Sacramental Missiology: McDonalds, the Table, and the World, Part 1 – Dr. K. Nicholas Yoda

“When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. But they urged him, saying, ‘Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over.’ So, he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight.” – Luke 24:28-31[1]

Over 99 Billion Served…

I think that Bobby Daren sang it best in his hit song entitled Fabulous Places.

There are so many
Fabulous faraway places to see
Such as Mexico, Sweden Hawaii, Japan and Capri
There’s so many
Exciting and wonderful places
Mountains and jungles and desert oases
Pleasant as home is
It isn’t what Rome is…
So why stay there…

With that, I was off. On 15 June, I departed for Rome, Italy where I spent the week in a study program with the Anglican Centre of Rome entitled In the Steps of St. Augustine. As I described in my personal writings:

“I really do not know where to start. I am at that point where thanksgiving, nostalgia, and introspection have all intersected on the highways of the heart, the mind and the soul. It is moments in life like this that God drops bombs in our tight little world and you have no choice but to enter the transformation.”

I have been blessed to walk the pavered streets of history, to be the only person in a single instant of time and space to stand in front of the final resting places of St. Peter and St. Paul, attend Papal Audience from the third row with the new Pope, have the view of the Piazza Navona every morning as she awakens to play host to another day, dance in front of the Pantheon, walk the steps of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck at the Spanish Steps, watch some great football (soccer) matches European style, throw a coin in Trevi, conversed with Arch Bishops from around the world – the memories are as numbered as the stars. I wrote, sketched, read, took hundreds of photos, ate the best of food, shed a few tears, sat at the feet of professors that challenged me way beyond the intellect, developed relationships with people that will last, experienced life allowing no moment to be wasted, and developed an arsenal of stories and memories where all I need to do is close my eyes and I am there.

It is stated that Augustus claimed have found Rome a city of bricks and left her a city of marble. I found Rome a city of eternity and she left me eternally grateful. And as subjective as it might have sounded, there was no amount of exaggeration (as I am an objective eater) when I reflected on eating the best of foods. There was a certain ecstasy in the aroma of the varietals of pasta and sauces. The mastication of a fresh croissant with an espresso dopio at the same cafe off the Campo De Fiori every morn was “to die for”. Even the occasional late evening snack of fresh bufala mozzarella with prosciutto on a panini trumps excavating through the refrigerator in a search and destroy mission for that cold piece of Papa Johns pizza that you might microwave for a few minutes if you have the patience. From the anti pasti (starters) to the i primi (first course…usually a pasta) to the i secondi (main course) to the desserts and espressos and beyond, the crescendo of eating in Rome is a culinary masterpiece. There is doxology in every bite. The very gates of heaven open and the heavenly host erupt into the Hallelujah Chorus once again. Every meal changes you.

But then you see it. The memories of watching Sesame Street begin to emerge in recesses of your childhood memories. You begin to sing the song almost out loud. “One of these things is not like the other. One of these things does not belong.” Yes: it is the ultimate image of the American invasion of any culture (and no I am not referring to Starbucks…Italy has some standards). The golden arches. McDonalds. It is not the land of the free and home of the brave but it is the land of the Super Sized and home of the Big Mac. David Lee Roth once stated: “Ya know, I always admired Ray Kroc, the man who invented McDonald’s. Ray had a vision of the most commonplace thing – a hamburger and fries to go – but to him it was just the greatest thing ever, and he was going to make it the greatest thing for everybody else, and he did.”[2] Whether this is accurate or not is up for debate. What Ray Kroc did do was infiltrate one of the most food driven cultures in the world with the those quick and easy hamburgers and french fries.

Beyond the irony of seeing a McDonalds in the midst of the “Eternal City” (actually, many of them), this phenomenon known as “McDonaldization” will continue to trend in society according to sociologist George Ritzer. Ritzer, who coined the phrase “McDonaldization”, stated that these “processes by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world” are only going to continue.[3] In light of this, the questions that we as the church are going to be forced to ask culturally, contextually, and theologically are:

-Why is this happening?

-How do we approach those spaces and places where, in the opinions of many, the sacred has been invaded by the secular and perhaps even more so, the profane?

