Skipping Lunch
"The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, 'Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.'" Luke 9: 12
Miracles abound in the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. All those men fed with just five loaves and two fishes. The disciples believing that they could, with Jesus help, feed them all. Finally, when they were done, twelve baskets of leftovers.
But for me, the real miracle is that 5,000 men were so hungry, they forgot all about lunch--and dinner!
As one who seldom misses a meal, I find that truly amazing. It also challenges me to think what does make me forget to eat. Often it's the panic of a project not yet done. Sometimes, however, its being wrapped up in something far more satisfying and engaging than my tuna sandwich. A really good book, for example, or a beautiful piece of music.
The day my family visited the New York Museum of Natural History when I was 15, and I saw real dinosaurs (or at least their bones) for the first time, I completely forgot about lunch. I did the same on my first visit to the Grand canyon as a five year old. Being "lost in wonder, love and praise," in the words of an old hymn, is a good reaqson to skip lunch any day.
The Lenton discipline of fasting often gets bad press in the Protestant tradition. It's something we leave to the Catholics. But perhaps like the 5,000 men listening to Jesus that day or the wide-eyed 15 year old looking at dinosaurs, missing a meal can let us know what we're really hungry for. Maybe those 5,000 men ignored the rumblings of their stomachs so they could be fed in a different way.
Give us the courage, O God, to know what we truly hunger for. Amen.
Talitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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