Kondrup's Subs Part 1: Good Bread

I like subs. When I'm in Searcy I eat at Lenny's at least once and when I'm in Jersey I eat at Danny's in Little Silver at least once. After I am the daughter of THE Kondrups. That's right. For all of you reading this who in the mid to late 70's spent some time on the Jersey shore, little town called Sea Bright, I am the little blond-haired girl who, while supposed to be napping, climbed the stack of cases of Coke bottles in the back of her parents' restaurant - Kondrup's Subs. My family knew, still knows, how to make a good sub. They know what kind of meat and cheese and "extras" should be on what bread to create a great taste.

Now let's talk "church services." I use that phrase to refer to the time a church body gathers together. We are told several things the early church did during that 60, but no more than 75, minutes each Sunday morning. They prayed, they sang, they had a lesson, they had the meal set to remind them of Christ's sacrifice. We usually do the same thing, and at most churches, our lesson and time of remembering are sandwiched in periods of singing.

So let's say back at Kondrup's Subs my dad has an awesome cut of meat and some delicious cheese. In walks Joe Smith and orders a sub. My dad takes this awesome meat and delicious cheese and puts it between some stale, slightly moldy bread. He wraps it up and hands it to Joe, who cannot wait for the yummy Kondrup Sub he's asked for. He opens it and takes a bite and it tastes nasty. The bread is so yucky that it ruins the taste of the meat and cheese.

Isn't that what a lot of church services are like? A preacher prepares a great lesson, which could really touch hearts and impact lives. The Lord's Supper is prepared and ready for us to reflect on. But we get there and all we can taste is old bread. Many times from the moment it begins, things seem so dry and flavorless, that by the time we get to the meat and cheese, we have no appetite at all.

Why do we do that? What makes our time of worship become stale? I have two reasons. The first is that it happens for the same reason bread becomes stale. Not the scientific reason, moisture, air, yada-yada-yada. But because the stale bread is the leftover bread. The bread that wasn't used when it was fresh. I think sometimes we do the same with God. We give the best, freshest part of us to our jobs, our hobbies, our interests. And then we give whatever energy we might have left to God. We get there, and all that's left is the last few dried out pieces of us. So we mumble through songs without giving a thought to the words. We fidget through prayers, check our watches every ten minutes, and take communion without giving much thought to why.

The other reason I think things get stale is because there is such resistance to using a new recipe or new kitchen tools. It's the big no-no for a lot of cooks. When you have a recipe that has worked well for years, why risk messing up the final product by changing something? Or if your regular baking pans make a good cake, why try out a new one? And yet some of the best, most delicious dishes have been created when a recipe was altered. I mean, at some point, somebody somewhere thought, "You know, this cookie is good, but imagine if we threw in some little pieces of chocolate?!"

I have talked to friends all over the country who are feeling this sense of hunger. Not for good subs or chocolate chip cookies, but for their church body's time together to be more than ritual. To be more than good meat between old bread.

(Look for Kondrup's Subs Part 2: Spiritual Condiments in a few days.)