“What a potent symbol, to be born in someone’s food bowl.” The World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle
As I reflect on the mystery of The Light of the World entering the darkness of the long nights during winter, I found myself thinking about Will Tuttle’s quote. Many of us are removed from living on a farm, so thinking about the manger scene as a place where animals were stored and fed don’t enter the equation when we picture the night of Jesus’ birth. Let’s just focus on the manger this morning.
A manger held food to feed all the animals. Animals crowded around a stone or wood feeding bowl filled with neatly prepared food and thoroughly disinfected after the animals were done licking and drooling all over the bowl…..RIGHT? Nope. Maybe? We all hope. Probably not but who can say what the situation really looked like in the stable where Jesus was born. Maybe Joseph took care of the situation and went out to find water to rinse out the bowl or maybe they just laid some kind of cloth over the muck and called it good.
One thing that relates to our story is that some of the animals fed out of the manger were animals meant to feed humans and some of the animals fed from the trough carried humans or performed burdensome tasks. The animals feed to feed us. What an imPERFECT place for Jesus to be born!
In New York, we ate at a restaurant called Pret a Manger. What a cool place! This restaurant fed us beautiful and healthy food. At the end of each day, they give away all the leftovers to charity. They feed us to be able to feed others. What a great place to support!
“If we live well, we feed many with the most nourishing food: the fruits of compassion and wisdom. In the end, more than needing food for the journey, we can discover that we are the food for each other’s journey, and that our deepest need and joy is not merely to consume but to be this nourishing food for others. We are all born in a symbolic manger, to be spiritual food for others, and we are called to discover our unique way of contributing.” The World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle
I follow Jesus because I believe he lived to be spiritual food for others AND I see that other wise & compassionate men and women feed many people everyday.
Let’s nourish ourselves so that we may live to nourish others.
Merry Christmas!
Amber Mattingly 