Our pub ministry is back in action tonight at the Pizza Lounge. We’ll enjoy some awesome pizza and great conversation. I’ll be bringing some thoughts of doing some work and leading youth on a mission experience up in northwest Arkansas. I anticipate our friend Robert Hearne being back to share a bit about working with youth and seeing the beautiful expanse of Alaska. We start gathering at 7:30 pm – hope to see you there!
Since it’s the first pub of the month, we will have free childcare at the church from 7-9:30 pm. It’s open to anybody with little kids. You can drop them off at the nursery – come to the back parking lot of the church to get in. Our attendants always take down cellphone numbers, so if there is anything that comes up, you will be a short phone call away.
The pub group is at Stackhouse Burgers tomorrow night, 7:30 pm, if any of you lurkers out there want to join us for conversation and delicious food. I recommend just a single burger (with jalapenos) and the homemade potato chips. I can also vouch for their milkshakes. Darn good.
I haven’t picked out a question for conversation yet, but it should be as good as last week’s starter.
We might even celebrate graduation stuff. Why not join us? See you soon!
Here’s another totally unofficial vote for deliciously awesome places to eat in Dallas – Ssahm BBQ food truck. They often park on Mockingbird, in the Dallas Arts district, or over on McKinney and serve amazing tacos, kimchee fries, burritos, and more. I love Korean food as is and get it at home regularly, but merging delicious kalbi (beef) with the beauty of a taco is a gift. Go try it.
Can eating with someone be a political or spiritual act?
I’ve tried to give up eating at fast food restaurants, for instance, because I’m not sure it really lines up with what I believe about our world. Eating at a fast food restaurant isn’t necessarily bad, but you make trade offs. You gain convenience and a low price for a system that can pay people very low wages and cheapen the price of food. Plus, fast food restaurants are intended for quick transactions – they are not always good locations for community and conversation.
Eating at a locally owned business isn’t necessarily good either. How do they treat their workers? What kind of values do they espouse? I’m not suggesting you interview your restaurant, like the sketch above from season one of Portlandia, but even something like eating ends up saying something about who we are and what we value. Our actions help shape the community we live in.
Jesus knew how eating was more than just an isolated bit of consumption. He used eating to make big points about who God was interested in. Sitting down and dining with tax collectors, people with skin diseases, and outcasts was a way for him to share his values. Jesus had come for the sick, not the healthy.
Jesus’ actions also permeated the movement that would follow after him. Early Christians and on throughout the centuries continue to celebrate agape feasts, the Lord’s supper, and community meals. Sure, everyone has to eat, but those meals took on different significance as they became ways to point to a new kind of community, where young and old, poor and rich, woman and man, outcasts and accepted sat as equals and tasted God’s abundant love.
My dream is that our politicians and our community leaders would sit down to meals like that more often. My hope is that churches, like the Table, might rediscover this mealtime as a way to build bridges and relationship with folks who seem different from one another. My desire is that we all see how we eat, when we eat, and what we eat as part of our spirituality, as part of who we are.
Heads up – tonight at East Dallas Christian Church, we celebrate Maundy Thursday, remembering Jesus’ last supper with his disciples through song, word, and food. Come join us. 6:30 PM in the Great Hall.
Tomorrow after the Table service, I have the great opportunity to head out with a bunch of youth for a week of learning, working, and reflecting at the Heifer International Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas. If you haven’t heard of Heifer International before, they are the well-respected non-profit organization that allows you to give the gifts of sustainability to families all over the world – gifts like baby chickens, pigs, goats, and equipment to families who could use them for income and food. The ranch is a hands-on experience which leads youth teams in exercises that help them understand where their food comes and the disparities between different countries.
Plain and simple, it’s going to be awesome.
Throughout our trip, I am praying for that same spirit of compassion that comes from Christ to fill us and guide us to a deeper understanding of these issues. I want to hear personally and through our young people the words of Jesus from Matthew 25, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
For an inside peek at what we will be experiencing, check out the Youtube video below.
Keep us in your prayers as we go to learn, grow, and love.
And if you want to stay up with how the week is progressing, follow my twitter feed – @nathanjhill.
You are invited to check out the Table! We are a diverse community of followers of Jesus in East Dallas who seek to grow closer to God and make a difference in our world.
We worship together at 9:30 AM every Sunday morning.
