I like food. Christians like food. But we forget to preach moderation.
For now, I think I’ve completed everything I need to in Scotts Valley, so I’m heading back to Vacaville.
The no-car method of getting there is pretty simple.
- Walk 1 km to Starbucks.
- Enjoy a delicious Coffee Light Frappuccino.
- Catch the Highway 17 Express bus to San Jose when it goes past a half-hour later.
- Catch the Amtrak train to Oakland, Sacramento, and Auburn.
- Get off in Suisun; get picked up by Mom; go home.
- Right now I’m in the middle of step 2. Mmm… Frappuccino.
Venti is hardly big enough. But it could be worse; I discovered recently that Starbucks in Japan doesn’t have any such size as venti. They have short, tall, and grande… and that’s it. The horror!…
I’m an American, and like most Americans, we either like enormous portions, or we at least like having the option to order an enormous portion. True, this is much of the reason why I weigh 102 kilos; I like food, and I haven’t previously paid attention to how many calories food contained. I only recently started. Hence the Frappuccino Light (which still contains 200 calories per 24 ounces).
When’s the last time you heard a sermon condemning gluttony? Last time I checked, it’s still one of the Seven Deadly Sins; last time I checked, it’s an American “epidemic,” or so the TV news reports every month or so, complete with video of really huge blob-like Americans walking around in public, shown from the neck down. Americans are getting fatter and the church, true to character, isn’t speaking out against it.
In fact, most Christians would react with horror if any sermon actually was to speak out against it. They’d condemn it as totally inappropriate. Especially considering the large number of large-bodied Christians (and I am one of them) that can’t hide this particular sin.
Yet the last time I heard a sermon about gluttony, it wasn’t actually about gluttony. It was about a form of gluttony; namely, being a glutton for punishment. People are being too hard on themselves, the pastor pointed out, and we need to accept God’s forgiveness for our sins and move on. (Likely this sermon was the result of too many drawn-out pastoral counseling sessions.) He pointed out that gluttony was one of the Seven, but he never touched on what gluttony actually means, probably because his potbelly is as big as mine.
And maybe that’s why a lot of Christians don’t preach about gluttony. Christians like food. We have potlucks all the time; heck, one of our sacraments involves eating and drinking Jesus. Look at all the feast days in the sacramental calendar. Look at Independence Day: you know most of us are going to a barbecue, and many are even hosted by churches. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to have a group meeting if you have an excuse (like food) to meet. Maybe it’s because you can center everyone’s focus on the food instead of God, scripture, discipleship, etc. I have no problems with Christians eating together per se. But like everything, it shouldn’t be done to excess.
Pastors feel uncomfortable preaching about a sin that they all-too-obviously commit regularly, and they’re reminded of Jesus’s parable about taking out the log before you pick at your neighbor’s speck. I find it sad that people are using that parable as an excuse to (a) not deal with their own sin, nor (b) preach against that sin in general. I have no problem preaching against sins I commit. I confess them, I repent, and I preach against myself. Better to do that than ignore it.