We settled into the booths and gave our order to the waiter. We began talking, moving quickly into the serious “God-stuff.” Then it happened.
A young woman wearing next-to-nothing walked up to our table. I was stunned. What in the world?
We had chosen “lingerie Friday” to have lunch there. The restaurant was literally crawling with lovely young models wearing skimpy outfits, flitting from table to table, chatting with diners.
Have you ever tried to witness to someone when you can’t keep their attention? Then you know my problem.
I was never able–then or any time in the future–to get through spiritually to the man I took to lunch that day. My guess is every time he thought of me, he burst out laughing, remembering my discomfort that day. It’s funny now; it was awful then.
That was 18 years ago and I’ve never been back to that restaurant. Can’t take the chance. (Or maybe it’s because I hate to return to the scene of the crime.)
I’m not one of these people who require a biblical precedent or scriptural sanction for every thing I do. However, I don’t find anyone having a working lunch (or supper or breakfast!) in the Bible. When they ate, they seemed to relax and let the fellowship be the centerpiece.
In Luke 24, the risen Christ appeared to the disciples. While they were overdosing on the joy of seeing Him, Jesus brought them back to reality in a hurry with the simple question, “Anyone got anything to eat here?” They did.
Then, while they ate–or maybe He was the only one eating–He spoke to them of the various scriptures that explain what He had just gone through and what it meant. A working meal? Perhaps, but of the good kind.
I’m all in favor of the pastor inviting a group of people to the church for lunch, after which he does a Bible study. And, for that matter, I’m just as in favor of a group of us meeting for lunch when no Bible study is held and the sole point is to enjoy each other’s company.
It was said of the first Christians, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” (Acts 2:46)
How in the world did we fall into the abyss of thinking it wrong to have lunch together unless we were working on problems, the relationship, or our differences. Spare me, please.
I would love to go to lunch with you. In fact, I’ll even pick up the tab and me on a retirement income. But not if you want to tell me about a problem. For that, let’s meet in my office or living room.
When we go to lunch, let’s just enjoy each other’s presence and savor the food. After all, this is New Orleans where the food is as good as anywhere in the world.
I can’t find it in the Bible, but something inside me wonders if it might just be a sin to scarf down such delicacies with scarcely a thought while problem-solving, calendar-scheduling, or difference-settling.
Some things are so against the natural order, they must be sinful. A working lunch is one of them.
