Recipe for Comfort

So many things I should be doing – emails to send, a sermon to write, Lenten meditations to work on but NO – I want to put this out to you. Those things will wait, and still be there, in a few minutes when I finish this.

Yesterday was one of those days – it stretched before me with a To Do list sitting on the table. But it was the same To Do list that has sat on my table for weeks now … repot the house plants, Na, too much effort … tidy the shelves of preserves in the basement, ugh, who wants to do that … balance my cheque book, nope, too much reality there … run the snow blower, I would have to put on my boots… then I thought of the tonic for this jumble of negativity. I dug through my recipe box and found Ruth Forgrave’s recipe for Beef Stew and Sally’s recipe for Rice Pudding. Soon the casseroles were in the oven and the stew was simmering and the rice was bubbling. Ah, comfort food. Stew and rice pudding, even better than potato chips.

Have you ever thought about how many times food and meals are mentioned in the Bible? Eating is a big part of being the people of God. Promises were made over the sharing of bread. Jesus was forever breaking down barriers by eating with people. Food and drink make the central part of our faith story. Our sacrament of breaking bread and drinking wine is central to who we are as a people of faith. Fred Craddock said, “The trust test of being Christian is not who we will feed but who we will eat with.”

Thumbing through my recipe box or leafing through my favourite cookbooks brings a flood of memories. That beef stew recipe? Ruth gave me that at the time of my marriage to Carl. Ruth and her husband Ernie played matchmaker for us. Ruth would often invite me “For a bowl of soup.” after church on a Sunday. One Sunday when I showed up, Carl was also there. Ruth thought we would be good for each other. She was right. I think of her fondly whenever I make that beef stew. Sally and I were baptized on the same day, way back when, in our little rural church. Her rice pudding incorporates the zest of a lemon and it is both sweet and fresh. Makes me smile as I eat it and remember so many happy times we have spent together over the years. Such comfort.

Comfort and sustenance comes to us in so many ways. We have realized, during Covid, how refreshing and renewing and healthy it is to be with others. Had we known last year, when we had our last pot luck, our last family dinner, our last happy hour, that it would be the last for a year, I think we would have savoured it even more than we did. Do you think that Jesus and the disciples really knew it was their last supper together when they had what we call the Last Supper? Do you think that as they passed around bread and had another glass of wine that they fully understood the power of the moment? We often only understand the preciousness of a moment, an experience, a time, when it has passed and we look back. But memories come back to us in flash when we savour a spoon of beef stew or delight in a dish of rice pudding. The aroma of something roasting in the oven, the flavour bursting in something fresh from the kitchen are among the things that bring comfort. It is not just the food, it is the memories, the associations, the sustenance that comes with what that food represents.

So make yourself something special – cook up a pot of whatever makes your heart sing. Think of the many people you have shared it with over the years. Picture, in your mind’s eye, the meals you have enjoyed with family and friends. Comfort in a bowl!