The Good Stuff (Isaiah 55:1-9)

Isaiah 55, verse 2, says:  “Eat what is good…”  At first glance that may seem like a strange verse to focus on in Lent, a season in which many people “give up” eating certain foods, foods that they consider “good.”  Like chocolate. 

For the record, I have not given up eating chocolate this Lenten season.  And I’m finding it very hard to resist eating the girl scout cookies that now take up a shelf in my freezer.  Fortunately or unfortunately, those cookies are disappearing fast, and I may not have to resist eating them for much longer.

“Eat what is good,” the prophet says.  The full verse, as we heard it read moments ago, says:  “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

The Message, a Bible paraphrase by Eugene Peterson, interprets the verse this way:  “Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy?  Listen to me, listen well:  Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest.”

Well, what is the best?  What is the finest?  What is good, rich food?

When I was a child, every morning I’d make myself a bowl of cereal.  And then, because I liked to read, I would read the cereal box as I ate.  I would study the nutrition labels, and the ingredients list.

I still do that sometimes.

Did you know that the girl scout thin mints I bought from my nieces are different than the ones I bought from Hazel’s granddaughter?  They’re almost the same, but not quite.  The most significant difference is people with milk allergies can eat the ones Lacy sells, but should probably avoid the ones my nieces are selling.

At one point, this would have been important information in my family.  Ethan, when he was a toddler, had an allergy to the protein in cow’s milk.  It wasn’t a severe allergy, and he eventually outgrew it, but it did cause him to have runny noses and ear infections and asthma… so we, as a family, read labels.

Getting back to my question:  what is good food?  Well, I know that is not hydrogenated oils, or high fructose corn syrup, or even white bread.  It is not all those ingredients that I can’t even pronounce, strange chemicals and artificial flavors with six-syllable names.

Did you know that most fast-food chain restaurants freeze their French fries to make them easy to transport?  However, when potatoes are frozen, they lose all their flavor.  So scientists and chemists used their expertise to come up with chemicals that artificially mimic the taste of real French fries.  These artificial chemicals are added to the French fries so that they actually taste like French fries.

That’s not what I think of as good food, rich food, the best and the finest.

We have growth hormones in our milk.  We have genetically modified foods that the scientists say are safe, but then again those scientists work for the companies that are producing the genetically modified food.  We have meat factories where animals live in torturous conditions; I’ve met some people who believe that the soul of an animal, and all its emotions, are spiritually transmitted to those who eventually eat the meat that originates with them.  They say, “do you really want to be ingesting the fear, anger, and despair of those animals?” 

I’m not sure what to think about that.  But it doesn’t sound like good stuff to me.

At one point in time, we – that is, my wife and I – became rather particular about the food we were feeding our dog.  Different dog foods have different fillers and ingredients, some better and some worse.  One food is made with artificial ingredients; another, we were told, isn’t the best for a dog’s digestive system; a third makes a dog’s skin itchy.

So we’d go to the pet store and buy what we thought was a good type of pet food, one that was natural and beneficial.  We wanted to make sure we were giving our dog the best food.

And then we’d take our kids to McDonald’s.

And I realized: something’s not right with that picture.

We don’t talk a lot about food in the Christian Church.  Buddhism, however, has five Mindfulness Trainings, and one of them very specifically deals with food.

The first Mindfulness Training concerns the protection of life.  The second training works to cultivate kindness through one’s actions.  The third emphasizes responsible sexuality.  The fourth works to cultivate good and loving speech.  And the fifth training emphasizes the practice of mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.

What does it mean to be mindful of what we eat?  It means to pay attention.  It means to notice.  How often do we eat a meal while driving, or watching TV, or reading the newspaper?  How often do we finish our meal, and then find that we can’t even recall how the food tasted, because our mind wasn’t paying attention?  How often do we eat when we’re not even hungry, because we’re not even mindful of our own body and what it really needs?

According to Thich Nhat Hanh, the Fifth Mindfulness Training of Buddhism states: 

“I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society.  I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films and conversations.  I am aware that to damage my body and my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations.  I will work to transform violence, fear, anger and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society.  I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and the transformation of society.”

What a beautiful statement this is.  “I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society.”  Everything I eat has an effect on my body.  Everything I eat has an effect on my mind.  Everything I eat has an effect on society, in the way it is grown and produced, and in the way it is transported. 

The production and distribution of meat, for example, requires a tremendous amount of resources and produces a tremendous amount of greenhouse gases.  Something I learned just this week is that more air pollution is caused by livestock farming than by all the cars we drive.  Now there’s something to be mindful of.   

“I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films and conversations.” 

