Thought for Today
Exodus 30:34 The LORD said to Moses: Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (an equal part of each),
Proverbs 24:13 My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Mark 1:6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Luke 24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Happy Pie Day!! (3/14, 3.14159. . .) I know, some of you are Muggles and don’t understand all the hype about March 14th or about May 4th. (“May the force be with you) Irrespective of all that, Happy Pie Day . . . or more appropriately, Happy π Day!
If you ever took a course in geometry, you understand the importance of that mathematical constant. Throughout time and space, everywhere in Creation, every circle always has the same relationship between its circumference and its diameter, c= πd. Every circle always has the same relationship between its area and its diameter, a=πd2/4. Why?
Constant relationships are constant because God created Creation that way. Since Genesis 1:1, every circle has always had that same relationship. It has always been that way, because our Creator God made it to be so. Could it be any other way? Only God knows.
Finding appropriate scriptures for Pie Day was a challenge, because the Bible never uses the word pie, nor does it use the word dessert. What did the disciples serve for dessert at the Last Supper? Did people then even eat dessert? “The word “dessert” emerged in the seventeenth century, derived from the French verb “desservir,” meaning ‘to clear the table’ in English. Etiquette dictated that napkins and tablecloths be changed before the final course, which at the time was a delicate fruit course. In a courtly context, the course itself was known as ‘le fruit,’ but the bourgeois renamed it ‘dessert.’ After the French Revolution, the aristocratic ‘fruit’ was fully replaced by ‘dessert.’” (daily.jsotr.org)
We do know that our ancestors-in-the-faith at least understood the taste sensation we refer to as sweet. I don’t think that God’s words to Moses were intended as an early pie recipe, after all, frankincense probably isn’t edible. Those instructions seem more like a potpourri recipe. Obviously, however, honey was a much-prized commodity. It still is today. I have never been tempted to follow the diet of John the Baptist, but, I do love honey over hot biscuits.
Should you have any doubt about why it is appropriate for us to incorporate holidays like Pie Day into our calendar, especially for Christians to do so, think for a minute why we do celebrate this day. As Christians, we celebrate this day in recognition of God’s Creation. Our Creator God has given us a creation where mathematics hold, where there are constants. Maybe only mathematicians, scientists and engineers fully appreciate the fact that 2 + 2 = 4 every time. Maybe only we can see the cause of celebration because c = πd every time. Maybe only we can understand the chaos and horror of a creation where these constants were not constant.
But all of God’s children can appreciate the taste sensation of sweetness. All of us can appreciate the tradition of ending a meal with dessert. Eat dessert today. God obviously wants you to. That’s why he made the taste sensation of sweetness so pleasurable. Of course, some might choose to debate cake over pie. Some might even dare to wrongly challenge the obvious truth that pecan pie is the best, ultimate pie. Some would be wrong.
Stay safe, enjoy Pie Day, thank God,
Pastor Ray