The Meal Train

A couple of years ago, Carolyn was experiencing significant pains in her abdomen area. After calling 811 (HealthLink BC), she was advised to visit the hospital, where they determined that her appendix had become inflamed and needed to be removed. She spent a couple of days there and some days afterwards in recovery.

.

We had received one of those meal-prep boxes the week before. Carolyn thought I’d be able to handle making the one meal on my own for the kids the evening she headed to the hospital- some kind of burger. I was miraculously able to both burn the exterior to an absolute crisp while leaving the inside almost completely raw. I decided to slice the patties in half and cook them longer, to expose the raw parts. Which resulted in the entirety of the burger hard as a hockey puck. How did I pull that off? My skills in the kitchen are simply unprecedented.

.

Carole contacted me and Carolyn during this time and asked if she could arrange for us to receive some meals during that time. I was at first resistant. We’ve got this! We’re self-sufficient! (Honestly, I still thought this after turning burger patties into skipping stones). Carolyn was much wiser and said yes, we would love to receive that kind of help. It was such a blessing to have a few people drop off meals that week. It was an expression of people’s love for us and an act of grace that lifted our family during a difficult season. We also received a series of meals a few months after that when our son Zachary underwent open heart surgery. Again, it was such a blessing to experience this tangible act of love from our church body in that time.

.

We have a meal train ministry at The Bridge, and I want to encourage you to consider participating. Occasionally, someone connected with our church finds themselves in a situation where having some home-cooked meals is a huge help. Sometimes it’s because of something challenging and even tragic: a death in the family, a surgery, life has fallen apart in some way. Other times it’s because of something still challenging but more celebratory: I’m thinking here especially of the birth of a baby. A call goes out and anyone on the mailing list can sign up to bring a meal over to that person’s home. Here are some of the things the meal train accomplishes, in my view:

.

It is a practical way of serving needs and loving others. In Philippians 2:4, Paul encourages us to look not to our own interests, but to the interests of others.

It is an outworking of who we are as the body of Christ. We saw that in 1 Corinthians 12:24-25 last Sunday: in the body, “its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part of the body suffers, the every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it”. This is who we are: the body of Christ. The meal train is one outworking of who we are.

.

It helps connect people who are new or have been somewhat on the margins. I know that some people who have received a meal train have said it made them feel connected with our church in a way they hadn’t before. New relationships are formed, and people are brought from the periphery more into the centre.

.

It is a witness to others outside the body of Christ. Jesus told his disciples, “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). One of our primary means of witness to the world is our life together as a church. When we care for each other and lift one another up, the world sees it. Family and friends of those who are being lifted up sees it. And what they see is that our faith is not just empty words, but that it produces fruit. It produces actions.

.

There are many ways to do all of those things. Not all of us can or will serve in this way (I’m fairly certain nobody will be begging me to bring them a meal). But it is one way, and I again invite you to be part of this great ministry that has blessed so many. You can join the meal train by sending a simple note to Carole Mayrand at cvmayrand@me.com, just saying “I’d like to be on the meal train mailing list.”

.

May we be who we already are!