A lot of people find that ­moderate, occasional alcohol consumption, practiced mindfully, is okay for them; many others, however, avoid alcohol completely because of its potential to poison lives and relationships.  And we all are certainly exposed to too much toxicity in TV programs, magazines, books, films and conversations.  We absorb images of violence, and listen to conversations that do nothing but put down and belittle others.  My gosh, all the talk following last week’s Oscars about how ugly this person’s dress was or how undeserving that award-winner was ­­– have we forgotten that the people we are belittling are, like us, humans created in God’s image? 

I find all this criticism of things that really aren’t important to be toxic, because they only encourage me to engage in the same types of conversations.  I try to speak positively and with kindness (which is Buddhism’s fourth training, and an important teaching in Christianity as well), but speaking positively and with kindness becomes harder when I allow myself to be filled with the negativity of others.

The most important thing here, I think, is to actually pay attention to what we are ingesting.  The important thing is to actually notice what we are filling our minds and our bodies with.  If we don’t even know what we are eating, or if we don’t pay attention to all that is filling our minds, how will we ever be able to distinguish between what is good and what is bad?

And that, I think, is what the Lenten practice of fasting or giving up certain foods is all about.  Giving up chocolate for Lent (to use that example) isn’t about the chocolate.  It’s about becoming more aware of the food we eat.  It’s about paying attention to what’s good for us and what’s not.  It’s about actually noticing our food; because if we don’t notice what we’re eating, how can we ever be thankful for it? 

Lent, I think, really is all about paying attention.

Of course, all that I’ve said about food applies to our spiritual diet as well.  A great many people settle for a spiritual fast-food diet.  They don’t really have time for prayer, or Bible study, or even just sitting and thinking about theological issues.  They’re lucky if they make it to worship once a week.  They hear more about faith and religion from the TV news, which, in my opinion, is the spiritual equivalent of artificially-flavored, heavily processed restaurant French fries.  It’s not the real stuff.  It’s not the good stuff.  It’s spiritual junk food.

I am so blessed to be able to have the time to really go deep in faith, to grow in understanding.  It’s what you pay me to do.  It’s why I’m constantly reading books and going to conferences and workshops and lectures.  I know that not everyone has the time for such things.  But there are some real and potential opportunities to feast on good, wholesome, spiritual food.

One of these opportunities is coming up in just a few weeks:  Founders Day at Chapman University.  It’s actually two days now:  on Friday, a series of lectures; and on Saturday, lunch, worship, fellowship, and a concert by the Chapman choir.

The featured speaker at this year’s Founders Day is Brian McLaren, who has been called “the Martin Luther of the current Reformation.” 

To put that in perspective, it has been noted that Western culture in general and Christianity in particular seems to go through a great upheaval every 500 years or so.  500 years ago it was the Reformation, which Phyllis Tickle describes as a “wrenching, deconstructing, liberating, anxiety-producing, world-rending change…” just like the changes in church and society we are experiencing today.

1000 years ago we had the Great Schism, when western Christianity and eastern Christianity split.  This division resulted in the Roman Catholic church and the Eastern Orthodox church.

1,500 years ago we had the fall of the Roman Empire, the beginning of the dark ages, and the beginning of Monastic Christianity.

And 2,000 years ago, the biggest change of all; a shift so great that we number our calendars from it.  Jesus (and others, like John the Baptist, Paul the apostle, and the disciples) transformed religion.  In fact, using today’s lingo, it seems to me that what Jesus did was start a movement that was more spiritual, and less religious; more grass-roots, and less authoritarian; more focused on right action and less focused on doctrinal beliefs.

Then again, maybe I’m biased, since the current transformation that I live in and that you live in has all of these emphases.  And no one understands this better than Brian McLaren.

So I’m looking forward to some really good spiritual food at Chapman University in two weeks.  I have no doubt that it will be the good stuff, rich food indeed.

Are there other opportunities for rich, good spiritual food?  Of course there are.  Our youth experience the good stuff whenever they go to camp.  We have a group of ladies – I think it’s all ladies – who meet here at church twice a month for prayer.  Others contribute in service to the community in various ways; that, too, is the good stuff.

There are other potential possibilities as well. Perhaps you would be interested in getting a few people together for a weekly Bible study.  That would be wonderful.  

Maybe you’ll join me at Founder’s Day, or Rock the Loch, or the Regional Assembly next fall, or even the General Assembly taking place this summer in Orlando.  I know it’s not easy to get to some of these places, especially Orlando.  But finding the good stuff, and weaning yourself off of junk food that is quick and easy, can sometimes take a little effort.

Which is why, in Lent, we focus on getting rid of some things, in order to make room and time for the fine things, for all the good stuff that is waiting for us.