Today my church had a special lunch for “young, single adults.” I guess they know how to attract the college crowd: “free food” always gets me to come to any meeting. Ironically, they held this free lunch the same day they started their all-church 21-day fast. More ironically, they are holding a free lunch for singles over 30 next week. Mixed signals? You betcha.
Yummy gumbo soup was served to us. But, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” – well, actually, it was free, but we had to listen to an advertisement for the upcoming “young singles” retreat (only $70!) and be introduced to the “young singles” cell group leaders.
I guess that was all right, but they said they hadn’t planned any speaker for the retreat – it was really just a “free time, hang out in beautiful North Georgia outdoors” kind of retreat. Except that I can have that kind of retreat any weekend I want, and I won’t have to pay $70 for it. Of course, they had “scholarships” for people who wanted to go but didn’t have the money. Technically, I have the money, but $70 is far too valuable to me right now to spend it on hanging out with people I barely know. Possibly I would make a great friend over the weekend – but probably not. I’d be better off, statistically speaking, buying 70 $1 lottery tickets.
Well, nobody said I had to go. So I won’t. I was happy to get the food, though. I hope they have more free lunches like this in the future. Maybe we’ll have a potluck! We often have them in Southern churches, and it’s one of the things I missed when I was away. I especially miss the summer picnic potlucks – held outdoors, with napkins keeping the flies off the fried chicken and potato salad, and lemonade. And lots of little kids running around playing tag.
Different churches have different food customs, though. A Salvation Army church I went to wouldn’t celebrate “communion” – they celebrated “love feasts,” which were whole meals. They were good. (I always ate well at that church – its captain was a former Navy cook, and he was very good at it.)
I know of a church here in Atlanta, the Blood-N-Fire Vineyard, that gives a free fried chicken meal to the homeless every Sunday. There’s only one condition: people who want the food must go through a “hug line,” receiving a hug from every member of the church staff. Some people refuse the food and the hugs. Many of those who receive them, however, are changed.
Food is like a yin-yang thing in the Christian life. On one hand, it’s seen as a great blessing – Jesus fed the 5000 by miraculously providing food, and Heaven is described as a “wedding feast.” But then, fasting has also been embraced by the church, and there are many examples in the Bible of Godly men refraining from food for Godly purposes. A “yin-yang” thing being that both feasting and fasting are complimentary, that there is an appropriate time for each.
My church, it appears, just can’t decide which time is which.
Yummy gumbo soup was served to us. But, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” – well, actually, it was free, but we had to listen to an advertisement for the upcoming “young singles” retreat (only $70!) and be introduced to the “young singles” cell group leaders.
I guess that was all right, but they said they hadn’t planned any speaker for the retreat – it was really just a “free time, hang out in beautiful North Georgia outdoors” kind of retreat. Except that I can have that kind of retreat any weekend I want, and I won’t have to pay $70 for it. Of course, they had “scholarships” for people who wanted to go but didn’t have the money. Technically, I have the money, but $70 is far too valuable to me right now to spend it on hanging out with people I barely know. Possibly I would make a great friend over the weekend – but probably not. I’d be better off, statistically speaking, buying 70 $1 lottery tickets.
Well, nobody said I had to go. So I won’t. I was happy to get the food, though. I hope they have more free lunches like this in the future. Maybe we’ll have a potluck! We often have them in Southern churches, and it’s one of the things I missed when I was away. I especially miss the summer picnic potlucks – held outdoors, with napkins keeping the flies off the fried chicken and potato salad, and lemonade. And lots of little kids running around playing tag.
Different churches have different food customs, though. A Salvation Army church I went to wouldn’t celebrate “communion” – they celebrated “love feasts,” which were whole meals. They were good. (I always ate well at that church – its captain was a former Navy cook, and he was very good at it.)
I know of a church here in Atlanta, the Blood-N-Fire Vineyard, that gives a free fried chicken meal to the homeless every Sunday. There’s only one condition: people who want the food must go through a “hug line,” receiving a hug from every member of the church staff. Some people refuse the food and the hugs. Many of those who receive them, however, are changed.
Food is like a yin-yang thing in the Christian life. On one hand, it’s seen as a great blessing – Jesus fed the 5000 by miraculously providing food, and Heaven is described as a “wedding feast.” But then, fasting has also been embraced by the church, and there are many examples in the Bible of Godly men refraining from food for Godly purposes. A “yin-yang” thing being that both feasting and fasting are complimentary, that there is an appropriate time for each.
My church, it appears, just can’t decide which time is which.
posted by Mark at 2/08/2004 09:39:00 PM
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