Proverbs 12:22
“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”
Given that the Lord detests lying lips, I’d better be truthful today and tell you that I don’t really cook much, so I can’t really say that I have a specialty.
Yet I do put bread in the toaster every day, so if you visit my house, I could treat you to toast 🙂. The Toast song was an unintentional novelty hit from 1979 by Streetband. I think it started as a joke B-side, but it got more attention than the A-side. I never heard of them after that, but their lead singer, Paul Young, went on to be a big star in the 1980s and into the 1990s.
One of my favourite Paul Young tracks was a duet he did with Italian star, Zucchero back in 1991, Senza una donna (Without a woman). I had just bought my first car. I remember hearing it on my car radio on my way to Kilkee, County Clare in April 1991.
Sorry, I got distracted 🙂. As I said, I don’t really cook. My wife does all the cooking, but I know that sometimes husbands cook too, or they might have a specialty that they occasionally do. I did cook a little more when we first got married. I would like to begin again, but I keep putting it off. But if I do, I’d like to do a vegetarian curry. We recently had that on a break to Dublin at the Keavan’s Port in Camden Street Upper. I highly recommend it if you’re around the area.
It’s funny how food is such a central part of our lives, but it doesn’t feature much in music. If someone wrote a song about the delights of food, it would probably just sound comical.
I can think of one funny song from 1998, Vindaloo. I didn’t know it at the time, but I saw it on a later series about Top of the Pops. It was one of the most memorable performances. They walked through the Eastenders set and then arrived in the studio. It was an England World Cup Song.
Now to more serious matters 🙂. For almost all Christians, communion or the Lord’s supper is at the very heart of Sunday worship, and that’s based on a meal. It’s a reminder of how food and community are central to our physical life, but it also uses food as a metaphor for our spiritual lives. The bread represents the body of Jesus broken for us, and the wine represents his blood poured out for us on Calvary. And the consumption represents us availing of what he offers. Jesus initiated this at the last supper, on the night before he died. For the future, when Christians met together, this is how they would celebrate his sacrifice. We feel a sense of togetherness, but we also feel the presence of Jesus himself with us.
1 Cor 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Christians differ on how Christ is present in communion:
- Roman Catholics believe that the bread and wine transform into the body and blood of Christ. Its theory of transubstantiation is rooted in Aristotelian philosophy.
- Orthodox theology tends to resist overly rational or scholastic explanations. The Eucharist is seen as a divine mystery — something to be experienced and revered, not dissected.
- Luther believed that Christ is physically present in the bread and wine, but it was still bread and wine – a theory known as consubstantiation.
- Calvin believed that Christ is spiritually present.
- Zwingli believe that communion is about remembering the death of Christ. He is present in the way he is always present when believers gather together.
- Quakers believe that every person can experience the presence of God directly, without the need for outward rituals or clergy. They generally don’t celebrate communion.
So where do I stand? I was a Roman Catholic up to the age of 18. I generally found the Mass boring, but communion was always a precious time. I don’t know if I ever really believed that the bread turned into the body of Christ. And we weren’t given the wine. Then, when I met evangelical Christians, they just believed that Jesus spoke metaphorically when he said “This is my body.” I suppose my view would be somewhere between Calvin and Zwingli. It’s about remembering Christ, but I always do feel his presence in a special way.
Maybe there’s even something in the Orthodox view that seems to suggest that it’s something to be experienced and revered, not dissected.
We look back to Calvary, but we also look forward. One description of heaven is a great feast. Again, people might argue about how literal this is, but who wouldn’t look forward to a great feast?
Isaiah 25:6
“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.”
Matthew 8:11
“Many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”
Revelation 19:9
“Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
Hibernia Gospel 