{"id":4657,"date":"2025-05-28T10:18:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4657"},"modified":"2025-05-28T10:18:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:18:02","slug":"redemptive-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/28\/redemptive-meals\/","title":{"rendered":"Redemptive Meals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Winston Churchill loved dinner parties.\u00a0

The World War II-era British Prime Minister savored hearty entrees, tasty desserts, endless rounds of brandy and champagne, and imported Cuban cigars.

What Churchill most enjoyed, however, was the chance to sit for extended periods with friends and foes alike.

In her book Dinner with Churchill, <\/em>historian Cita Stelzer reveals that at mealtimes Sir Winston was doing a lot more than just sampling souffl\u00e9s. It was his lifelong habit to listen carefully, float ideas, entertain gossip, and build bridges amongst his guests.

In other words, the dinner table was Churchill\u2019s secret weapon in conducting the business of politics, both foreign and domestic.

He knew, intuitively, that something special happens when people eat together.\u00a0

Minds and hearts become more open and vulnerable.\u00a0Walls comes down.\u00a0People quietly digest more than just the food on their plates.

Churchill said that if he could have eaten dinner with Josef Stalin once a week, the anxieties of the Cold War might have been far less intense.

It\u2019s not a coincidence that world religions routinely invite their adherents to a central feast.\u00a0Consider Islam\u2019s Eid al-Fitr (the culmination of the month of Ramadan), Judaism\u2019s Passover (the festive meal that commemorates Israel\u2019s escape from slavery in Egypt), and Christianity\u2019s Lord\u2019s Supper (the mass or eucharist or service of communion that echoes Jesus\u2019 final meal with his disciples the night before he died).

\u00a0How do we make peace with God and with each other?\u00a0We sit side by side at the same table.

The New Testament even portrays heaven as the Great Banquet where God is the gracious host.\u00a0

At the end of every year, America\u2019s holidays (our culture\u2019s \u201choly days\u201d) present seemingly never-ending opportunities to eat. Thanksgiving is followed by five weeks of Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, New Year\u2019s Eve bashes, family feasts, celebratory dinners, and joyful calls to hoist mugs of hot chocolate, wassail, and eggnog.\u00a0

It\u2019s enough to keep Weight Watchers in business for a very long time.

The summer feasting season may be smaller in scale, but it won\u2019t be long before grills are firing up, neighbors are coming together to share barbecue and potato salad, and relatives are gathering around picnic tables for annual reunions.

There\u2019s a sacredness in sitting down with others, whether they be friends, family members, or even those fellow students or co-workers with the most pricky personalities.

David writes concerning the Lord, \u201cYou prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies\u201d (Psalm 23:5).\u00a0

Every time we sit down to a meal, it\u2019s the Lord\u2019s table.\u00a0And that table just might be the place where hurts can be healed and enemies can become allies.

At all your summer gatherings, therefore, listen carefully. \u00a0<\/em>
Speak fewer words than you did last year.\u00a0
Look for Spirit-provided opportunities to build bridges.<\/em>

It\u2019s time to enjoy the kinds of meals that can make this time of year nothing less than a season of redemption.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Winston Churchill loved dinner parties.\u00a0 The World War II-era British Prime Minister savored hearty entrees, tasty desserts, endless rounds of brandy and champagne, and imported Cuban cigars. What Churchill most enjoyed, however, was the chance to sit for extended periods with friends and foes alike. In her book Dinner with Churchill,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[932,930],"class_list":["post-4657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fellowship","tag-meals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657","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=4657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4659,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4657\/revisions\/4659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}