Pots and pans

 It turned midnight as the last pot was washed, rinsed and placed back up on the galley rack that hung above the grill in the kitchen. The head chef, sous chef and prep assistant also hung up their aprons on the hooks by the door then switched of the lights and locked the door to the kitchen.

There had been a good turn out that night, the poached salmon, sautéed leeks and garlic sorbet had been a great hit and sold out within the first few hours of the evening meal. Although the head chef hadn’t anticipated this he had a backup plan to serve pasta ala nirvana.

Now that all three of the chefs had retired, the kitchen cleansed and locked for the night something magical began to happen. One by one each pot, pan, cup and saucer began to come to life.

It wasn’t long before the entire kitchen was buzzing with life as several coffee cups began talking to the wine glasses and several large soup pots discussed the chef’s careful preparation of their contents. While the frying pans raved about the poached the salmon the pots discussed the pasta.

“It was our final, great contribution that made the dinner a success!” said the wine glasses that had held the garlic sorbet.

“No, it was the sautéed leeks that captured our customer’s culinary imagination.” replied the sauce pans proudly as the bowls that held the raspberry glaze listened intently.

The pots that had held the pasta boldly replied that it was their pasta nirvana that had rescued the evening from utter failure. The tension in the kitchen was so thick that you could have cut it with a knife and it seemed for moment that an all out culinary war was on the verge of breaking out that night.

Soon razor sharp knives were standing at attention on the stainless counter in perfect formation, row after row. The meat tenderizers too were at the ready as well as several meat cleavers that were positioned to fall onto several wine glasses below.

Hatred, jealousy and envy were boiling up everywhere like thick, rich brown gravy that had been left on too high of heat and was getting dangerously close to spilling over the edge of a sauce pan.  

One by one the spices jumped out of the rack; cayenne pepper, salt, cumin and several tins of chili powder. The lines were being drawn and attack plans were being discussed as the first light of dawn began streaming through the windows above the food pantry.

As morning dawned everyone had gone their own way while strife and division were the only items on today’s menu. Each kitchen utensil, pot, cup and pan thought that their way was the only true way of salvation.

In this kitchen analogy, division arises when one group thinks that they have special revelation or that their recipe to reach heaven is mixed using only their ingredients and utensils.

Today there exist many groups of well intentioned people who, while calling and rallying for unity, exclude others who they feel don’t measure up. They are blind to the fact that love is the universal ingredient that needs to be poured out, sprinkled and dashed out everywhere to everyone.

The early church began with several Jewish fishermen, tradesmen, zealots and a tax collector. The church was born as Jesus Christ promised to send God’s Spirit to the entire world to come along side and convict people of wrong living and their need for God’s love.

Unfortunately, God’s simple message to believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another (1 John 3:23) has been changed and what was the simple gospel of good news has been changed into many different gospels; inventions of men.

Logic demands that there can only be One, True and Living God. It also insists that there can only be one path to reach that God and not several roads arriving safely at heaven’s eternal home.

The gods that some create, the idols that some worship have no substance or reality to the holy and almighty God who created the universe in which we live. There is only one true church and Jesus Christ is the Head of that body and the eternal King of heaven and earth.

Unfortunately, the world’s religions as well as Christian denominations continue to split, divide and argue over the particular ingredients of their faiths. However, the fact remains that there still exists only one true chef who runs the kitchen.

In the end it really doesn’t matter what the pots and pans have to say but what the head chef has commanded “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”