’t help but think of that meal when reading our Epistle for today. St. Paul writes that “food does not bring us closer to God.” Hmm. I find myself wanting to argue with him on that point. That dinner was a spiritual experience. It was a moment of great hope and joy in the midst of a year that had tested my family. Our daily life had been dictated by my chemotherapy treatments and their side effects. And that meal provided an escape, an opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasures of good food and time together. For a few hours at least, we could leave all the worries and stress behind us. There is no doubt in my mind that meal brought us closer to each other and closer to God. It was a true gift.

Now St. Paul is talking to the Church in Corinth, to a community of people where there are divisions and disagreements. Some people have been focusing on whether or not they can eat food sacrificed to idols. Paul is concerned that people are losing their priorities. He seems to be writing to them to say, “Hey you all. Pay attention! It is not about the food. It is about how you are in relationship with each other and with God. If you get lost in the minutiae of rules and regulations and think it is your job to tell each other what to do, you are missing the point. What matters is how you care for one another and having meals that are an act of Thanksgiving.”

When I take his remark about food in context, I can understand it better. It is not that Paul is dissing food all together, and no doubt he would agree that eating can be a spiritual experience - he was a big fan of the Eucharist after all. What Paul is really concerned with is the potential for us to let food get in the way of building up relationship.

I think that is really the crux of the matter. If I think back to that amazing dinner, it was not really about the food (although that still remains some of the best food I have eaten), it was about the meal itself. It was about having time with my family in a beautiful place away from the stress and strain of our life at that particular moment. The meal provided an opportunity for us to be together and to enjoy that time together. So, I think I can end up agreeing with St. Paul that food, in and of itself, does not bring us closer to God. But meals do. Sharing our food, being in relationship with each other, taking time to cherish each other’s company and to have conversation that brings us closer to God.

As Paul says in this same passage, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Indeed it does. What sustains us in our faith? What holds us up in the midst of trials and tribulations? Is it our ability to ace a bible trivia game or recite the names of the major and minor prophets? Probably not, although kudos to you if you can do those things. What sustains us? It is love. It is the love of God made manifest in Jesus and at work in the world through the Holy Spirit. It is the love we feel in community. It is the relationships with people who know us fully and love us all the more.

So, it seems to me that the question we are left with is how are we building up each other in love. How are we ensuring that we are not a stumbling block to those with whom we are in relationship? Are we taking time to share a meal and break bread in the communities that matter to us?

You all are. You are here, so that we can do that very thing together this morning. I hope you will take an extra moment as we share Eucharist this morning to look around at the community gathered here, to say a prayer of Thanksgiving for the gift of this community and the way we build each other up.

I also hope that you will take some time this week to think about how you do your meals and whether anything needs to change? Are your meals providing nourishment for your soul as well as your body? Are they providing you opportunities to build relationship and community? If so, wonderful - celebrate that fact! If not, what might you need to do differently? Eat lunch at a table with colleagues rather than solo at your desk? Make a promise to yourself to sit down and savor at least one, if not all three meals, in a day? Establish a family dinner night when everyone is home and sits together? Meet an old friend, who you don’t see nearly enough, for breakfast?

Meals are sacred time, and in the busy-ness of our everyday lives we can lose sight of that. So, I invite you to reclaim them as an opportunity for building relationships, for connecting with God and with each other. No doubt we all have challenges ahead of us, and so we need sustenance for the journey. We need to eat well, and we need companions along the way too!

Today may we give thanks to God for the myriad of ways we are sustained on our journey.

AMEN.

Life Lessons from the Glove Compartment

Rev. Molly F. James, PhD

St. Alban’s, Simsbury, CT

Proper 27A, November 12, 2017

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

May God’s Word be spoken. May God’s Word be heard. May that point to the living Word who is Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

If you go through my car, you will discover that I am my father’s daughter. You would find jumper cables, a first aid kit, wipes, a sewing kit, a leatherman multi-tool, and a lint roller. When I was a kid, we would often tease my dad about the contents of his car, particularly his glove compartment. He seemed to have everything in there - cups, paper clips, safety pins, note paper, forks and spoons, tools, etc. Elsewhere in his car you could always find paper towels, kleenex, a first aid kit, jumper cables and a tow rope. We would tease him, and he would smile good naturedly, knowing fully well that it would only be a matter of time before we would need one of those items.

When we fell down and skinned our knees he was ready with gauze and band-aids. When we had take out food with no silverware, he was ready with a spoon or fork. When we borrowed his car for an important interview, we would be grateful for the lint roller. And my dad was ready to help perfect strangers when their car batteries died or they were stuck in a ditch.

I can’t help but think that if my dad had been there with the bridesmaids in our Gospel story this morning the unwise bridesmaids wouldn’t have had such difficulties, because he probably would have had extra oil to share!

Although we teased my dad about always having all that stuff, I realize now what an important lesson he was teaching us. He showed us again and again that there was nothing life could throw at us that we could not handle. He also taught us that life would not always be easy, and so we need to be prepared to handle the challenges that will come our way.

This was a lesson my parents taught me on a broader level as well. My parents taught me that being prepared for challenges meant taking care of ourselves physically and spiritually - eating well and exercising, going to Church and cultivating a community of support. This meant that when I was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager that community sprung into action to surround us with love and care. The most tangible expression of that being that they worked together to make dinner for us twice a week for the entire year I was on chemotherapy. My parents showed me that a large part of being prepared for the challenges of life was about cultivating community to ensure that we did not have to face a challenge alone.

It seems to me that our Gospel lesson this morning is about preparation. The wise bridesmaids, who have filled their lamps, are rewarded and praised for their forethought. The foolish ones, who lived too much in the present moment and did not think about being prepared, miss out on the gift of being invited into the banquet with Jesus. The Gospel reminds us that we do not know when Jesus will come. This is the important truth: life is uncertain, and we need to be prepared. We need to have things in our personal “glove compartment” and to structure our own lives in such a way that we have what we need to face the challenges that will come in the course of our lives. My parents’ lessons on this front helped provide me with sense of stability and confidence. They showed me that life would not always be easy, but I did not need to fear that fact. As long as I had community and tools, I would be able to handle any situation.

There are lots of uncertainties in life, and we seem to be increasingly aware of them lately. The new headlines are full of stories of violence, tragedy and disasters. All of us, and particularly the young people among us, can feel overwhelmed by the anxiety and fear that is present in our culture. The world can be a scary place. We need to be prepared to face the reality of uncertainty in our lives and in our world.

I believe that that is one of the great gifts of Church generally, and this community in particular. You are a community that support each other through thick and thin. You are here to hold the faith for each other. You are here to remind each other that no matter the challenges life brings, we do not have to face them alone.

The invitation for all of us in today’s Gospel is to be prepared, because life is uncertain. I believe this invitation is two-fold. It is an invitation to stock our glove compartments, so that we have band-aids and spoons when we or someone else might need them. It is also an invitation to cultivate support around us. We human beings were created to be in community. We are created to support and care for each other. The invitation is to deepen our connections with each other and with God, so that we feel grounded and supported as we go about our lives. It is worth remembering that Jesus did not go it alone, so neither should we.

May our Gospel be a reminder for us to give thanks for all those in our lives who helped us be prepared for the challenges we have had to face, and may we seek to help each other be prepared for whatever challenges may lie ahead.

AMEN.