January 12 Pastor Post

January 12 Pastor Post (Monday)

Sullivan UMC—J. Michael Smith

Welcome to the Monday issue of the Pastor’s Post.  Monday’s correspondence will usually be limited to the joys and concerns handed in on Sunday—plus the weekend blog I write.  I’ll have more of the “inside scoop” to share the rest of the week—when I get back to Sullivan.  

I try to reserve Monday’s to do church work at home—where I am less likely to be scheduled for meetings.  Work like writing, reading, research, phone calls, text messages, and the beginnings of next Sunday’s sermon and worship preparation.

Yesterday’s Joys and Concerns (as handed in during the worship services)

  • For Glen Righter (health) and Kevin Huffman (health)  –Ann Wheeler
  • Visits with Fred Davis and Mary Storm  –Ann Wheeler
  • Getting better after an illness, 80th birthday Sunday  –Esther Nelson
  • Our family is such a blessing  –Roger and Janet Roney
  • Paul is home from Decatur Memorial and surgery went well  –Sandy Stone
  • New great granddaughter!!!  Bob and Julie McClain
  • Joy for Pastor Mike being with us  –Christine Grohler
  • Prayers for our country  –Christine Grohler
  • Prayers for me to be a mentor in life to all my basketball players, and a positive light to the boys  –Jessica Pope
  • Mother in law, Jane (health and still in hospital)  –Kristi Sowers
  • Happy to be able to hear the sermon, looking into nursery help for the future  –MacKenzie Hoss
  • Praise for the beautiful earth  –Susan Conner
  • Norma is sick today  –Joe Pound
  • Joy for our amazing church family  –Katlyn Drummond

Weekend Blog:

Every morning my email box gets filled with with digital news:  Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, the Economist, the Smerconish Report, USA Today, etc.  I also get a mailing called, “Nice News.”  Most days, after reading all the rotten news, I’m too grumpy to read anything nice.  But I force myself to breathe deeply and check it out every few days or so.

Yesterday’s Nice News included articles on middle schoolers learning cursive, how eating take-out is better for relationships than eating in a restaurant, and how discarded Christmas trees are being used to preserve the Fylde coast in England.  But the article that caught my eye was a list of the favorite fast food restaurant for each state.  The information came from data collected by FinanceBuzz.  

Here’s the summary:  

  • Arby’s is the most popular fast food chain in: Indiana, Nebraska
  • Bojangles: North Carolina, South Carolina 
  • Burger King: Rhode Island 
  • Captain D’s:  Alabama
  • Chick-fil-A: Delaware, Georgia 
  • Chipotle: Maryland 
  • Culver’s: Wisconsin
  • Domino’s:  Alaska 
  • Five guys: New Hampshire 
  • Hardees:  Tennessee, Virginia 
  • In and out burger: California 
  • Jack-in-the-box: Arizona, Nevada 
  • Jersey Mikes: Connecticut, New Jersey 
  • Jimmy John’s: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota 
  • Little Caesars: Michigan 
  • MOD pizza: Washington 
  • Panda Express: Hawaii 
  • Panera: Massachusetts
  • Papa Johns’s: Kentucky
  • Papa Murphy’s: Idaho, Oregon 
  • Pollo tropical: Florida 
  • Popeyes: Louisiana 
  • Qdoba:  Colorado 
  • Shake Shack: Washington D.C., New York 
  • Sonic: Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma 
  • Subway: Maine, North Dakota, Vermont 
  • Taco Bell:  Missouri
  • Taco John’s: South Dakota, Wyoming
  • Wendy’s:  Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia 
  • Whataburger: Texas 

A couple things surprised me.  Kentucky Fried Chicken was not on the list, not even in Kentucky.  McDonalds was not the #1 in any of the states, yet overall it grosses the most income of any fast food restaurant in the country.  Starbucks comes in second nationwide, but it also is not the favorite in any given state.

I felt betrayed by the whole nation when I noticed that Waffle House was not the winner anywhere.  But then I remembered that this survey was about fast food, not fine dining. 

Browsing through the list, it seems that I’ve lived a sheltered life, as I don’t remember ever eating at the following:  Shake Shak, Qdoba, Pollo Tropical, Papa Murphys, Papa Johns, MOD Pizza, Jimmy Johns, Jersey Mikes, or Bojangles.

Since I’ve been to all 50 states, I think I’ll sit down someday and list my favorite meal in each state.  And if I can’t remember one, I’ll head back that state and eat around while I’m there. 

But the best dining experience is seldom fast food.  It is good company, scenery, and ambiance.  The best meals feature a thread of joy that runs from the cook through the guest.  Meals are enhanced by local culture and an appreciation for how food connects us with the land, sky, and waters.  Food comes from the earth and its waters, from which we came, and to which we shall return.

To get my list started, here are some of my favorite meals:

  • Tennessee—a baloney sandwich in the highlands of the Smokey Mountains when I was 5 years old, with my mom and dad and grandpa—on a pull off alongside the highway.
  • California—my first taste of guacamole at my Uncle Cecil’s Tastee Freeze.
  • Florida—a seafood buffet, watching Jie’s delight at all the seafood when we traveled with some Chinese friends many year ago.  (Sadly, the restaurant had gone under when we drove past it the next year.)
  • Washington D.C.—a Mexican hole-in-the-wall on Connecticut Avenue where my seminary classmates and I would go at least once a week—followed by ice cream at the Baskin Robbins across the street.
  • Pennsylvania—one of those Amish family buffets on the many trips we made to visit grandma when the kids were little.
  • New Hampshire—a bean supper at a Methodist Church; we saw the sign for it when we were passing through some little town around dinner time.

There is much written about how to revive our institutions:  churches, neighborhoods, and even politics.  I am reminded that American politics worked best when the politicians did most of their business in taverns around a table, when people ate and drank together and hammered out agreements.  Families are strengthened when they eat together, whether it is the nuclear family at a daily meal or an extended family at a holiday or reunion.  Neighborhoods are made safer and more hospitable when neighbors share food with one another on patios.  Stories are made and told when friends or lovers share meals.  And churches would do well to remember that Jesus did much of his ministry around food, whether an unconventional assemblage of guests in a home, free food for 5000, or an intimate dinner with his “team.”  

With all that is in the news these days, and our feelings of helplessness—I deeply believe we can make a profound difference by cultivating that most profound of human experiences:  poignant dining.  

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