Food for Luck

Yesterday I had a new (to me) dish, Hoppin' John. It contains ingredients intended to give you luck. The black-eyed peas symbolize pennies or coins; the greens add further to the wealth. Diners may leave three peas on the plate to ensure luck, fortune, and romance.

These food traditions have long histories, rich with cultural lore.

But for fun, here are some suggestions for new New Year's food traditions:

Ice cream to keep you cool.

Salsa to make you look hot.

String beans to make you slim.

Head of lettuce to make you smart.

Artichoke hearts to give you courage.

Popcorn for surprises.

Bacon for, well, no reason really needed for bacon.

Crock pot stew for patience.

And finally, eggs for breaking out of your shell.

Here's something else to ponder. If your diet really did chart your future, where would your diet lead you?

We Survived

On New Year's Day, I like the feeling of the clean slate. I want to begin the year with hope. But more than ever, I have the sense of relief that the old year is gone.

We survivors share a sense of loss. So many of us have lost loved ones. Life will never be the same for those families.

But we have lost the feeling of a quick closure to the pandemic. The vaccine offered such hope. But the vaxxed can still get sick, still spread the disease. It's not the silver bullet after all.

And now the pandemic has brought us cancelled flights, rising prices, long waits at restaurants, longer family separations, school quarantines, rescheduled sports events, and cancelled concerts. After Broadway finally reopened, they quickly shut down again. We never know when to mask up. It changes day-to-day.

But we survived. And now it's 2022. 

Let's dare to hope again. We can adapt. We can recalibrate. We can find a way.

Let's do more than survive this year. Let's thrive. And the key to thriving is love. 

Wait of the World

The specter of another pandemic wave looms over this year's holiday plans. Broadway shows are canceled. Family plans are postponed. Even football games are up in the air. 

How long, O Lord? How long will we have to wait for a normal routine? When can we make plans without the if-there-isn't-too-much-COVID asterisk?

At first we knew that life would return to normal. Then we came to expect that life would eventually settle down. Maybe now we have resorted to hoping, or even praying.

This is the wait of the world right now. 

For Christians, Advent is also the season of waiting. We recall the long wait of the Jews, longing for a Messiah. They watched and waited for one who would free them from Roman oppression. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again. But there was no freedom from military occupation. There was no change in the corrupt, exploitative religious establishment.

But a movement was born. Christ followers experienced an inward change of heart, a spiritual renewal springing from faith in the risen Jesus. This movement spread quickly and unofficially. These believers would not bow to political or religious pressure. They believed that loving God and loving neighbors would change the world. 

It has changed the world.

But we are still waiting for it to make all the difference in the world. 

Harnessing Anger

Politicians are good at it. Facebook is perfecting it. Harnessed anger drives movements, like Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and the Proud Boys.

We can let others harness our anger, and we will most likely get played or used. We will share angry social media posts or write a big check. Harnessed anger drives nations to war, and pits people against other people. Politics today thrives on harnessed anger. Both left and right need angry people to drive their agendas. And they need a good enemy to help them raise money. 

What would happen if we harnessed our own anger? We can use that negative energy in a positive way, to fight cancer, human trafficking, or child abuse. We can harness that anger on a personal level, and hate poor health, foolish debt, addiction, and broken relationships enough to make a change.

If we start thinking about using anger in a positive way, we will take a closer look at that anger. Is it helping anything for you to be angry at that politician? that boss? that spouse? that broken appliance? that blind referee? 

If anger is such a strong motivator, why not use that to your own advantage? Be angry at the right things, and do something about it.

And, please, let's stop being played by all those people who thrive on the anger of the masses!

Sterile Souls

Modern farming has sought to improve on natural soil. Weeds and bugs can be so annoying, so why not just kill everything? So we sterilize the soil and add the nutrients that we need. They say we only need nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, NPK. That's what those numbers stand for on fertilizer bags, like 10-10-10. All the natural and unpredictable stuff is stripped from the soil. And plants flourish. They grow bigger, stronger, faster, with better yields than ever--in the short run. In the long run, it takes more and more inputs. The pests adapt and return with vengeance. And the soil becomes so poor that it washes away with the rain. All this requires more ingenuity, more engineering, and more intervention. And sadly, the nutritional value of these industrial farming products is far inferior to the old, natural fruit.

I wonder if the modern soul feels like that, like the sterilized soil. All the man-made inputs pervade life and leave us stripped of all the earthy, unpredictable richness of natural life. Virtual reality promises safe adventures to tourist sites and fantasy lands. It's just as good as being there. Virtual meetings promise to connect people, just like face-to-face, all done digitally. Social media algorithms feed us exactly what we need to stay engaged with our devices. Smart watches and smart mattresses tell us exactly how well we sleep each night.

Life can be bigger, stronger, faster, with better productivity. But what is the cost? We need more inputs. Vitamin pills fill in the gaps left by our processed foods. All this engagement stresses us out, but there's a pill for that. We have heart issues, high blood pressure, diabetes--but again, we have chemical solutions for all these problems. Oh, and the side effects can be addressed with medication as well.

Look at all our improvements. We may have more stuff and more convenience, but is life really better? How's the soil of your life? What would it be like to get back the richness that is so mysterious and so life-giving? It takes time, years, to restore sterile soil. Restoration begins with eliminating all the sterilizing inputs, then adding organic material, and sowing life-giving seeds. Over time, soil is restored. It becomes fertile and rich. And it gives life.

Prayers for Alec Baldwin

Mistakes were made. Consequences were horrific. So much went wrong on Oct. 22 when Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer on the set of "Rust." Two other people should have checked the gun before it landed in Baldwin's hand. And, clearly, Baldwin should have checked it too.

I've never been on a movie set, but I have shot guns many times. As a Boy Scout I heard repeatedly, "Never assume a gun is unloaded." Never. A corollary to that advice would be, "Never assume a gun has only blanks in it."

It is easy for me to claim that, of course, I would never have made that mistake. But I have made so many mistakes. I have so often been careless. I have left on stove burners. I have left gas caps off the gas tank. I have (accidentally) driven through red lights like they were stop signs. Just two weeks ago I had two mattresses blow off a trailer and block two lanes of US 220 in Madison. 

Never in these mistakes has anyone died. But they could have. I would have been responsible for a death. And I would have been horrified. My life would have been changed forever.

And so I pray for Alec Baldwin, for him to grieve, to respond, to search his own soul, for him even to grow. And I pray for all those devastated by the death of Halyna Hutchins' death. But only Alec pulled the trigger. That's a burden I can't imagine.

Edible Offerings

The holiday feasts are fast approaching. The threatened food shortages might make us think about food a little differently now! Food is so important to life, and it's also important to worship. 

Beginning this Sunday we start a series called "Edible Offerings," looking at the food of worship. Why did people offer food to God? How does God use food to deepen our relationship with him?

Food represents our work. Tending soil and caring for animals takes a lot of effort. Even our jobs today are done to "put bread on the table."

And food is essential for life. No one can live without food. Even with all our advances in science, we can't get around metabolism. 

Food also becomes an occasion for building relationships. Meal times are central to life in every culture since the beginning of civilization. Dining together brings people together. And good food makes for a good celebration!

Join us for Edible Offerings:

October 24, Sibling Rivalry, Genesis 4:1-12

October 31, Entertaining God, Genesis 18:1-15

November 7, A Meal to Remember, Exodus 12:1-14

November 21, The Meal, Luke 22:14-20