What’s for Lunch?

What do a weekend Bible conference, an angry street corner protest, and lunch have in common? Answer: Hunger.

I was one of the speakers at a recent Bible conference, who, with my wife and granddaughter, went to fetch a quick lunch, and on the way and back, had to navigate through a street intersection of angry and aggressive protesters.

I am a pastor. A pastor is a disciple of Jesus Christ & an under-shepherd to the Chief Shepherd. He is also (hopefully!) a servant-leader, a teacher, a listener and counselor, a defender and protector, a discipler, and most of all, a worshipper. And, speaking of lunch, the pastor sometimes may discover, at some later date, that he himself has been the main course at various after-church meals—“roast pastor”! Anyway…

Our encounter with the angry protestors highlighted, for this pastor, how a not-that-long-ago valued and respected community member and voice, has now become devalued, disregarded, despised and even hated by a growingly-bold opposition to the very God who made them—the One whom the pastor represents. It could make a pastor suddenly lose his appetite—both for the Whopper & fries he was anticipating, and perhaps even for his calling…

Value assessment: a) A pastor (& a Bible conference, for that matter) are only valued when a people (especially those who call themselves by Christ’s name) are truly “hungry” for the things of God above all else [versus self-sufficiency, distraction, complacency, &/or avoidance of spiritual, & even ecclesiastical responsibility]; b) “protest” may have value, but only when there is an Absolute, unshifting standard defining, undergirding, and guiding it…not human-generated agendas; and lastly. c) fast-food lunch is, perhaps, of value for a quick physical-appetite fix, but not good at all as a long-term diet plan. Hmm… Is there application from the “c” issue to “a” & “b”?

The human (read: American?!) tendency to / demand for the quick fix—be it the “fast-food” spiritual snack [YouTube, podcast “church”, etc. (excepting, of course, the reality of no other real-time options)], &/or the angry, hands-on, even violent I-want-what-I-want-&-I-want-it-yesterday, overthrow approach, &/or the easy-prep, processed food meal, all leave us shallow, fractured and burned over, &/or fat and headed for a sure, painful, and premature death of one sort or another.

So, what’s for lunch? For this pastor?Hopefully, not me personally…again! (😊), but an unflinching commitment to my God and Savior, to the feeding of His flock, & to the offer of rescue, redemption, & eternal hope to the wayward one. For a Christian community, that will be a vibrant and fruitful presence-for-good in a discouraged and angry culture? A steady “long obedience in the same direction”, gratitude, a chosen humility, service & even sacrifice, while not compromising on the truth. And for the angry protestors? The ability to see beyond the temporal to the eternal, to be able to calmly and unhurriedly consider the true roots and ingredients of their angst, just long enough to be able to perhaps hear the message of both the committed under-shepherd and the transformed community of disciple-servants of Jesus, to then find their unrest swallowed up in the embrace of the only One who can truly satisfy the hunger of the soul, and give true & lasting peace and rest that passes all human understanding.

And who knows—maybe one day, we might all find ourselves together, joyfully sharing lunch at the home of the Whopper. Or, much better still, worshipping together in the presence of the King…of Kings, that is!

Shalom!

Brian