September 3rd, 2006 - Sunday Service

This weekend my attention was drawn to food. There is an upcoming Hunger Awareness group meeting where an agenda was needed. I was reading a loaned book called Food & Faith. Then, this morning the Gospel lesson was Mark 7 which included verses 14-15:

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'

If this had been the Gospel lesson two weeks ago I would have thought this was a somewhat quaint issue that has no bearing on current Christianity. The issue of clean and unclean food was long ago resolved unless, by tradition, you abstain from certain food. Certainly, as Pastor Dayle mentioned, there are other things we now see as unclean. The Hurricane Katrina reporting of the smell of dead bodies, the smell of overflowing sewers highlights how bad smells are unclean for us, today. Those who braved that smell to help others heroically overcame something within them.

For me there was something else, closer to that tightrope walk of faith. I read in Food & Faith the concept of food as sacrament rather than merely fuel. The idea and arguments were persuasive. Today's gospel pointed to an inherent danger with thinking of food as sacrament. Namely, what happens when there is not agreement on the sacrament?

Food & Faith has essays that take on the food industry. There are detailed discussions on healthy versus not healthy foods from the problems of fast food to the merits of GMO. These are all issues with merit. As you would expect from the title, these issues are discussed with a religious fervor. The question is how will disagreement be treated? Will the person who eats the fast food be judged as breaking the sacrament? As not being as spiritual or religiously inclined as they should be? Will that person be treated with the disdain the disciples encountered in the gospel lesson?

After the service there was a presentation from the call committee. It was an update on where we are in the process of calling an Associate Pastor. They went through an interview process with five candidates. They have a recommendation they will pass to the church council and then will go to a congregational vote. It is an exciting time in for Creator and we will learn more about him next Sunday.