I am inexplicably drawn to books about writing and food, New Testament Greek and spiritual theology. Bizarre, I know. If someone wrote a book regarding insights into the Incarnation and peanut butter cookies, or how coq au vin illustrates the sacrifice of Christ, or parallels between red wine and the Lord's Supper, I would be ALL over it. I'd be up to my elbows in peanut butter, raw chicken, Beaujolais and the gospel of John. Bizarre, I know.
So tonight's meal begins with this great red cabbage recipe, topped off with some bockwurst that I brought home a couple weeks ago. Sort of a spin off of a dish our mothers used to make with red cabbage, smoked sausage and potatoes, sans potatoes. Our world here has been chock full of potatoes lately.
This is what it looked like a couple hours into cooking...
So what does that have to do with theology? I honestly don't know. What I do know and believe is that whether it's red cabbage and bockwurst or chicken or peanut butter, God is found in the particulars, in the real and tangible and relational parts of our lives. As Eugene Peterson writes in his book, The Jesus Way, “The gospel is not an idea or plan or a vision: it works exclusively in creation and incarnation, in things and in place” (Peterson, pg. 189). And maybe that's what this meal points to, that in the simplest, earthy places, molded and formed and chopped and stuffed and soaked through and sent through the fire, that what comes out in the final product is not just a mish-mash of tastiness (or not), but from beginning to end is part of God's creation and means through which that creation can be transformed.
I believe that is God's way with us too.
What connections do you see? Let's hear in the comments.
4 comments:
The first thing I think of is sharing a meal with someone. And now I suddenly have a bunch of not-well-developed thoughts and questions leaping into my head, which may or may not be meaningless, but it's what I'm thinking.
At the Last Supper, who baked the bread? Who bought the ingredients, took the time to mix them together and shape them into a loaf? Who kindled and stoked the fire to bake that loaf of bread? Who bakes the bread we share during communion every Sunday (I know the answer to that one here...but what about at Calvary?) Why isn't that creation ever a part of the story? Should it be? Or would that somehow take away from the power of Jesus' words and actions?
I guess that's not entirely related to what you were writing, but it fell into my head just now. If I think of anything else, I'll write it some other time when it's not past midnight.
Also, what's bockwurst?
Bockwurst is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockwurst
I think that is exactly that creation, whether of the harvesting, grinding, mixing and baking of the bread or the cultivating, crushing and fermenting of the wine, that lies at the heart of what Jesus' words are about. It is assumed. The 'breaking' of the bread and the 'pouring out' of the wine hasn't just happened at the table but has happened over and over and over in its creation and journey to the table. All that brokeness and pouredness is part of who and what it is as it comes to the table where it is blessed and re-broken and re-poured as a life-giving gracious act for us to 'take and eat' and 'drink of all it'.
Through Christ God doesn't heal or ignore our brokenness; God blesses it.
God is definitely in that sausage and red cabbage, in the love that got it to the table and the love of food and fellowship and God that were evident in the eating.
I see the makings of a great book here--or several!!
This was, as usual from Kevin, a very thought provoking blog. It made me think more deeply about every day things I take for granted. I must remember to give thanks for all that is given,for it all comes from God.
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