The Cross & Cleaver. Where Heaven Meets Earth
The Menu and Church Bulletin
We have already established, or at least I have already stated my opinion, that we all need to eat, and we all need to have system of belief (faith). To be clear, once again, you should not live on fast food and processed stuff alone, but you should cook for yourself occasionally … or go out. Just as your value system cannot be sustained by self-help books and media influencers. Broadening of horizons, challenging our assumptions and going beyond “same old, same old” is vital to our ongoing evolution as homo sapiens.
I am assuming that if you continue reading, you are following my basic premises. You do not have to agree with them, though I am hopeful you are being somewhat curious.
Almost all restaurants upon sitting you down will present you with the menu. Unlike fast food place you do not have to stare at wall-mounted screens with rapidly changing offers (no doubt timed to entice you to add more add-ons😉). Most mainstream churches, claiming hundreds or thousands of years of tradition, will hand you a bulletin.
Adam Gopnik in his book “The Table Comes First” describes the menu as “a list of things the cook is ready to cook.” I like to think of a menu (and recipes as well, actually) as a mini story, an invitation to an adventure. There is language (hopefully communicative), occasional pictures, perhaps a paragraph about the history of the place accompanied by a list of seasonal specials. Some come are traditional and fake leather bound, and some are innovative by way of being stapled by a nail gun to a cheese board.
Church bulletins are no different. They invite you, in an ordered fashion, to an adventure, to a meeting with God, with fellow worshipers and diners if it happened to be Communion Sunday. They customarily have announcement and info section – in case you found the experience meaningful and would like to know more or are thinking of recommending the place to a friend.
Church bulletins and menus have a lot in common. They both represent places where hunger is satisfied. Their content echoes what each represents. Call to worship and opening prayers mingle with appetisers, soups and salads. Roast is the main, as is the reflection/sermon (within protestant milieu anyway). Pastoral prayer, like dessert, ought to be the crowning of the whole experience. Words of thanks for coming and expressions of hope of seeing you again offered by the waiter or the manager are akin to blessing and dismissal offered by the minister.
I like cohesiveness. I like theme. In worship and on the table alike. I want to hear a particular word, or sentiment, weaved through all the elements of service. In the same way I want dinner to flow and make sense (historically, ethnically or geographically).
I wrote too much for a full-dinner menu, so how about a scrumptious tomato salad?
Arrange tri-coloured tomatoes (grape or sliced) on a plate or in shallow bowl. In a warmed-up jar make a dressing of 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, 4 tbsp of olive oil, ½ minced garlic clove, juice of small lemon and handful of finely chopped chives. Shake and pour over.
Serve with crusty baguette to mop up the juices and light lemonade, or crisp white wine if you partake.
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