Do I really want to eat at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?

What if the table includes congealed chicken fat?  Goose heart?  Thin slices of beef tongue alternated with pig fat?  Raw salted fish?

This past weekend, I had a wonderful time ministering in northern Moldova. Sunday included my first Moldovan wedding.  After preaching one of the three wedding sermons, the entire church convened to the community hall for the
wedding feast.  Plates of food crowded every corner of the table, wedged one on top of another.

I loved most of it.  The key word is “most!”  I just had a tough time with the jellied chicken.  To make that, you simply boil chicken until all the fat is in the juice, and then refrigerate until the juice has the consistency of Jell-O.  Dip your spoon into that!  I could swallow the goose liver, but couldn’t bring myself to chomp into the goose heart…looked a little too tough!

As I sat at the feast, I thought of our upcoming feast in heaven.  I’ve always imagined the table piled high with roast beef, turkey, mashed potatoes, and apple pie.  There would be an Italian section, of course…ravioli, spaghetti, and canolli!  I would love to sit down to Latin American food, i.e. tacos, enchiladas, arroz con pollo!

BUT…if Moldovans set the table, I have now definitely encountered food that I would rather skip.  What if some other culture set the table?  Some people love fried bugs…fried brains…fried pigskin…fried okra…fried chicken!  And there are many of your foods that would turn the stomachs of any right-minded Moldovan!  You will never find jalapeños, lutefisk, or pepper jack cheese on that wedding table.

There is a 50-cent word for this…ethnocentricity.  Basically it means that we think our culture is the only culture.  We each assume God speaks our language…English, Spanish, Romanian, Chinese, maybe even Russian!  We imagine heaven’s music with a Latin swing…or a Hillsong beat…or an African worship service.

But God is not contained to one style…one country…one culture.  Jesus came as a Jewish carpenter’s son, but He meets each person where they are.

We need to look outside our churches, reaching out to those that are different.  We need to embrace the cultures that are different…people that are different…and eat foods that are different!  We need to fill our churches with new believers from every walk of life.  Be a missionary!  In your own town!

And when that day comes, I will be glad to sit in the Moldovan section…jellied chicken and all!

Feasting on God’s good grace,
Andy Raatz