-What are we to do with this reality moving forward missiologically in the 21st century?

In one attempt to filter thoughts and answers to these quandaries, Christian writers Thomas White and John M. Yeats have joined forces in an attempt to give an apologetic to the church specifically in America so that the church would return to the sacramental foundations and fundamentals of the faith. In their Franchising McChurch, White and Yeats write: “Churches unintentionally pick up on the ideas of McDonaldization through leadership magazines, conferences and books that teach how churches can engage more of the American culture through certain structural, communication, and ministry models. But when these models are applied in the local church, it can McDonaldize, which can lead to compromised discipleship, theology, and the prophetic role of the church. In the process, McDonaldized churches become prisoners to the shifting tides of consumer culture as their leaders tend to chase ‘what’s next’ instead of ‘what matters.'”[4]

In other words, when the culture permeates the church instead of the opposite, the “bride of Christ” begins to live against the challenges given to the church in Rome by the Apostle Paul. Most likely while in Corinth, Paul wrote: “Don’t be conformed to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so you can figure out what God’s will is – what is good and pleasing and mature.”[5] White and Yeats, in discussing the church being more interested in chasing the next best “thing” (whatever that may be) in the culture, what really matters (the renewing of the mind to discern the will of God) quickly fades to unrecognition. Perhaps this is why in modern society, more people can identify the golden arches of McDonald’s than the Christian cross. “A survey of 7000 people in six countries found that the Shell Oil logo, the Mercedes badge, and the five Olympic rings were recognized far more widely than the Christian cross. Eighty-eight percent of people recognized the McDonald’s arches and the glowing yellow Shell, while a mere 54 percent could identify the Christian cross.”[6] White and Yeats are probably shaking their heads in their quest to challenge the church to be in the culture and not of it in returning to the fundamentals of what really matters. The Christian cross and the crucified God (as Jurgen Moltmann would say) should be the central identity of the church. That church should be in the world processing as a crucifer bringing truth to a fast food culture. This is what matters; or does it?

From the Cross to the Table…

Dietrich Bonhoeffer would argue that, “The image of God is the image of Christ crucified.”[7] The likeness of the Creator of the universe is the resemblance of that cross which is quickly growing to be unrecognizable. So disturbed was one Seventh Day Adventist pastor, that he wrote in his blog, “Most often the cross is little more than a sentimental aside, not only in preaching, but in the very fabric of our lives. The implications of the theology of the cross is life-shattering and life- transforming if we will take it seriously, if we will allow the Holy Spirit to plant deeply and firmly in our hearts. The growth, the living change in life and the good fruit it might bear, depends on the germination of the cross within the human heart.”[8] A valid point is made in the accusation of the cross being sentimentalized as it is a common displayed tattoo on the forearms of rock stars and garnished in gold hanging around the necks of prom queens. What is arguable (a point to be taken up with Bonhoeffer as well) is the suggestion that transformation is dependent on the “germination of the cross within the human heart.”

As a friend of Benjamin Franklin suggests, “The punishment of murder by death is contrary to reason, and to the order of happiness of society, and contrary to divine revelation.”[9] To suggest that the cross of Christ is the central catalyst of fertilization in the life of a worshiping community is foolhardy at best and more often than not, destructive. It is contrary to the gospel of an empty tomb, to the order of grace and wholeness, and to divine revelation. Followers of Christ are not invited to gather at the foot of the cross to gaze up in horror as the stench of death and the shadows of darkness envelop the land again. Followers of Christ are not to become so focused on the Passion narrative that death, in running the pilgrim’s throng, has the final word and wins.

Instead, these women and men are invited to the banqueting table of the Incarnate where eyes are opened when the bread is blessed and broken. The reality of the Emmaus experience is to be lived and relived as the foundational launchpad for a covenant community. Christ is recognized not only as the suffering servant but even more, the risen Lord of glory who feeds and restores. This movement from the cross to the table as the central motivator and transformer of that covenant community is the “germination within the human heart.” The table is the gathering place of nourishment when the day is almost over. The table is the holder of sustenance that fuels the mission of the gathered to go and be in solidarity for and with others. The table is hosted by the one who is the grand weaver of history (do this in the present remembering what I have done in the past until I come again in the future) calling a community of beggars together to be filled in order to go and show other beggars where to get something to eat. The movement from the cross to the table is the very dynamic of history, the engine of change, and the energy of transformation.

