Good morning…
The following devotional message, written by my husband, arrived in my inbox on the same morning nine of us women from our Monday Bible study group packed two hundred and fifty Super Pack Boxes at the Action Ministries warehouse. Each box was filled with non-perishable goods to help one family of four to supplement their food stamps for eight to ten days. The experiential dichotomy of that day got my attention.
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Devotional thoughts by Rev. Steve Allen on this week’s Lectionary Reading – Luke 24:13-39
I’ve come to realize that this coronavirus lockdown can be summed up in two activities for me and for many. Happy hour and meal time. This past week I came across two articles – one entitled, “Americans are drinking a crazy amount of alcohol during the coronavirus lockdown” and another where the opening line was “You’ve heard about the Freshman 15, avoid the COVID 19,” in reference to the amount of food we’re eating while locked up in our houses all day long. I can identify with both. Eating and drinking seems to be the center of our lives. Just the other day we were sitting at breakfast when one of my kids said “What’s for dinner?” at which point we all realized our days have been reduced to thinking about, talking about, planning and executing meals.
Rather than decrying this as a problem I want to suggest that eating and drinking have always been the central activities in the celebration and remembrance of God’s work in the world. As the Jewish and Christian traditions take center stage this week they will each come together around these two activities. The Jewish celebration of Passover will begin with a Seder meal on Thursday night. The Seder tells the story of the Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt by using food and a “little bit” of wine. Some families take hours as they eat, drink, and retell the wonder of God’s work just when it looked like he had forgotten them in the midst of their misery.
The Christian story does the same on Thursday night with the commemoration of the Last Supper where food and drink are central to celebrating God’s supreme act of involvement in the world. Rather than warning us to watch our intake of food and drink as some are doing right now, I want to offer a little different perspective. How about we do exactly what Jesus called us to do with his words in the Last Supper; that with every bite of food we take and every sip of beverage we drink, we remember that even when things seem their bleakest, God has not abandoned us. In fact, I invite us to be open to seeing God in every meal we have with our families and every virtual happy hour with friends (something we could not have imagined just a month ago).
Today’s reading from the book of Luke tells how, following the crucifixion, two of Jesus’ followers were depressed because Jesus was gone and all hope seemed lost. Then, Jesus came and walked alongside them but they didn’t recognize him. It was only when they began to eat and drink that their eyes were opened and they could see clearly that God was indeed alive and in their midst. This week may we be open to seeing God’s wonder in the world around us not just in churches and synagogues but even as we sit on our back porches during happy hour and around the table with our families.
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After reading my husband’s encouraging words, my mind flips over the coin of our collective experience. Some of us are sequestered alone without any family members around our table, some of us cannot celebrate a traditional “happy hour” because one drink might unravel our hard won sobriety, and some of us do not have enough food to fend off our hunger pangs, let alone any excess to add nineteen pounds. How does this Holy Week feel to those of us who are suffering most severely?
I sense that in this holiest of weeks, we all are invited to track the steps of the Man who understands our deepest depression and our most prominent pain. For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant), and like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majestic splendor that we would look at Him, nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief; and like One from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs, and He has carried our sorrows and pains; yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken, struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]; the punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him, and by His stripes (wounds) we are healed (Isaiah 53:2-5, AMP).
Whether we feel alone or are overwhelmed by the many, whether we are overfed or undernourished, our personal well-being falls on this Man of sorrows who is acquainted with every form of unimaginable grief. By his wounds every single one of our wide wounds is being healed. Though we might not recognize Him at first, Jesus, invited or not, walks alongside us. As we begin to eat each morsel of food and we begin to drink whatever beverage is available, might our eyes be opened to see clearly that God is here with us? Whether we crave Christ’s companionship or we despise and reject Him, might we each seek to remember? When things seem their bleakest, God has not abandoned us.
I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength (Philippians 4:12-13, NLT).
…Sue…
P.S. Each Super Pack of non-perishable foods costs $10 to help feed a family of four for eight to ten days. If you would like to donate money to help Action Ministries provide these boxes for the most needy families in our community, donate here. If you would like to help pack boxes during a three hour shift, go to this link or contact Northside Church member Laura Deisley to set up a packing time for your group of nine.
