What’s This Stuff?

When I was in the Army, our cook was often a favorite target for scorn and derision – and bad jokes.  We knew they believed in hiring the handicapped because we joked that Cookie must have had his taste buds shot off in the Korean War.

But mess hall food was far superior to C-rations.  Various items in tin cans we called “mystery food.”  I still remember the end of a long day out on bivouac after having marched for miles when we finally sat down to dinner with our various cans of C-rations.  I searched through the pile of them and was overjoyed to find a can marked “lima beans and ham.”

We had these small devices to open the cans we carried around in our pockets.  I got mine out and could soon smell the odors of my anticipated meal wafting out into the still, late afternoon air.  When I finally got the can opened, it was a major disappointment.  What’s this stuff?  There, I beheld one lima bean floating in a sea of grease.  Having nothing else, I managed to choke it down.  Enjoy.  “Bread of angels…food enough,” our Psalm asserts.

There’s a Passover song that’s traditionally sung, “Dayenu.”  It translates as “it would have been enough.”  If God had only brought us out of Egypt, and left us at the Red Sea, “It would have been enough.” If God had led Moses’ band to the Red Sea and left them there, “It would have been enough.” 

If God had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land, it would have been enough.  Dayenu.

 If God had led them through the desert wilderness and had not given them the Torah, “It would have been enough.”  Dayenu.

If God had only provided manna and nothing else, “It would have been enough.”  Dayenu.

It’s an exclamation of gratitude for that which is actually provided.  Dayenu!

If God had only provided one lima bean floating in a sea of grease that evening, “Dayenu.”

When confronted with this white stuff that arrived in the morning – supposedly food – that’s what the children Moses had asked for – What’s this?  Which is the literal translation of manna – “What’s this stuff?” – a variation on the question we soldiers asked of Cookie’s offerings.

It’s the answer to Moses’ band’s complaint about the food.

“In the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as the frost on the ground.  When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’…Moses said to them, “it is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”  Dayenu!

What’s this stuff?  Sometimes you don’t want to know.

When we had our diocesan convention in the interior of Alaska, an area mostly populated by the original inhabitants, Athabascan peoples, we would have delicacies of the cooking of that region.  Minto was spectacular in their hosting of us all from around the state for an entire week.

Among the offerings were fish head soup and moose head soup.  Don’t ask what’s in those dishes.  Just enjoy and be a polite guest.  In the face of such gracious hospitality, no one dared ask, “What’s this stuff?”  It was all the largess of God’s free bounty.  Enjoy.  “Bread of angels…food enough.” Dayenu!

If all we can provide from St. Francis Garden this year is a few tomatoes and some fresh fruit – Dayenu.

As we wander through a wilderness, much of it our own making, we often feel helpless and depressed at the choices.  In the darkness of the journey, we are so polarized that many have dropped out, given up hope.

That’s the burden of a democracy where we all have a voice.  Sometimes those voices are shrill and racist.  They speak revenge and retribution.  And do so with millions of dollars.

So, I would say, if only we had two, out-of-touch guys competing for our votes for president, Dayenu.

If we now have a completely different race with a clear choice, and folks still stay home. Dayenu.

If we are still at gridlock but at least can’t pass any harmful legislation, Dayenu.

If Simone Biles had only won the silver and not the gold.  Dayenu.

If she had won the gold but not been given a shout-out on the Wheaties cereal box, Dayenu.

This summer fire season started earlier than ever.  By July just one fire, the Park Fire, had burned an area comparable to the size of Rhode Island.  If we just can’t summon the political will to address global warming, but more folks are engaged in the conversation, Dayenu.

But, every now and then, the odds do break in favor of those who are oppressed, those unjustly imprisoned.

Like, many who witnessed the release of captives unjustly held by Putin in Russia, I was overjoyed to see their arrival back In the good old US of A – and even though we didn’t get them all out, Dayenu.

For the families of those journalists and activists held in Putin’s autocratic regime, we got quite a few released.  It was through months and, sometimes years of hard work we freed the ones we got.  Dayenu.

In the wilderness of our longing there are no secret cures, no magic, but we have by God’s grace the manna of hope and perseverance.  Dayenu.

If sickness assaults us, and there seems no cure, we have the power yet of accompaniment with those who travel that wilderness.  Dayenu.

Steady acts of faithfulness, often don’t seem like much but they are enough.  Dayenu.  An “attitude of gratitude” shall be sufficient by the Grace of God to not only find a path forward and survive, but maybe, just maybe, to thrive. 

And yes, we grumbled about mess hall food but Cookie did the best he could, which on occasion was stellar.  And if nothing else, quantity made up for quality after a long day’s marching.  Dayenu.

On this Sunday, my eighty-second birthday: for what has been, my teachers and family who have brought me thus far; for what is today, friends and family, my business associates and partners who support me now in the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead; and for what the future holds – it’s been one heck of a ride, and I say, DAYENU!  Amen.

August 4, 2024
Pentecost 11, Proper 13

The Rev. Dr. John C. Forney
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78:23-29;
Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35 “What’s This Stuff?”