Why Holiday Feasting Is A Spiritual Act

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Are you still feeling guilty about over-indulging at the Thanksgiving table?  And what about the cookies, pie, and chocolates that invade your home, office, and social activities this time of year?

If you’re like me, the holiday feasting has just begun.

Why fight it?  Holiday guilt is for wimps. 

Which is why I’m going to manage the feasting.  Physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

Will you join me in embracing the spiritual aspect of holiday feasting?  Simply put, God loves a good meal.  

I started thinking about this before Thanksgiving.  Pastor Eric set the stage by taking a closer look at Jesus’ infamous miracle – the Feeding of the 5,000.  Did you know that this is the only miracle of Jesus to appear in all four Gospels?

I’ve heard this story dozens of times.  And I’ve always focused on Jesus, the boy with the loaves and fish, the disciples, and the crowd. 

I’ve never really focused on the food.  Nor have I focused on the paramount role of food in the story of salvation.

• The feeding of the 5,000 looks back to the Exodus.  When Jesus directs the crowd to sit down in groups of 50, we flash back to the Israelites in the wilderness.  The similarities – God providing bread and meat to a hungry crowd – is nothing short of divine.  When the Israelites are without food in the wilderness, God provides both manna and quail.  Could it be that Jesus smiles, knowing He will repeat this miracle a few thousand years later?
• The feeding of the 5,000 looks forward to the Eucharist.  Jesus isn’t just filling empty stomachs.  He is giving of himself – the bread of life.  In remembering his death, we celebrate the ultimate feast.  His body.  His blood.  Poured out on us. While Jesus takes comfort in feeding a hungry crowd, He tells his disciples of a greater feast.  “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.”

Something about food gives us spiritual understanding.  Is it the smell?  The texture?  The satisfaction?

Something about God loves to feed us.  Which means your holiday feasting is a spiritual act.  

Let's get over the guilt.  When you raise your glass this Christmas season, will you join me in looking back to the Exodus and forward to the Eucharist?

Are You Thankful For Work?

During Thanksgiving, we tend to thank God for the same things each year -- family, faith, health, relationships, food, shelter, income, material provisions.

I got to thinking, When is the last time we thanked God for work?

It’s usually not at the top of my list.  Yes, I’ve thanked God for a paycheck, for the security of my work.  But what about thanking God for the ability to work?  Even the privilege to work?

We can learn much from the unemployed. 

Like my friend I’ll call Lisa.  Lisa is a single executive who’s been out of work for 5 years.  Sure, she misses a paycheck – she’s gotten by on savings, unemployment, selling things she doesn’t need, and part-time jobs.
But you know what she really misses? 

Work.

The ability to contribute.  The ability to create.  The ability to care and nurture.

It makes perfect sense.  God is a worker.  We are created in his image.  Of course Lisa misses her work. 

Just last week, Lisa sent me a card and a gift.  I knew she didn’t have extra money, so I quickly opened the card to see what was going on.

Lisa didn’t just find a job.  She found work.  Good work. 

And Lisa was thankful.  So much that she wanted to give -- she went out of her way to thank me for my professional and personal support, even before she received her first paycheck. 

Thanks to Lisa, this week I’m asking myself a new question:  When’s the last time I thanked God for work?