Marinate Until Tender

I've never been much of a steak lover, I must admit. I only remember having steak as a kid when I was at the cottage with my Dad and siblings. The steaks were always grilled well beyond "well-done" on the little hibachi we kept up there. The only thing worse than trying to saw through the steak with a dull "cottage" knife (you know, the cast-offs that had been relegated to occasional use at the cottage) was trying to actually chew and swallow it. Having a dry baked potato to wash it down wasn't much of a help either (my family didn't go in for the mounds of sour cream and cheddar cheese topping that I now love on a baked potato). For years, I could never figure out why so many people thought steak was such a great meal.

Well, a few years ago my wife and I bought half a side of beef from a local farmer. Of course, there was a variety of meat that went along with that: roasts, stewing beef, ground beef, and a few different cuts of steak. The steaks stayed in the freezer for quite a while because I had no interest in once again putting my teeth and taste buds at risk as I had been forced to as a child. But then we had a distant cousin and his teenage son come to stay for a couple days, and apparently they liked steak. So my wife did a bit of research (she was not a steak connoisseur either) and found a recipe for a nice marinade. She soaked the steaks in the marinade for 24 hours before handing them off to me to grill. I had heard enough about steaks by this point that "well-done" really meant "burn the flavour out of the steak." So I carefully watched over the steaks until they were moist and brown on the outside and just a little pink in the middle. Then we sat down to an incredible meal, the best steaks -- BY FAR!!! -- that I had ever tasted.

In talking with some steak lovers after that, I discovered that there were a few factors that went into making them so good. There was the cut of steak, for one. I forget now what this particular cut was, but I was told later that this is perhaps the premiere cut for steak. Then there was the right amount of grilling, for another. But perhaps the most important thing, I was told, was the 24 hours of soaking in marinade. The flavour didn't just sit on the outside of the steak, like the burned Kraft BBQ sauce of my misspent childhood. It had soaked in, permeated every bite, made it more flavourful and juicy than I had ever experienced before. (Wow -- anyone else feel like having a steak about now?!)

Over the last five Sundays, we have looked at some different images of and ideas about God, most of which paint God in a rather negative light (e.g. God as punisher, absent, and/or intolerant). As we discovered, though, while there is some underlying truth to these images, they ultimately point us back to the all-encompassing love of God -- His steadfast, faithful, and unfailing love. I'm hoping that those messages have pointed us in the right direction (to the right cut and marinade, so to speak). But now it's time to just soak, to let it wash over us, permeate every part of us, fill us, change us.

That's what we'll be doing over these next few Sundays. The messages will be less sermon and more worship; less talking and more singing; less of my words and more of God's Word. This Sunday, we will focus on the love of God, our Father and Creator. Next Sunday, we will focus on the love of God as revealed in Jesus, our Saviour and brother. Then, on December 27 (the children's Christmas play will be performed on December 20), we will focus on the ongoing revelation of God's love through the Holy Spirit. We hear so much about God and God's love in the church. But do we take the time to soak it in, to allow it into our hearts and minds? Join us us over these few Sundays as, together, we "Marinate Until Tender."