I never thought to share a column about food. And the surprise of it is that the source comes from the New Testament, from the apostle Paul. And he doesn’t just spend a little time talking about it. About 20% of his first letter to the Corinthians is about food. And I was surprised to realize that almost 10% of his letter to the Romans – one of the most studied books of the Bible - is also about food, what people eat. It turns out that what people are eating is a source of conflict in the churches. That may sound like the silliest thing to us, though we certainly have experienced a bit of food conflict in our own day and time: those who are vegetarian, who do not eat meat, or eat only certain types like fish, eggs, or dairy products; or who will not eat any animal product (vegan). At Grace Lutheran fellowship meals (pre-Covid) we tried to be sure there were some vegetarian dishes, so there was something for everyone. Of course, like many subjects these days, these food issues have at times taken on a political tone. I remember a sign on a building near the Augusta Health hospital that advocated for buying beef “while you still could,” reacting to an article in the news at the time which connected excessive beef cattle grazing to global warming. In Corinth and in Rome, there were those who celebrated that their freedom in Christ from sin and death freed them from the Old Testament laws forbidding the eating of certain types of meat. And they believed this freedom should allow them to buy meat at pagan Temples, which was where you could get the freshest meat, since the animals had just been butchered and sacrificed, and then sold to the public. Strange to us, who are used to going to the Meating Place or Kroger, but a regular part of living in the Roman Empire. And yet for some Christians, the fact that the food had been offered to Zeus or Apollo was an affront to their faith. To them, all belonged to God, including meat; God says so in the Old Testament! So, to purchase meat that had been first offered to Zeus was not right, and so shouldn’t be bought or eaten; it was against the faith that God alone gives us everything. We can get stuck on the foodie part of this, and dismiss it as having little to do with us today. And yet why would the apostle Paul spend so much time on food, and how it was tearing the Church apart? Read I Corinthians 8-10, or Romans 14 - 15, and you’ll find it was getting in the way of what REALLY united the people that Paul wrote to: NOT the freedom they thought they had in Jesus to eat meat offered to idols, or the traditions they honored that gave expression to honoring God, but their unity in Jesus, who died for all, and rose again for all, to be Lord of all. For Paul this truth was far more important than food, and how their progressive freedoms, or their conservative traditions affected how they ate. What was important was their one-ness in Christ. The early Church was made up of all kinds of different people, who thought about their lives in many different ways (not unlike our day and time). But Paul’s appeal is to something (Some One) different: “…those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God… If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord’s…Why do you pass judgment… [or] despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” (Romans 14:6b-8, 10) We live in a time where food is not the issue, even though one can see how food is a lens through which to view our differences – remember the beef sign out by the hospital, and the concern about beef and global warning! But what lies behind the food is the same. How can we, in these fractious times, hold onto what unites us? This is a question not only as Christians, but Americans. You’ve seen the Virginia license plates that have a drawing of a serpent, one of the earliest rallying symbols for the American colonies. What is easy to forget is the symbol, first used by Benjamin Franklin, is a call for unity, rather than division. “United we stand – divided we fall.” These next three months before elections will test that unity; including those who follow Christ. In recent years we have often chosen issues over our unity as Christians, as Americans. Freedoms, as well as Traditions, are important. And yet it is Jesus that brought, and brings the Church together, in unity. How did the apostle Paul appeal to unity? Well, he talked about love as greater than faith, or hope; he remembered that Jesus summed up the whole Law in the commandment to love neighbor. It’s in the idea that we are the body of Christ together, and then individually members of it. And Paul spoke of not making each other stumble, but of building each other up and pursuing peace. The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis wrote many years ago: “It takes all sorts to make a world; or a church. If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of diversity which God intended when He made them…” Our unity in Christ, and our unity as Americans in the midst of our differences has never been more important than here and now. Food for thought.
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AuthorPastor Paul came to Grace to serve as our Pastor in October 2012. After a first career in product and graphic design, he was ordained in 1993, and has served as a parish pastor in Virginia and South Carolina. He is married to Jill and they have two daughters, one at Roanoke College and one at James Madison University. Archives
December 2021
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