Sermon on Food, extended post

AT first hearing it seems weird. You almost wonder... how will I come up with much to say. Then you start thinking about it... and thumbing through your bible... and you are at the other end of the spectrum saying, "a sermon about food??" ... shouldn't it be a sermon SERIES on food.

One day it may be, or at least a break-out class or seminar. Close parenthesis.

What about all the things that I simply CANNOT address in one brief sermon? As I've had discussions with people about food it seems that certain issues and ideas emerge. Each of them is, at least for some of us, loaded with emotion and questions.

Things like:
What i cannot talk about today:
anorexia, bulimia, binge eating or drinking, the goodness of wine, world hunger, can you pray with integrity for God to bless a fast-food meal? These and many more...

But I can't just say that I won't say ANYTHING about these things.... I got an email from a friend who wisely stated on this topic:
we have lost our way regarding food and that this shows up in many ways. I see it in everything from our vast consumption of "fast foods" and all that this says about how we live through our obsession with diets and with exercise programs and devices through various forms of disordered eating that can become very serious, through to the fact that the eating channel has now become a primetime competitor with leading cable channels. The food channel has some merits, for sure, (it is one of my personal favorites) but it is also curious to see that we now have a "food as spectacle and obsession" phenomenon.

You can get a large audience together for a striptease act--that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose you come to a country where you could fill a theatre by simply bringing a covered plate on to the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let every one see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food? CS LEWIS

(What Lewis could only imagine... we have on our TV's!) All Emeril need do is mention garlic and the crowd whoops and hollers.
In other words, there are real expressions in contemporary culture of where our fallenness has taken us....encourage people to seek help for themselves and friends where the problems become overwhelming. "Don't let yourself get isolated in these struggles. These are not other people's problems, they are ours, and we need to learn better how to be there for each other and be open about these struggles, whatever form they may take."

Well said. Don't struggle alone. This week it is eating. Next week working. April 20 is sleeping. Each of these can be the source of great joy and sorrow. It is vital to look at your failures in each area in the shadow of the cross of Christ. And not just in the shadow of the cross, but with your friends in that shadow... not alone.