{"id":3555,"date":"2024-04-09T07:38:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T11:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3555"},"modified":"2024-04-09T07:38:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T11:38:32","slug":"a-taste-of-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/09\/a-taste-of-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"A Taste of Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Denmark has never been considered a center for global cinema.

Only a handful of Danish movies, in fact, have ever received an Academy Award.\u00a0

But the first one to accomplish that \u2013 Babette\u2019s Feast, <\/em>winner of the 1987 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (based on a story by Danish writer Karen Blixen) \u2013 remains an international favorite even three and a half decades after its under-the-radar debut.

The story introduces us to two beautiful young sisters.\u00a0 Their father is the founder of his own stern religious group.

Its rules are hard and unbending.\u00a0 Life is not to be enjoyed.\u00a0 There must be no frivolity and no sensual pleasures.\u00a0

Even though the sisters attract numerous suitors, their father drives them all away.\u00a0 They become elderly spinsters who continue to lead an ever-dwindling group of true believers as a way of preserving their father\u2019s memory.

Then one rainy night in their Danish fishing village, a stranger arrives at their door.\u00a0 Her name is Babette.\u00a0 She is a refugee from war-ravaged Paris.\u00a0 She begs for their help, and they decide to take her in.

Babette becomes their housekeeper and cook.\u00a0 She serves them for 14 years, adding a few nice touches to the bland meals that have always been part of their religious discipline.\u00a0 Gradually she begins to win their trust.

One day Babette wins the lottery.\u00a0 She now has 10,000 francs, a remarkable sum.\u00a0 She decides she will treat the sisters and their congregation to a feast.

And not just any feast.\u00a0 It will be \u201ca real French dinner,\u201d as she puts it \u2013 a sumptuous, over-the-top, multi-course banquet, accompanied by the finest wines.\u00a0 She orders extraordinary ingredients that arrive in town one by one.\u00a0 She purchases new tablecloths, new cutlery, and new china.\u00a0 No one in the village has ever imagined anything like this.

And that\u2019s the problem.

The sisters and their religious friends suspect this meal will be a sensual bridge too far.\u00a0 It might lead all of them into sin.

They reluctantly decide to attend the feast \u2013 that\u2019s the polite thing to do, after all \u2013 but no one must be allowed to enjoy it.\u00a0 They agree that no mention will be made of the food. \u00a0

Brant Hansen, in his book Unoffendable, <\/em>describes what happens next:\u00a0\u201cThey sit.\u00a0 They eat, slowly and suspiciously at first.\u00a0 They eye one another, making sure no one is enjoying this too much.\u00a0 But it\u2019s too good.\u00a0 It\u2019s all just too good.\u00a0 The setting, the atmosphere, the soup, the wine\u2026it\u2019s spectacular.\u00a0 Joy breaks out.\u201d

Old wounds are salved.\u00a0 Ancient joys are rekindled.\u00a0 A spirit of hope and redemption settles over the table.

The guests are healed by Babette\u2019s gifts.\u00a0 Only after the meal do the sisters discover her true identity.\u00a0 This stranger they have allowed to putter around in their kitchen for 14 years is one of Europe\u2019s master chefs, renowned for her cooking at the Caf\u00e9 Anglais in Paris.\u00a0

Even more than that, they are healed by Babette\u2019s self-sacrifice.\u00a0 The 10,000 francs were her ticket home, her chance to return to her old life.\u00a0 But she has spent every single franc <\/em>on that single, insanely glorious meal. \u00a0The feast was a gift.\u00a0 It was pure grace \u2013 a joyful act of appreciation from a grateful soul.

What can soften human hearts that have become fossilized by pettiness and pride?

Only grace can accomplish such a wonder.

Scripture pleads with us to see reality through grace-softened eyes: \u201cLet us then approach God\u2019s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need\u201d (Hebrews 4:16).\u00a0

Notice that God rules from a throne of grace<\/em>.\u00a0 Which is why we can approach him with confidence<\/em>. \u00a0And therefore face each new day with the expectation of receiving yet more grace<\/em>.\u00a0

Hansen suggests that most people who watch Babette\u2019s Feast <\/em>will find themselves wondering why these people can\u2019t just relax and enjoy the incredible gifts they have been given.

Then he adds, \u201cAnd maybe you\u2019ll recognize yourself in them.\u201d
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Denmark has never been considered a center for global cinema. Only a handful of Danish movies, in fact, have ever received an Academy Award.\u00a0 But the first one to accomplish that \u2013 Babette\u2019s Feast, winner of the 1987 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (based on a story by Danish writer… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-3555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3557,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555\/revisions\/3557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}