Feeding your missional spirit

A friend and I were talking about our weeks, discussing what sorts of events were coming up. Her church was putting on a skit night. Not feeling secure in her thespian abilities, she was reluctant to attend. I asked, “Do you have to bring something?”, seeing as how food is usually the primary lure to get folks to attend such church functions. “Yes,” she sighed: she had a lot going on already, so the thought of having to prepare a dish seemed like another line to add to the ‘to do’ list.

But for myself, that’s where the fun would’ve begun. I love watching The Food Network (see how I’ve capitalized the ‘t’? When “the” is capitalized, that means it is of utmost grandiose importance . . . or else I can’t remember the proper use of capitalization and figure, Heck! Biggie-size the whole thing). They create these grand dishes to wow and amaze your friends and family: from easy entertaining to meals cooked in half an hour, each chef not only exhibits a gorgeous yummy cuisine, but they spend a great deal of time convincing the viewers at home that “you too can make this easy and delicious meal”. That is, if you have people to eat it.

In my abode, it’s just me and my hubby: it could take us a week to get through a casserole. True, there’s a little one who lives here as well, but his food still must be milky or squishy to ingest. Due to blood sugar issues, I stay away from white flour and sugar. Do you know how many recipes this cuts out? I don’t even know why I bother watching “Paula’s Home Cooking” except to hear her massacre the words ‘oil’ (ahwl) and spatula (spatuler).

I saw this great story in our local paper about a person I know who’s being ‘missional’ in her cooking. She and her friends are part of a cooking club in which they take a main course recipe and make ten batches that can be frozen, and then they exchange them, meaning they have a freezer full of homecooked meals that simply need to be popped in the oven. But each time they exchanged meals, they had some left over. Heidi had the great idea of donating them to a local non-profit who distributes the meals to those who are sick or need a good dinner. How wonderful is that?

What a great example of doing something helpful and fun! Maybe someday we’ll see her on The Food Network . . . maybe I can be her helper . . . or at least making “mmm, smells yummy” noises - I’m good at that.