Sharing Bread from Heaven

I love to eat and I hope that never changes. Knowing when I’ve had enough and avoiding pre-packaged and junk foods are things I can always be better at.

Food is essential to our survival and a huge theme in the Bible. This Sunday’s Old Testament lectionary reading is about the bread sent by God from heaven to the Israelites as they complain of hunger fresh from the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea. Jesus speaks about being the bread of life in John 6:25-35, and we also find reference to scripture itself being bread that feeds us.

Adding food after a worship service or as part of a program is usually a plus for attendance. Seder suppers are a great model of combining food with education in the faith. Messy Church with its 3-fold structure of play and learning activities, worship and a meal highlights the importance of eating together, physically and spiritually. A colleague recently posted that her church is offering dinner worship for families, where people will gather around tables and prepare food and eat together while experiencing worship. Just last Friday I helped at a community Canadian Foodgrains pork supper which raised funds for this terrific organization. Many churches actively participate in soup kitchens to feed the hungry in their neighbourhoods.

More and more churches are providing community gardens on their property. It is now harvest time and grocery stores and produce stands are full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Soon we will celebrate Thanksgiving with a wide variety of meals and gatherings, large and small. Here in Canada, we are blessed with abundance compared to many countries around the world.

In this season, I challenge you to consider how your church is currently feeding its members and those from the community. We can’t survive without water or food, and spiritually we go dry quickly without time spent with God and nurturing our faith in Christ. In the church we often have complicated relationships with food and its preparation and how our kitchens are run. We have to follow health and safety regulations, figure out what to do with leftovers, and handle situations where people show up at our doors asking for food. We are challenged to meet the spiritual needs of seekers and established believers and all those in between.

Here are some questions to chew on as you reflect about food in your ministry, both spiritual and physical:
Who are the hungry that you are serving? Why are they hungry?
What partnerships do you have with other churches to feed the hungry?
Who decides what food is offered and when?
Who is responsible for providing the food?
How are decisions made about what kinds of food to buy and from where?
How often is communion served and why is it this often?
What is done with any leftovers?

The answers to the above may be quite complicated. As we seek to offer nourishing food to our learners and congregations, we may run into rituals that no longer best serve us, or justice issues about the kinds of food we share (where it is from and its packaging and waste), or awareness of severe allergies and dietary preferences and restrictions, or nutrition issues around what is healthy and a reasonable amount to eat when so many have so little. Is it good hospitality to let people at the banquet eat their fill until bursting at the seams? Or do we encourage reasonable amounts, particularly with our children and youth, and gratitude in the opportunity to share our extra with those in need?

Jesus told Peter to feed his sheep. We have many sheep to feed as well in Christ’s name. Banquet parables and the wedding at Cana highlight the importance of food and celebration. We should celebrate the opportunities we have to invite people to feast with us, experiencing God’s grace and abundance, and creating powerful memories of fellowship and community. We should also be grateful for the many, many kinds of bread from heaven we have experienced in our own lives and those who shared it with us.

May the blessings of being at table with others, eating, learning and sharing in faith be yours in abundance.