Think
About It
On
Sunday, September 15, a hot, humid August day in September, my parish held its
annual major fund raiser—Festival on First—from 12:30 to 4:30.
Festival
goers did not lack activities in which to participate. Children could have their faces painted, go
fishing, or go down the bouncy slide.
Adults
could buy tickets for lottery drawings and hope they’d win a prize.
They
could sit in the shade and enjoy the entertainment—a Hispanic praise band and a
medley of opera songs, including “Ave Maria” sung by the associate pastor.
But
the main attraction of the day was the food, and many choices were
available. A majority of foods were
authentic Mexican or Central American, from posole, to burritos, to
enchiladas. Pork burgers and hot dogs
were available, as were DQ Blizzards and various home baked bars.
To
the dismay of late comers, most of the food was gone by 3:30. The pork burgers held out until 4:30 and some
hot dogs were left. These were given
away, and who turns away free food?
The
day was a delightful day of fun, fellowship and food. When we read and study the New Testament, we
see Jesus enjoying fellowship with his friends, and oftentimes that fellowship
included food—he visited his friends Lazarus, Mary and Martha—and he ate with
them. He cooked breakfast for his
apostles.
Into
the 21st Century we’ve continued this custom of combining food with
fellowship. As I thought of this
practice, in which even Jesus participated, I thought of how we tend to condemn
ourselves for eating.
Maybe
we need to step back for a minute and think about this: “Whatever is good and perfect comes down to
us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens” (James 1:17
NLT). Our bodies need food. It is a gift from God to keep ourselves
healthy.
Too
often, I think, we tend to look at our eating negatively—“Oh, why did I eat
that?” “Oh I ate too much.”
Maybe
we need to reverse our thinking and be positive—“Thank you, God, for the gift
of food, which nourishes my body.”
Think
about it.
Sharon Witty
