Hangry*

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes
to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes
in me will never be thirsty.”
(John 6:35)

“Many men go fishing all of their
lives without knowing that it
is not fish they are after.”
Henry David Thoreau

I practice catch and release when I fly fish, which means that I rarely keep any of the fish I catch (if you’re going to say I rarely catch any fish, you can just keep your little comments to yourself).  If my family had to depend on my fishing ability to feed them, they would go hungry.

But, I don’t go fishing to bring home fish.  I don’t go fishing for food or because I’m physically hungry; I go fishing because I’m spiritually hungry.  My soul is fed and watered by mountains and mountain streams.  Being out in God’s creation not only elevates my mood, but also my spirit.

When I am unable to fish for long periods of time, I start to get hangry – you know, hungry and angry combined.  Hangry. As in not much fun to be around. Watching the news and seeing some of the ugly things that are going on in our country has led me to conclude that there are a lot of hangry people out there.

Take something as simple as being asked to wear a mask in public places.  People have responded with verbal and physical attacks; there have even been shootings.  Over a mask.  A little piece of cloth.  It could just be Covid-19 fatigue, but I mean, seriously?  (By the way, you’re not asked to wear a mask to protect yourself.  You’re asked to wear a mask to protect others.  Seems kind of selfish not to wear one, doesn’t it? But, I digress.)

Or what about the January 6 attack on the Capitol?  Look closely at the faces of the insurrectionists:  those are hungry-looking faces.  But, just what are they hungry for?  Something tells me that even if they got everything they were asking for, they would still be hungry.  And angry. I think their hunger runs very deep.

People with addictions have the same kind of hunger.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s drugs, alcohol, money, hyper-patriotism, racism, sex or food (my personal addiction), no amount of [fill in the blank] will ever cure your hunger.  That’s because we’re really hungry for something else.

St. Augustine wrote that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.  I believe that’s true.  I believe we are all restless, all hungry for God, whether we know it or not.  The problem is we try to satisfy that hunger with the wrong things.  The only thing that will truly satisfy us is the love of God.  And the more of God’s love we are able to take in, the more we are able to give away.

So, where do we begin?  With honesty.  We need to take a deep and honest look at what’s inside of us.  It’s easy to gloss over our own failings and magnify them in other people.  We need to own our imperfections. 

Etty Hillesum, the young Dutch Jewish mystic martyred by the Nazis, recognized the importance of doing this.

“Each of us must turn inward and destroy in himself all that he thinks he ought to destroy in others,” she wrote.  “I really see no other solution than to turn inwards and to root out all the rottenness there. I no longer believe that we can change anything in the world until we first change ourselves. And that seems to me the only lesson to be learned.”

She learned this lesson by engaging in deep, meditative prayer.  Living in the love of God, she refused to hate anyone, even her Nazi persecutors.  Her Jewish friends could not understand her.  After one such encounter with her friends she wrote:

“I know that those who hate have good reason to do so. But why should we always have to choose the cheapest and easiest way? It has been brought home forcibly to me here how every atom of hatred added to the world makes it an even more inhospitable place.”

Etty refused to hate because her true hunger, her spiritual hunger, had been satisfied.  And because of this she was able to look upon everyone as a child of God.

How about you?  What are you hungry for?  How do you try to satisfy that hunger?  How’s that working for you?

It’s no fun to feel hangry all time.  The good news is that we don’t have to.  God offers us the bread of life, the only food that truly satisfies.

Grace and peace,

Mark

* I ‘stole’ this word from Sunday’s sermon (thank you Pastor Kathy!).  The opinions are my own.