They were hungry, so they ripped meat off the bone with their dirty hands and shoved it in their mouths. Food scraps were scattered across the table. There were no forks, spoons, or individual cups. Cider pots were passed across the table to the person who wanted a drink.

Sounds like a dinner at my house when Nancy is out of town.

Actually, it’s a description of how people ate in the year 1650. It comes from a book called A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America, by historian James McWilliams. In addition to describing such lovely colonial meals, the book explains how choices about food shaped cultural and political identities back in the earliest days of our country.

You’ve heard the expression, “You are what you eat.” Well, it seems that this idea applies to entire countries as well as to individual citizens. Decisions about which crops to grow and what food to eat had an impact on regional identities in colonial times. It also fueled the desire to secede from England.

Take the Pilgrims. They quickly found that there was a problem with the Massachusetts soil — it would not grow wheat, a fundamental crop for proper English families. Corn was much better suited to New England soil, but back in their homeland corn was something that you fed to pigs. In time, the Puritans began to copy the Indians and grow corn, and after a while they even began to like it. But when colonial leader John Winthrop visited London and made the case that corn was fit for human consumption, British people looked at him like he was recommending that they eat dog food.

In time, the colonists started to take pride in their ability to feed themselves, independent of their homeland across the Atlantic. And when British soldiers began stealing food from colonial stockpiles, revolution became a very attractive option!

You are what you eat. It’s as true today as it was in Colonial America, and in the Corinthian church of the first century as well. In today’s lesson from First Corinthians, the apostle Paul addresses the critical question of whether or not Christians ought to eat food that has been offered to idols. He gives them some instruction in the table manners they will need as they sit down as one community together.

Now I realize that idol-meat is not an issue for us, but it is a huge deal for the Christians in Corinth. It splits them apart the way abortion or homosexuality tend to divide the church today. In Corinth, non-Christians will frequently go and sacrifice an animal to a Greek god or goddess, burn some of the meat on an altar, and then eat some of it in a ritualistic meal. The remainder of the sacrificial animal is sold to the local meat market, which then turns around and resells it to the public. It’s kind of gross, but economical — you can get a pretty good deal on slightly-used idol-meat.

Yum.

This poses a problem for the Christians of Corinth, who don’t want to be associated with meat that has been sacrificed to a Greek god. Given their choice, they won’t ever eat such meat, but it is tough to avoid the stuff, since it can pop up at the local supermarket, or in a neighbor’s dinner party, or in a religious festival that has social significance.

What is a Christian to do?

Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that there is no God but the one true God (1 Corinthians 8:4). He stresses that Jesus is Lord over all that is, so he has power over even the food that has been sacrificed to idols.

Problem is, not everyone has this knowledge. Like British aristocrats who look at corn and think “pig food,” there are Corinthian Christians who look at idol-meat and think “pagan poison.” If they eat this stuff, their conscience will be defiled.

The best course, according to Paul, is to do your best to avoid eating idol-meat. He recommends these table manners not out of knowledge, but out of love. He knows that there is really nothing poisonous about this food, but as a compassionate Christian he does not want to do anything to cause a brother or sister to stumble. “If food is a cause of their falling,” concludes Paul, “I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall” (v. 13).

You are what you eat … or, in this case, you are what you do not eat. Paul’s refusal to eat meat shows that he is a compassionate Christian, one who values love above knowledge. More than anything else, he wants to behave in a way that nourishes, strengthens, and builds up the Christian community, the Body of Christ.

What a different church we would be if everyone followed the example of Paul. Instead of fighting over political positions, we would put our passion into out-doing each other in love. Instead of picking on our opponents, we would put effort into picking up anyone who has stumbled and fallen. Instead of criticizing church leaders, we would step forward and ask what we can do to help. Instead of judging people who have different racial, national, cultural or sexual identities, we would remember to remove the two-by-four from our own eye before we attempt to remove the splinter from a neighbor’s eye (Matthew 7:5).

That’s the kind of behavior that you want around your dinner table.

“Knowledge puffs us, but love builds up,” says Paul to the Corinthians (8:1). He knows that knowledge can lead to a certain puffiness or arrogance — just watch the Sunday morning political shout-fests on TV — but love inspires compassionate attitudes and actions that succeed in building up the church. By focusing on the way of love, we can become a community in which people of different views can actually get along.

The place to begin is in the development of personal relationships across political and theological barriers. This requires building a foundation of understanding and trust, long before any controversial issues are discussed. In the world of Corinth, this means getting the meat-eaters to talk with the non-meat-eaters, and to develop such strong bonds that they would not dream of creating any stumbling blocks for each other. In our world today, it means encouraging the conservatives to talk with the liberals, and to build such deeply personal relationships that church members will trust and support one another as they seek to do Christ’s work in the world.

My friend Gerry Creedon, the pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington, believes that this approach is essential, and he insists that Christians today need to find a way through conservative and liberal frameworks “to an underlying experience of faith.” We are challenged to identify shared Christian principles that reach beyond the typical political boundaries, and can be embraced by conservatives and liberals alike. These unifying principles can be as simple as seeking justice and ending hunger — core stances that have shaped the work of Bread for the World, a nationwide Christian citizens' movement, as it has provided a faithful, nonpartisan voice on hunger issues both here and abroad. Bread has both Republicans and Democrats on its board of directors, and its leaders are very focused on their mission to make policy that helps the hungry. By remaining true to shared Christian principles, the organization is able to speak with a unified Christian voice..

Strong personal relationships. Shared Christian principles. These are the table manners we need to practice if we’re going to be able to sit down and eat as one family of faith. These are the manners that we are challenged to teach to the children of this church, including Nathan Young, baptized today. These are the qualities that a church community has to embrace if it is going to avoid getting caught up in the food fight of partisan politics.

Carrie, I am so grateful for your service to this church, and your work as my colleague in ministry over these past five years. You have shown excellent table manners in this congregation, by building strong personal relationships and basing your ministry on our shared Christian principles. You have nourished so many people here, and you will be missed — by me and by so many members of this congregation. We’ll feel a real emptiness when you depart. But we know that you are being called to a new congregational kitchen, and that you’ll keep cooking — God will help you to serve up a satisfying spiritual banquet wherever you go.

Our Lord wants us to be well-nourished as a community of faith, and strong enough to do his work in the world. He knows that we are what we eat, and our choices about food shape our identities as faithful or faithless people. That’s why he gives us Jesus, the bread of life. That’s why he offers us the fruit of the Spirit, the nourishing fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

There is much good food for us to eat, provided by the God who wants us to be healthy and satisfied and strong. We can eat our fill, and show each other the love that is grounded in personal relationships and Christian principles.

If we do, we’ll be minding our manners. And all who hunger will be filled. Amen.

Sources:

Alan Bjerga, “Table Manners,” The Washington Monthly, June 2005, 52-56.