Mashing Potatoes for Jesus
Marcia Call
2 Corinthians 9:1–15
I love preparing food for others. It fills my soul with joy.
But please don’t mistake me for a chef — Carl Patton is a chef. I have 12 meals I do really well. That’s the sum total of my repertoire — and I think two of the recipes came from Carl. I do try to add to the catalogue though. In fact, I try about 30 new recipes a year. Some make it onto cards, go through the laminator, and are filed in the recipe box. Others? Well, they might not even make it to the table. For example, I decided to try a new cranberry sauce recipe for Thanksgiving. The recipe called for 2 chipotles in adobo sauce. I misread it and thought they meant 2 cans of chipotles in adobo sauce. The result was so toxic I nearly asphyxiated myself pouring it into the garbage disposal. I was so distraught I threw the recipe in that evening’s fire pit. Aroint!
Tonight, however, I made one of my new favorites — mashed potatoes with Boursin cheese. I made it for Thanksgiving and everyone loved them. The dish is so fun to make and just so fluffy! Our monthly Carpenter’s Shelter dinner seemed the perfect opportunity to prepare it again. Last night, I peeled 15 pounds of potatoes, mashed them with milk and butter and set them in 4 aluminum foil trays. Between work calls this afternoon, I found time to whip up the cheese and egg and mixed the concoction together. I prepared 4 trays — 2 with garlic and herbs and 2 with scallions and chives. I also prepped a quart of chicken gravy with white wine.
Sounds yummy, doesn’t it? Those mashed potatoes made me so happy.
So what’s this have to do with Advent? My assigned passage is Corinthians 9: 1–15. Paul is writing to the Corinthians to remind them that they promised an offering for Jerusalem. Apparently, they made the pledge and then, well, they got busy. Hmmm . . . sounds really familiar, doesn’t it?
Take this devotion for instance. I promised Pastor Robin I’d do it ages ago — I did the same thing last year. I’m nothing if not consistent. Yeah, well, I told myself, I’m busy. Maybe no one will notice if I whiff. After all, I had to make mashed potatoes for the shelter, right? Meanwhile my commitment started to drift farther and farther into the background. In fact, I wrote to Robin last night and told her I probably should have been writing my devotion rather than making mashed potatoes. Oh, good job, Marcia, blame it on the shelter. This does not make me proud.
Rather than chastise the Corinthians, Paul sends an encouraging note to remind them — hey, I just wanted to remind you about this and more importantly remind you of how joyful you were when you made the commitment. And, not only that, people will be so moved not by your gift but the powerful expression of your love of God that you stopped what you were doing and you did this thing you promised.
As I was driving home from the shelter, my eyes filled with tears. I thought about how something I had prepped in my home, with all its creature comforts, was going to nourish someone with no home to call their own. I realized it really didn’t matter if my mashed potatoes were worth 5 stars or if they would end up as disposal fodder. I had committed to do something for someone else and I had followed through on that commitment with joy in my heart.
“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Corinthians 9: 12b-15
I type this devotion to you as my holiday gift to you . . . as imperfect as it may be and as imperfect as I am. I do it to so that you might know the spirit works through me and through it I am better. Giving you this makes me better and hopefully it will provide you with an awareness of the awesome generosity you can make available to others by being your own wonderful, unique creature made in the image of and in service to God.
I hope it’s at least as good as the mashed potatoes. Be well.
