Fish and Chips

Prayer Pairs #5

Fish and chips is the classic kiwi takeaway food. Here in New Zealand it’s a favourite summer meal, often shared with a group of people and eaten straight out of the newsprint packaging at the beach or a local park. Fish and chip shops are dotted throughout the country and even in remote holiday spots, the local campground, pub, or dairy will offer fish and chips.

Living near many beaches our family has our favourite beach for walking, our favourite beach for swimming, our favourite beach for body-surfing and our favourite beach for eating fish and chips.

It’s one of those easy meals that is able to stretch to feed a crowd. If you place a large enough order typically they fish and chip shop will throw in a few extra potato fritters. Swap out the fish for sausages or hot dogs for the non-fish eaters and the dollars go further. Bring a loaf of bread and the essential tomato sauce, and the simple meal becomes a banquet.

As for getting the quantity of chips right, this remains a complete mystery. Although most places have a dollar amount per scoop, this never quite seems to work out in multiplication, and typically families will order $5 or $8 of chips for 4 people, or if feeding a crowd of 25 about $40 of chips. In my experience there’s usually enough to go around and sometimes there’s even some left over.

In these days of high inflation and food insecurity, it seems like there really isn’t enough food to go around, there’s not enough to share or at least there’s not enough willingness for those who have to give to those who don’t. There are hungry people around us. They’re in our communities.

Jesus called his disciples together and told them, “I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry. They might faint on their way home.”

Matthew 15:32 (CEV)

There’s a story in the Bible about making a meal stretch to feed thousands. It appears in all four gospels, and in two of them this feat of feeding thousands is repeated. This is a well known story and often taught to children in song or in picture books. It’s also often depicted in colouring pages to give children something to do do while their parents are listening to a sermon in church about important things. The tricky thing is that thinking of this story as a story for children, can mean as adults, we miss hearing an important message ourselves.

When Jesus fed thousands of people with a humble lunch of fish and bread, he showed us a way to live out our faith. He modelled what it means to take what we have and to stretch it out and share it as far and as wide as we can. He offered us a model for sharing with others and meeting people’s needs. This is real life, practical, down to earth faithful living. I think one of the reasons I love eating fish and chips outside on the beach with a group of others is it feels like something Jesus did with the group of people he’d gathered around him. It makes me ponder what it means to live out my faith.

Given it’s winter here, chances are none of us living downunder are going to feel like taking our fish and chips to a park or beach to eat this week. Maybe if you’re in the northern hemisphere you’ll manage a picnic somewhere. Adapt the prayers for use in your settng, and if you don’t have access to fish and chips or they’re not your thing, then swap these out for another simple, warming meal.

May you ponder and may you find comfort.

On the journey

Caroline