Pastor's Corner: Lent + egg sandwiches = love?

Last year, I was the "newbie" pastor in Havre and new clergy member in the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association - hereafter abbreviated G.H.A.M.A. As Lent approached in 2022, I learned that my church, Van Orsdel United Methodist Church at 410 Fifth Ave., would soon be the location of the Thursday Lenten Lunches in which our entire Havre and Hi-Line community is invited for a meal of soup and sandwiches and a brief devotional message, provided each week by one of our area churches.

In the Havre Daily News, the chair of G.H.A.M.A., Pastor Curtis of the Assembly of God, wrote eloquently about the egg sandwiches which are often served, along with other sandwich types and soups. For only $3 suggested donation, you can get physical and spiritual nourishment, and $2 goes to the G.H.A.M.A fund to help the needy in Havre. Wow! How cool is that? I thought. And, it was cool ... and a lot of fun to meet more people in my new community.

This year it is my turn to write to about this event and to invite you to our community Lenten Lunches each Thursday in March at noon, again located at the Van Orsdel United Methodist Church, 410 5th Ave. I am grateful to the other churches who are each taking their turn to provide a meal and message, and I look forward to this blessing of fellowship again.

How is it that we so often associate foods with religious observances and holidays? The particulars of what we eat is so often based on our history, culture and geography ... but I think it is more ... .

Meal fellowship is part of the calculus of the community of believers. It began with the radical table fellowship offered by Jesus of Nazareth, the one whom we Christians call the Christ, the Messiah, our Lord and our Savior. In a time in which social protocols dictated who should eat with whom, Jesus sat and ate at table without discrimination against anyone. More the once, he broke bread with crowds of total strangers. He enjoyed banquets hosted by "sinners and tax collectors" which scandalized the self-righteous religious folk in his day. And, we remember that his last table fellowship was saying "remember me" by breaking bread and drinking wine with his closest followers-even with one he knew would betray him in a few hours. It quickly became one of the sacraments of Christians-the ordinary made sacred through faith.

Lent is a season of reflection upon our lives and our desire to love one another as Christ loved-sacrificially, whole-heartedly, without discrimination. How shall we live together as he showed us? Maybe it begins with table fellowship? Whether you go to church or not, you are invited to come and share a meal, share conversation and share the support of the needy in our community.

$3 and one lunch hour. LENT + SANDWICHES = LOVE. Priceless.

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Sue King, Pastor of Van Orsdel United Methodist Church