Hello,
Yesterday I had “brunch” at a Chinese restaurant in Flushing, New
York. I was visiting my son in
NYC, and part of my visit was an experience of the Chinese culture. It was a Sunday Brunch completely
unlike any I have ever had.
He, his girlfriend (who is Chinese), and I walked into the restaurant
that had a dining hall the size of a basketball court. The “court” was filled with round tables that sat 8 per
table. Since we were only three,
we shared the table with a young Chinese couple that seemed oblivious to our
presence at their table. We were
directed to the table by a walkie-talkie holding “maitre d’” who waved us past
the wall divider into the hall as if he were a traffic cop and we were car-dodging
pedestrians.
We might as well had been car-dodging pedestrians, because weaving in
and around the tables were women pushing metal carts with the food. Some of the food was on little
plates, always in groups of three (and often undecipherable to my western
eyes). Other carts had covered
vats with soups whose colors I had never seen in soup before. And still other carts had food that was
dipped out of large containers and place in a bowl for us to share. The folks who shared our table asked
for one such thing as a woman rolled by, a bowl full of sliced cow’s lung.
To me, it felt like I was eating on a bumper car track. The din of the conversation (all in
Chinese) was so loud that I could barely hear my son’s girlfriend trying to
tell me what I was eating (which may have been a blessing), and the women who
pushed their carts around hawked their wares like concession sellers at
baseball games. Of course, there
were no forks or spoons, only chopsticks, which I found exceptionally
challenging to use when seeking to grasp one of the foods that was
….well…slimy. (I had to resort to spearing some of my food in order to lift it
off my plate and bring it to my mouth.)
Like I said, it was a brunch the likes of which I had never had
before. A brunch, however, I am
very glad to have had. I ate
things that I had never eaten before, some of which I won’t be disappointed if
I don’t eat again. But more
importantly around that brunch table, I experienced a culture that I had never
experienced before. Without having
to go to China, I got a taste of the energy, the table fellowship, and the
palate of a culture far different from the one that I daily experience. It was a blessing which has broadened
my life.
Although I do it regularly, I feel like I experience the same sort of
thing every time that I go to the Lord’s supper and receive Holy
Communion. That meal that comes
with the promise of the body and blood of Jesus “in, with, and under the bread
and wine” is of a sort that no human kitchen could concoct. It is a unity with the Divine and with
those who share this holy brunch with me that is beyond my human understanding,
and the culture of forgiveness and mercy that permeates the meal gives me a
taste of hope and love that is foreign to anything else in life.
I was quickly filled as I ate my Chinese brunch, not only with food but
also with a great appreciation for a different culture. Let me extend to you the Lord’s
invitation to come to his table on Sunday and see if you do not find yourself
quickly and wonderfully filled….filled with the grace of God which far
surpasses amazing, and filled with a new taste of hope that will flavor every
encounter in life that you have with others and every challenge that you face.
I am thankful for the invite given me to this past Sunday’s brunch. Might I be so bold as to invite you to
a wonderful brunch this Sunday…the Lord’s Supper. It is a dining experience unlike any other.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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