Food Fight!!!

The last time I had the opportunity to preach, it was World Communion Sunday, and I made sure to make some points about why it is that the eminent Sacrament revolves around eating and drinking. If you go back and look at the gospels as a whole, Jesus does a lot of his ministry around food. And there's simply something special about breaking bread together that helps form relationships. It's not by chance that I chose to go out for pizza with the Senior High Youth for a get-to-know-you event. It's not surprising that a central piece of my weekly staff meeting is who's turn it is to buy Dunkin' Donuts for the group—I really do enjoy their pumpkin muffins... mmm... Where was I? Ah yes, food.

I can't help but notice that there are a lot of folk in the church I now serve who have been reaching out to me with food. And that's good! Food is good, but just like all good things, there are ways for it to go badly. I myself used to eat poorly and exercise irregularly (if at all) and my weight and health reflected that. Luckily, a dear friend turned me on to Weight Watchers, or rather to their method of keeping track of what I eat. I haven't gone to any of their support meetings, and the information I used was handed down to me.

My point is that I lost a significant amount of weight in a controlled and healthy way—and I am still keeping track of what I eat in order to maintain my current, healthy weight. Basically I have an allotment of Weight Watchers points (I usually eat 6 for breakfast and 8 for lunch and dinner) and then four meals where I can eat whatever I want. Which is good, because I hate to turn down gifts of food. One of these days, though, somebody is going to try to hand me one of those tasty pumpkin muffins and I'm not going to have the 14 points to spare.

You read that right. Fourteen. Calculate it yourself if don't believe me.

Now, I need you all to believe me when I say that I'm aware of the huge issues many people have with healthy eating. One of my favorite people has struggled with an eating disorder—and even though I haven't heard about it just lately, I suspect that she struggles still. If you want or need to know more about eating disorders and what to do about them, please go to the Mayo Clinic and/or The Nemours Foundation site as soon as possible. Both of those websites seem to be pretty good places to go for health information—but if your experience isn't the same as mine, I hope you'll tell me!

So if you happen to be the person I have to turn down food from, please forgive me!

Your body is a temple, so be good to it.
And be good to each other!
Rev. Josh
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