Taste, Aftertaste and Acquired Taste
Good Morning Friends,
Yesterday we had communion at church….bread and grape juice. I ate it all. Now with the memory of that meal in my mind I am compelled to continue to explore our senses as a means of experiencing God. Today we contemplate one of our senses that blends and integrates with the other senses in a profound way that makes eating so much a part of our faith.
Today we look at Taste, Aftertaste and Acquired Taste.
Then prepare for me savory food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
Genesis 27:4 (NRSV)
“In those days people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
Jeremiah 31:29 (NIV)
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Psalm 119:103 NIV
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
Matthew 5:13 (NIV)
Message: Scientists think now that kids may not like to eat their vegetables because of calcium receptors on the tongue linking the good green stuff with the sense of a bad taste. What was meant for good has become a bit of a problem. Sometimes we get confused. Differentiating good bitter from bad bitter is the key. Ask any devoted beer drinker. Ask those who have just participated in a Seder meal. The six traditional items in measured portions on a Seder plate link the variety of tastes we experience in life to memories. Friends, taste helps us to recognize those things both harmful and beneficial. But frankly some of them are acquired and some can be over activated. Eat sweet stuff all day and you will get fat. The healthy reality is for our desire for God to be as our desire for good food. The fellowship of believers in the early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The next time you eat do so in a way that binds a memory of Jesus in the fellowship of food.
Pray we take and eat. Pray we rejoice in the blessings of food with family. Pray we not blame others if we choose to eat grapes before their time is right. Pray we stay balanced in an unbalanced world. Pray we forgive others, letting go of the bitter poison in our lives. Pray our lives are seasoned with the visible manifestation of God. Pray we have supper with Jesus. Pray we learn to drink in all of life. Pray we have a taste for life everlasting. Pray our experiences of food are linked to the right memories.
Daily Devotionals 