Do you like buffet’s, you know, the ones where there is a wide array of choice of food. (By the way, let me drop in here a great idea to help different ‘diets.’ All veggie food on a green napkin, fish on blue, meat on red and special diets on yellow, as a veggie I can’t tell you how helpful this to make sure I don’t mistake fish paste for hummus!)
I have a bit of uncertainty to buffet’s, they are great if
you want to have food available over a longer period, a running buffet, and they
are great at introducing themed food, say from a certain country or region.
However, I am sure I am not alone in thinking, O, I would
like one of those, and some of those, plus a few of them, and, and, and….
And then, the end, the ‘leftovers’ – that moment when you try
and divvy out all the food or the host will be eating soggy sandwiches and quiche
for the next month!
There is a stagering amount of food waste in the UK alone. Approximately 9.52 million tonnes of food waste annually is produced in the UK, enough to feed 30 million people!
Added to this is the colossal amount of packaging, with a lot of it still going into landfill.
All of this was very much our focus this morning. Our
collection along with many others from around Rugby will go to supply Rugby
Food Bank. We also had a ‘hunger lunch’ –soup and a bread roll and then invited
to put what we normally spend on lunch into a basket that would also go towards
the food bank.
I remember some years ago one Church taking this a step
further. Everyone was given a ticket for their lunch and then sat down
together. Then, based on the ticket some people received a full roast dinner
while others had a bowl of rice or a slice of bread.
And as wonderful as food banks are, I still think we are real
danger of them becoming normalised. I am reminded of this quote from Hélder Câmara,
* “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor
have no food, they call me a communist.”
We need to keep asking the question, ‘why do we need food
banks?’
Today we were given a Scriptural quote to take home with us
from Philippians 4.11-12,
“I am not saying this because I am in
need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I
know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have
learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well
fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
On the 4th October we were invited to remember St
Francis, who is one of the best known and most loved of all the saints both within
and without the Church. Back in 1972 Franco Zefferli produced a film called ‘Brother
Son, Sister Moon’. It’s a tad dated now,
and it has the Zeffirelli feel about it, with Franics viewed almost as a 13th
century hippy type of drop out. Partly
this is because it has a wonderful soundtrack by Donavan, very much of that
era.
I watched the film yesterday (on the 4th October)
and yes, I must admit that tears welled up as I watched the film again. (It’s
become a bit of an annual thing)
I first saw this film before I became a Christian and remember
thinking at the time, if only I could find the Jesus of St Francis, now that
would be somebody worth following. In some ways, I think the film does a good
job of portraying Francis’s childlike naivete as he steps naked into a new
trust in Father God.
We are currently 81 days away from Christmass. Is it time for
your family and friends to begin to have an honest conversation, about gifts and
food? I have known of some families who have put a price limit on the gift, say
£10.00 maximum. If people then want to give more there are plenty of Charities,
including Prison Fellowship and Angel Tree, to whom you can donate anything ‘extra’
you may have spent.
Angel Tree - Prison Fellowship
Now retired we find that we don’t really need any more stuff
but love experiences, a night out for a meal, or theatre or cinema.
Before the Christmass juggernaut begins rolling inexorable
towards the day let us have those conversations now.
Our consumer society is predicated on creating
dissatisfaction. It is powerful and can be all consuming and very hard to stand
against, like the buffet table, O I would like one of those, and one of those,
and I simply must get the latest phone, or, or, or….
Do we really need it – or do we want it, and there is nothing
wrong in wanting things, as long as we recognise the difference between need
and wants.
Somebody once said richness is either the amount of your possessions
or the fewness of your wants. And at the end of the day, as Scriptures reminds
us, no matter who has the biggest toys (or barns) everyone still dies and must
hand over everything!
(See Luke 12.16-21)
May we learn to live more simply so that others can simply
live.
