Savoury Good News in the Midst of the Gloom

 

                                                              Humber College Culinary Arts Students

Culture begins at the banquet table. In every religion, at every time in human history, shared feasts have formed—or deformed—the culture.

Sharing a meal is the most basic and most binding form of social interaction. Who can eat with whom and when? The question is almost an obsession for many cultures, because eating together means communion. If we eat together, it means that we are part of the same community.

And if we eat together with God, it means God is also part of our community.

 Mike Aquilina

This morning we woke up in the gloom and listened to news that was even gloomier. There were the wars and the environmental disasters (I won't call them "natural disasters" anymore).It was all bleak until an interview on CBC radio with in the Humber College culinary arts program. A Toronto company  offered $125,000 worth of  meat which was approaching its best-before date if it could be used to provide meals for those who needed them. 

The daunting challenge was that even after a lot of the meat was donated to food programs they kept enough for to prepare 3,000 meals at a time when the school term had come to an end. Students were recruited to help while other companies were asked for vegetables and spices. It all came together and the meals were picked up by shelters and meal programs, including some in churches. 

I was about to turn off the radio as this piece began yet I had to listen to the end. It really was a ray of hope in the midst of the sadness.

 Yesterday Ruth was at Bridge St. Church here in Belleville for her weekly stint distributing lunches. There was a team in the kitchen gleaning the remains from a turkey dinner served to guests the day before. The rest of the turkey will be used for other meals by clever chefs who figure out how to use everything. 

Our congregation in Trenton offers a regular meal for anyone who wants one and this is a lifeline for many of these guests. 

We know that this form of meal sharing isn't the ultimate solution for food security but it makes such a difference for those living on the margins. And many of those involved, including Ruth, speak of the importance of the human interaction for both hosts and guests. 

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, its important to remember that as an adult he shared meals with so many, and told parables about meals, often scandalizing those who were religious because he didn't care about class distinctions. 

In the reign of God meals aren't in the background, they are main events of commensality and compassion. While the Humber College gang weren't doing this for religious reasons, the commitment to prepare and share delicious food with those who need it is a "loaves and fishes" miracle.