Food
Author: Joan Harman
October 18, 2021
This week let's talk
about food. If you participated in the
Rise for Hunger last Sunday what was/is your impressionism of that ministry?
It seems to me that
this charity is like Habitat for Humanity in that they provide the structure
and do all the organizational work if a congregation wants to pay and
participate.
Feeding is a critical
spiritual discipline that God models for us. Think of the following stories:
God provides every
necessary food in the Eden Garden, and Adam and Eve's two sons were a shepherd
and a farmer.
Noah and family were
told to store food for the days when they would be "flooded in"
Gen.6:21
God through Elijah
provided the never-ending jar of meal for the widow of Zarephath until rain
came to break the famine caused by drought. 1Kings 17:15
Through Elisha, God
provided for the widow of one of the prophets who was destitute. 2Kings 4:2-7
The only miracle of
Jesus recorded in all 4 gospels is the feeding of more than 5,000 by the
blessing of God.
Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6.
Revelation 22
describes the Holy City where the river of life flows from the throne of God,
with the tree of life growing on each side yielding fruit each month. Can't get a better visual ending than that!
But all of those are
nothing as compared to the Holy Communion meal that is always available to us
as long as there is an officiant to bless and offer it. Usually it is a congregational experience,
but whether singly or communal it is an experience with God that can change
us. As I read this week, "It is the
new manna. Just as God fed his people in
the desert with manna each day, God now feeds his people with bread from heaven."
Let's now look at
Exodus 16:12-36 and Numbers 11:7-9.
Last week I conducted
an anecdotal survey of no statistical validity about MANNA, food God
provided. The question was: What is manna and how would you describe it?
3 adults and 5 young
people either had never heard of it or didn't know enough to have an idea what
it might be like.
Tallies of the
descriptive responses are listed after each description:
Pieces of soft
bread 5 or fluffy rounds of bread 4
1 liked thinking about
a loaf big enough to feed everyone
Thin wafer 3 or small pita 3
Gummy rice or
something like poi 3
Snowflakes 2 or frost
1
Cauliflower 1 or Frosted
flakes 1 and one envisioned an unleavened disc big enough to feed everyone for
the day.
Blessings of food,
Joan K. Harman <><<><
joanharmank@gmail.com
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