The Bucket of Fried Chicken
(Third in the Church Casserole Supper Series)
Proverbs 28.19-21
Dr. Matthew M. Fry

As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Guide us, O God, by your Word and Spirit, that in your light we may see light. Send out your light and your truth, O God, and let them lead us. Amen.

This lent I have been preaching sermons that have been sprinkled with the ideas of food, specifically food that you would find on the table when you have a potluck supper, or as we call it in the south, a casserole supper, or as they call it in some places up north, a tureen supper. I’ve done a couple so far, including Strawberry Shortcake and one of the huge staples of casserole dinners, deviled eggs. Today we turn to the one that might be the only thing more popular than deviled eggs, the bucket of fried chicken.

Oddly enough, there aren’t any passages that deal directly with fried chicken in the Bible. You’d a thought that Jesus would have covered it, maybe somewhere in the sermon on the mount, but he didn’t. Granted, the idea that Jesus didn’t really discuss something has never stopped the church from presuming to know exactly what he would have said about it. From pro-life to pro-choice to sexuality issues to cloning to a vast array of matters that people are just sure they know God’s will on, Jesus has words put in his mouth all the time. And the Bible is interpreted to speak to issues that may or may not be the intention of the writers of the Bible, or of God, the author of life. So, even though fried chicken isn’t anywhere mentioned, nor are Strawberry Shortcake or deviled eggs, I’m using the images they bring up to me as I approach specific passages in the Bible.

Though, bread is mentioned in today’s passage. Twice. You could make the stretch from bread to breading for the chicken, maybe.

Anyway, hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Proverbs. Listen.

Proverbs 28.19-21.

19 Anyone who tills the land will have plenty of bread,
but one who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.
20 The faithful will abound with blessings,
but one who is in a hurry to be rich will not go unpunished.
21 To show partiality is not good —
yet for a piece of bread a person may do wrong.

The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

In doing a Lenten sermon series about food, I bring up a contradiction. Many Christians, self included, have used lent to give up things as a reminder of the sacrifices of following Jesus all the way to the cross. And often people give up a favorite food or drink. So, here I am preaching about food, week in, week out.

Particularly this week, fried chicken. Several of you have confided in me that you take each lent as the opportunity to eat healthier. Eating healthy, treating your body as a temple, taking care of what God used to create you is a spiritual discipline. I often do the same thing, and this year is one of the years where I am trying to eat healthier as a part of my Lenten discipline. I have found that kind of discipline to be good in my relationship with God, and that I have focused less on myself and my selfish desires, and more on sacrifice.

Here’s the thing about this proverb. It mentions things in abundance, such as “Plenty of bread,” and “The faithful will abound with blessings.” The Christian life is full of paradox which is not just two docks. One of the paradoxes that is at the core of Christianity is the fact that we are called to live lives of sacrifice, to lay down privilege and power so that we can help the widow, the orphan, the outcast, the least, the last, the little and the lost. We are simultaneously called to live abundantly, generously and graciously.

The bucket of Fried Chicken is something that brings about, in my mind, the image of abundance. In part, because the bucket always stands so tall, usually the tallest thing on the Casserole table. It looms over the rest of the offerings of pasta salad, coleslaw, baked beans and fruit ambrosia. And even still, as the bucket looms large, it is not big or tall enough to contain all the chicken that lies therein. The chicken flows over the top of the bucket, the way a muffin breaks out over the top of the muffin cup, climbing even higher than the looming bucket itself. In this way, the bucket of fried chicken is a symbol of abundance.

One of the things the church is called to do, and every once in a while does really well, is to be a place of abundant life for everyone she touches. Life should spring forth from the church, so much so that while the church towers in the landscape, with its bell tower or similar large building structure, that even then life overflows out of it, looming larger than the building structure.

The problem is that the church has offered judgment instead of life. We have found our comfort in setting or finding standards, and then judging people who don’t meet those standards. We also conveniently look past when we have fallen short of those standards, which is often. But that is really another sermon for another day. The sad news that should not be overlooked is that we have gotten lost. Instead of talking about healthy relationships and life affirming grace, we have talked about rules and religion, about structure and fulfilling the law code, about litmus tests for who is in God’s good graces. When we have done so, we have lost our way.

It seems like we have perverted the idea of living sacrificially and simultaneously living abundantly. What we have done is demanded sacrifices of others so that we might enjoy the benefits of abundant living. I’m just not so sure that is what Jesus ever intended.

Ironically it is when we live sacrificially that we become aware of living abundantly. When we give up certain things, we really begin to appreciate those things. Like how rarely we appreciate our health until we come down with a really bad case of the flu, we rarely appreciate living abundantly until we sacrifice something.

I have become aware of how quickly we feel entitled to things. I was recently lamenting how slow a particular program on the computer ran, and heard from a friend who was a roommate in college. Scott reminded me of the time that he and another roommate were almost late turning in their papers because the typewriters they were using began to malfunction. Scott’s ran out of ink, and there are no typewriter supply stores that are open at 2 a.m. when he was typing the paper. Our other roommate, Tom, his typewriter began shooting out sparks at 3.45 a.m., and they realized that they could type for 10 minutes and then had to stop for 5 to let the typewriter cool down. So they alternated 10 minutes on the typewriter, 5 off, then the next guy got 10 minutes, and then 5 off. So, each guy would get to type 10 minutes out of every half hour. And they did this all night and through the morning until our 2.00 p.m. class. I had typed my paper earlier, and was watching and laughing while all of this took place, helping when I could – it was my third roommate and me who went and got lunch as well as a new ink cartridge when the stores opened. Neal and I walked our papers over at 1.45, and waited to see if Tom and Scott would make it. 2.05 they zoomed in. When we explained their circumstances to the teacher, she decided not to take a whole grade off for their tardiness. I think she did take off half a grade, because a deadline is a deadline and she wanted them to learn the hazards of waiting until the last minute.

Now I complain if my computer locks up and delays me for 30 seconds when I write down sermons or newsletter articles or session agendas. I’m entitled, you know, to quicker ways of accomplishing my word processing. Isn’t that a difference!

When the Braves started winning in 1991 it had followed years and years of futility. Barring one year in 1982, the Braves had spent my whole life inventing new ways to lose. But in 1991, I started reading the sports pages of the paper every morning to see if they had won. This was before ESPN was so huge, and I didn’t have cable. If they played a game against the Dodgers or Giants, I had to wait until two days later to get the scores.

Now I complain if it takes more than 10 seconds to download a web page full of pictures that refreshes every 15 seconds to keep me up to date with spring training scores. I’m entitled, you see, to my information that quickly.

We are not entitled to the abundant life. It takes some work. It takes sacrifice.

When we live with that sacrifice, when we live abundantly and generously, then life springs forth in abundance.

Let us so live. Amen.