From the Table to the World…

Returning to the “Eternal City” for but a moment, I remember one particular evening from a trip that I took there in the summer of 2005. A group was walking to dinner in an area called Trastevere and a conversation emerged between a Roman Catholic Sister (in full habit) and myself. After the credential discussion of “who’s who” amongst the scholars that we had studied under, our talk turned to the reality of where we were en route to: dinner. I mentioned that it was interesting that we could “break bread” together in so many forms but, as of lately, we still have not found a path to engage in the Eucharistic reality together. Knowing all of the theological chasms that stand in the way of our faith traditions, we instinctively did not need to traverse that path. What was interesting though, is that as we talked about the connection between gathering at the table of the Lord and being sent into the world as ambassadors of that grace filled meal, she stated that it is a sad reality that we can gather at the feeding lines of soup kitchens but not at the closest tangible thing that we have to the ultimate banquet of the Lord where all are welcome and all are fed.

Perhaps this is why the theologian John Calvin recognized that it was not so much about the elements offered, but instead about the person who is hosting the meal. Again, the table is hosted by the one who is the grand weaver of history calling a community of beggars together to be filled in order to go and show other beggars where to get something to eat. And while we are busy defending our ivory towers of sacramental theology, as I will argue later, the world outside the doors of the church is living into the sacramental missiology that the church is called to. What is long overdue is for the church catholic (little “c”) to live, breathe, and have their being once again in the Emmaus narrative. No longer can we afford to have any theological divide over ecclesial eating. Instead, there needs to be a sense of theological communion where orthodoxy is inclusive and orthopraxis is for the benefit of all. There needs to be an unfailing image of the elements to point us to the host of the table who invites and sends.

It never really was about the bread and the wine, was it? (Dr. Shirley Guthrie, my Professor or Theology in Seminary stated that if Jesus had been Hispanic, we would perhaps be eating tortillas and shooting tequila.) It has, and always will be (as Calvin noted) about Christ the host, who invites all and sends those out that actually come to find those that do not. As pointed out by Archbishop David Moxon, Director of the Anglican Centre of Rome, Christ’s unity with the church is directly based on the church’s unity with the world. Even within the Biblical framework of a people working to be “in the world and not of the world”, never was it set up in the Kingdom reality to be an “us against them”. In order for the body of Christ to proclaim and live the gospel message, the Christ of the table must be freed from the theology of the church in order that all may be seated and dine. Then, and only then, when we are way beyond our theological arguments over molecules, may we transform into the community of prophets and professional lovers in the world with the universal practice of hospitality. NOTE: TO BE CONTINUED ON FRIDAY!

The Reverend Dr. K. Nicholas Yoda grew up in Marietta, Georgia outside of Atlanta. He considers himself a “cradle to grave” Presbyterian. (Who else would be in attendance at a General Assembly Meeting on their tenth birthdays to bear witness to the reunion of the PCUS and the UPC?) He attended the First Presbyterian Church of Marietta until he graduated from Seminary. Since his ordination on 31 May 1998, Nicholas has served as Associate Pastor for Youth & Mission at the First Presbyterian Church of Sumter, South Carolina from 1998 – 2003, and as Associate Pastor for Youth and Families at the Avon Lake Presbyterian Church in Avon Lake, Ohio. Nicholas also teaches as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Theology at Xavier University while set to complete a Doctor of Education from the Graduate Theological Foundation at some point in the hopefully near future.

Nicholas was blessed to have met his spouse Christa (ask him how they met…) who is an educator in the Mason City School District. They have two wonderful children (Aidan and Rylee) who keep them human, humble, praying, and thankful. When there is spare time, Nicholas enjoys reading, cinema, theatre, classical music, walking, extensive travel both domestic and abroad, and the never ending home improvement projects.