God Who Tastes

There’s a reason I saved this one for last.  I have never, ever heard anyone preach, teach, or even speak about the God who tastes.  In some way, I think it’s too difficult around which to wrap our minds.  We can wax metaphorical about sight, sound, and touch.  Admittedly, smell was a little more difficult.  But taste is so completely human.  It’s hard to create a sense of spirituality around something so common…

Interestingly, though, if we’re going to embrace the trinity, where Jesus is certainly one of the three; we might have more evidence of a tasting God than any other sense.  How often do we find Jesus around the table?  A lot…

Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners (see Mark 2).

Jesus presumably eats with his good friends: Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (see Luke 10) and a random guy he finds in a tree (see Luke 19).

Jesus feeds hoards of people with almost nothing… twice… (see Matthew 14 and 15).

The last thing Jesus does with his twelve disciples is to share the first Eucharistic meal (see Matthew 26), and then he becomes the Eucharistic meal… which is fascinating, since he also teaches that we are something of a food additive… salt of the earth (see Matthew 5).

Peter writes that we can actually taste the goodness of the Lord (see I Peter 2).

Jeremiah suggests that we can eat God’s words (see Jeremiah 15), and the author of Hebrews backs it up (see Hebrews 6).  Ezekiel takes it literally (see Ezekiel 3).

Why don’t we ever speak plainly about the God who tastes and… related… the God we can eat?  I’m not sure.  Maybe it’s because we’re afraid of the same repercussions that Jesus faced in John 6 or that the Catholic Church faced in light of a misunderstanding regarding cannibalism!  Seriously… I have no idea!

But clearly, in this search for holistic spirituality that encompasses physical sense as well as mind and spirit, taste is not to be excluded.

Gathering to eat together is one of the most vulnerable, intimate things we can do.  This past week, I learned that there has been a recent study regarding the impact that eating the same foods, with others, has on our relationship and interactions.  One observation from this study was, “Food is about bringing something into the body. And to eat the same food suggests that we are both willing to bring the same thing into our bodies. People just feel closer to people who are eating the same food as they do. And then trust, cooperation, these are just consequences of feeling close to someone” (read the whole article, here).  It’s incredible!  I wonder how we might cooperate more quickly, efficiently, and effectively if we were all eating Jesus!

L.

Seven Passages of Scripture

Seven passages at 6:00 in the morning, accompanied by a fully drained coffee cup that followed a not so hot bath (why we have no hot water at this unreasonable hour is beyond me), and a pretty serious attitude problem.  I am not a morning person.  I do not want to be awake right now.

Seven passages of Scripture, many that I have studied before, some that I have committed to memory, all that contain important truths for life, and one little phrase jumping off the page and smacking my lousy attitude in the face:

I Peter 5:2, "... not because you must, but because you are willing..." (NIV).

Well, fine.

If I may be candid for just a moment, there are quite a few things I am doing, lately, because I must.  And if there is anything I hate more than someone telling me I can't do something, it's someone telling me I have to.  For a long time, I have been thinking that I need to kick this way of being, but...

Wait for it...

I was wrong.

One of the incredible ironies of my life is that although I am fabulous at breaking rules, I am also a pretty consistent rule follower.  I know how to create controversy, but I hate conflict.  Crazy.  I know.   

Integrity matters to me a great deal, so chances are excellent that you will find me doing what's right much more often than not.  This is not a "yay me" moment.  Hold on.  It's coming...

There have actually been quite a few moments, lately, when I have found myself exclaiming, "I am so sick and tired of doing what's right!"  And I have meant it.  I am legitimately, and sometimes literally, sick and tired of it.  And that's my problem.

I need to be willing.

Now, there are all kinds of directions I could take this.  For example, I am not suggesting that if you're not willing to do the right thing, you should do the wrong thing.  I have tried this.  Take it from me, it doesn't end well.  In fact, it probably ends especially not well if you are a compulsive "do the right thing" kind of person.  You can try the whole do whatever you want thing, but you will probably find yourself sitting at a fast food place, sucking down fountain pop with a friend, and confessing, "I can't even sin right!"  This may or may not have happened to me.

No, don't go that route. 

I am also not suggesting that you "fake it until you make it".  The sad truth on this one is, you might fake it for a really long time and never make it.  This just makes everyone miserable.  I may also have personal experience with this.

You know... funny thing... I'm not even sure exactly what I am suggesting.  This may have something to do with the fact that I am also still not awake and a second cup of coffee is looking better every second.

But I think this is the thing.  We (and by we, I mostly mean I, but you can do this too, if you want) need to embrace the possibilities we have as opposed to always wishing for the ones we don't have.  This doesn't mean we stop setting goals or accept whatever is without any sort of challenge or fire in our eyes or give up on the future we hope for.  But I think we miss out on a lot of opportunities to be the people we were created to be, every day, if we are constantly thinking about becoming someone else.

Let me be the first to admit that I am not where I want to be, today.  And yet, I am where I am (that's a new one for everybody to hate).  Profound.  Or not.  Yeah, mostly not.  I have some pretty huge dreams, and I am in no way giving up, but there are certain things that simply cannot happen today.  And that's OK.  And I would imagine I will be much happier if I accept today for what it is and willingly make the most of it.

Psalm 25:9-10, "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.  All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant" (NIV).

All the ways... even this one...

 
L.