Pizza Slices of Life

I enjoyed a very tasty pizza on Friday evening. The humble Margherita is my favorite, thin crust, tomato paste, cheese, a few basil leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil. I wonder what your favorite is? Whatever the answer I’m quite sure of this; when ordering a pizza the waitress never breaks it down into the various components. It comes as a whole, all ingredients baked in. That’s what makes the Margherita a Margherita.

When Jesus was sharing his life on earth with his disciples, their families, and friends he could have used the metaphor of a pizza to explain our meaning and purpose. Fullness of life included love, forgiveness, faith, work, family, joy, disappointment, etc. There was no slicing life into segments -which is where we have arrived in the 21st Century. I’m sure you have experienced conversations where there is possibly a silent agreement; “We don’t talk about politics or religion.” “You can’t mix business and faith, or politics and faith, or perhaps anything and faith.” Removing faith from everyday life is like removing the cheese from a pizza.

Consider how many slices of life we hesitate to bite into in public because of the pressure, the prejudice, or the unspoken agreement to avoid. Money, politics, sex, gender issues, First Nations in Canada, religion, Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, freezing embryos, politicians, Conspiracy Theories, and you can add to the list. That’s a lot of life to exclude from the pizza of everyday living. Perhaps we avoid because we have forgotten how to bite and chew, reflect, communicate, digest; to be respectful and okay if you don’t like Margherita as much as I do.

What sticks like a piece of unchewed pizza in my throat is attempting to separate business and faith. “Business is business.” Translation; money is money. I learned as a pastor that raising the issue of money in a sermon, or sex, would create an atmosphere of silence dense enough to challenge even the thickest of pizza knives. The more ingredients we remove from the pizza, the less tasty it becomes. The same is true for life.

Jesus never looked away. He addressed the business people of his day, and others; tax collectors, fishermen, tent makers, doctors, soldiers, religious leaders, the destitute, blind, sick, and even prostitutes. His tone seldom changed, his message remained constant. In essence, the truth he held up to all was that no matter what we are involved in, the principle of faithfulness, integrity, honoring God, being kind to others, forgiving, and sacrificial serving applies equally – to one and all. It didn’t matter your line of work, your status. your education, or your wealth. How you conducted yourself was the key, no matter what it was you did with your time and talents. Jesus never once suggested that special exceptions would apply if you were his favorite. He had no favorites. There was no turning a blind eye because your household served a great meal to him last week. He never served the highest bidder. Life with him, following him, learning from him, was all or nothing. It still is. The whole pizza, never a slice or two with politically correct ingredients suiting your taste.

Slicing and dicing is so much more palatable in our cultures. It screams at us from every corner of the universe right now, contorting with excruciating effort to justify or accuse depending on our point of view. Without the revelation of God in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection it is quite possible, and common, to have the spiritual, or God/gods, say anything, approve of anything, and condone whatever is my point of view. Spirituality and the ways of God when originating from us (as the source) are as varied as there are pizzas on the menu; take your pick, whatever tastes good for you, go for it.

Jesus brushed aside the smorgasbord of our offerings to present himself as the source, the creator, the fullest revelation of God ever presented. He came down because we couldn’t go up far enough to see clearly.

Because life may be like a pizza the implication is not that God is also a pizza. He’s more like the Master Chef who put it all together in the first place. Pizzas didn’t just happen with a big bang, or dropped from an oven in the sky. They were created, ingredients gathered, then baked, and served.

So when bits of pizza get stuck in our teeth lets remember to keep chewing and digesting all of it. Those who profess to have faith in Jesus ( and everyone else for that matter) have a responsibility to wrestle with the whole of life, including the difficult slices of war, politics, justice, character, and everything else. Nothing is off the table. Jesus brings light and wisdom into every facet of life. He focusses who God is and communicates how God thinks and acts. He hates evil anywhere, desires justice everywhere, and loves all people without exception or prejudice. Which means that how we talk, behave, treat, and even disagree – matters.

In case we’re confused, when Jesus was born the angels announced, “Peace on earth, and goodwill to all.” Not, “Pizza on earth, and slices to all”. If ever the world needed to ‘taste and see’ that God is good, it is now!