WHAT?! NO VEGETABLES?
Exodus 16
Rev. Jerry Duggins – August 14, 2011
(italics
indicate quote from New Revised Standard Version)
Meat to eat
in the evening,
as quails came
up and covered the camp,
fill of
bread in the morning
on the surface
of the wilderness,
a fine flaky
substance,
fine as
frost on the ground.
What? No vegetables,
for the people of God on the move
through the wilderness?
Food on the run,
manna gathered in morning,
bread raining from the sky,
like a white coriander seed,
the taste of
it like wafers,
made from
honey.
Did they add water to make a dough?
And then knead it before baking?
Food on the run,
Quail came as the day grew late,
apparently boiling,
the preferred preparation.
A forty year diet of manna and quail,
no variation.
No corn smothered in butter and salt
No fresh green beans,
no salad with lettuce, cucumber, radishes, tomato
straight from the garden.
Eggplant, squash and zucchini,
forget it.
Vegetables take time to grow:
preparing the soil,
planting the seed,
watering, weeding.
They require roots
holding them firmly in place
a thing not to be found,
while wandering the wilderness.
No roots for the plants,
no roots for the people
quail for dinner,
manna for breakfast,
and no leftovers
for the people of God
on the move.
Taco
KFC and Mickey D’s.
Places to eat
for people on the move.
No turning the earth,
sowing of seeds,
no watering, no weeds.
A burger and fries,
our modern version
of manna and quail.
Oh, we have vegetables,
onions, zucchini,
both of them fried.
No time for cooking,
No time for cleaning.
T-ball, little league, All-stars and travel teams.
When we stop to rest and relax,
a five dollar hot dog
at the baseball game.
Music lessons, soccer practice,
football, baseball, basketball
cross country, tennis, track,
high jump, pole vault, discus, shot put,
dance, theater, painting and pottery:
opportunities unending,
and not just for kids.
Volunteering at Ministry with Community,
Loaves and Fishes, Habitat for Humanity,
Planned Parenthood and Open Doors.
Entertainment that takes one out every night,
Beethoven’s ninth, Les Miserables,
Riverdance, Romeo and Juliet,
Blue Grass, Jazz, Rock and Roll,
Art Hops, craft fairs, garage sales,
and a Taste of
People on the move,
wandering our separate wildernesses.
We sleep in the same bed,
pull our clothes from the same closet,
go to the same school or job,
most days.
But what soil are we enriching?
what seed are we sowing?
What plants are we watering?
What weeds are we exorcising
from our lives?
Where are the vegetables?
Where do we find our roots?
Before the commandments,
God gave the sabbath.
Six days they gathered,
and on the sixth day,
they gathered enough
for the seventh.
On the seventh, they stopped.
Rooted not in a place,
but in a practice,
the practice of regular rest.
We don’t believe in “enough.”
We save for the rainy day,
for the updated kitchen,
for the dream vacation,
for the college education.
We save for retirement
and the next generation.
The people of God on the move
through the wilderness
saved something too,
a piece of manna,
not for eating,
but for remembering,
remembering that God fed
them every day
in their forty year jaunt
through the wilderness.
In what will we root our busy lives?
What will it take for us to recognize
when enough is enough?
When will we see
the time to rest
and remember
that God feeds us
every day
in our wilderness,
with a great deal more variety,
including vegetables.