Airport Incident Has Sacramental Spirit

On a blog last week, Naomi Shihab Nye, a poet, songwriter, novelist and writer of children's books, told of being in Albuquerque Airport, having just learned that her flight had been delayed four hours. Walking around to fill the time, she heard the following announcement: "If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately."
Gate A-4 was Nye's gate, and having been born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she spoke some Arabic, though not fluently. So she went to the gate. There, she saw an older woman in traditional Palestinian dress crumpled on the floor, wailing. A perplexed flight agent stood nearby. When Nye offered to help, the agent explained that when they told the woman the flight was delayed, she had collapsed in distress and tears.
Nye stooped and put her arm around the woman, and when she began speaking in halting Arabic, the woman stopped crying. As they conversed, Nye learned that the woman, who was heading for El Paso for major medical treatment the next day, thought the flight had been canceled. When Nye explained that the flight was only delayed, and offered to call whoever was picking her up, the woman calmed down.
The woman's son was to meet her at the El Paso end. When Nye phoned him, they conversed in English, and she told him she would stay with his mother until she boarded the flight. Then they phoned her other sons. Next, Nye called her dad, who spoke to the woman in fluent Arabic and found that they had some shared friends. Nye also knew some Palestinian poets, so they called them as well, filling the next two hours.
Eventually, the woman, now happy, told Nye about her life, and pulled out a bag of homemade mamool cookies, covered with powdered sugar. She offered them to all the women at the gate, and no one declined one. "It was like a sacrament," Nye wrote.
"The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo -- we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling," Nye recounted.
At that point, the airline gave out free apple juice, and two little girls from the flight distributed the bottles to the travelers.
Nye concluded, "And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate -- once the crying of confusion stopped -- seemed apprehensive about any other person. They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.
"This can still happen anywhere," Nye added. "Not everything is lost."
More on this story can be found at this link:
Gate A-4. Live & Learn
The Big Questions
1. Commenting on what happened at Gate A-4, Nye said, "This is the world I want to live in." To what do you think she was referring? What yearnings was she revealing? Did she mean we don't usually live in such a world or that she usually isn't aware of it? Does the positive environment that developed at the gate seem unusual or odd to you, or does it seem natural?
2. Why do you think Nye said the incident at the gate was "like a sacrament"? (We assume she was using "sacrament" in the general sense of "an action through which spiritual power is transmitted." We don't think she was referring expressly to Holy Communion, which some Christian groups call a sacrament and other Christian groups call an ordinance.) What rite or experience brings the presence of God and God's people alive in your life?
3. What higher-level yearnings are you aware of within yourself? Does accepting or receiving Christ satisfy all of them? Explain your answer.
4. In what non-church and unplanned incidents have you suddenly realized something unusual or even sacramental was occurring? Explain. Could that realization have been God awakening your insight? Why or why not?
5. In terms of your higher-level yearnings, in what ways do you think heaven will be different from this life? What, do you suppose, will be similar, if heightened, between this life and the next? What experience, Scripture or teaching leads you to this conclusion?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Revelation 7:15-16
For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more ... (For context, read 7:9-17.)
These verses describe part of a vision that John of Patmos had of a heavenly scene in which an uncountable multitude, robed in white and drawn from every nation, appears before the throne of God. These people are Christians who have died in a time of great suffering called "the Tribulation" but who were faithful even to death. This throng begins praising God and Christ, and they are quickly joined in doing so by the angels, elders and living creatures who are already present around the throne.
The book of Revelation isn't saying that heaven is an endless worship service. Rather it's using metaphorical and mystical language to say that in eternity, the all-encompassing presence of God makes being there a wonderful experience.
Note that the quoted verses above say this of those gathered around the throne of God: "They will hunger no more, and thirst no more ...." On the surface, it can be taken to mean that those who have suffered from a food shortage in this life will, upon reaching the life to come, be freed from that pain. In our world today, where every year, many people around the world die of starvation, that's not an insignificant point.
But these words intend to convey more: Recall that in John's gospel, Jesus described himself as "the bread of life" (John 6:35, 48). He was not talking about satisfying physical hunger and normal human appetites but about something deeper. Jesus himself explained the distinction to a crowd: "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you" (John 6:27). And remember that on another occasion, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
Many of us are vexed by some sort of discontent, by a longing for something -- something we may not even be able to define, but for which we sense a need. It may be part of what we seek in our spiritual searching.
So when we say that in eternity we will hunger no more, we are speaking of the end of at least physical hunger and spiritual discontent. Revelation encourages us to understand the transition from this world to the next as leaving Hunger Valley for the Land of Endless Delight.
Questions: How does the world seem to you? Have you experienced the kindness and redemption described in the airport incident, from either the receiving or the giving end? What qualities of life do you hunger for? Are you able even to identify your higher longings?
When have you experienced a sense that, at least for the moment, a hunger or thirst for God’s presence has been satisfied, whether you were alone or with God’s people? What was surprising about that experience? What seemed familiar?
Psalm 16:11
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (For context, read 16:7-11.)
Colossians 2:9-10
For in [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him ... (For context, read 2:6-10.)
In the Revelation text discussed above, heaven is described as a place where we hunger no more, but what does faith in God do for our hungers and longings now? One of the ways the Bible addresses that is by describing the presence of God as "fullness" which we can experience right now in this life.
Psalm 16:11 above is one example. The Hebrew word translated there as "fullness" literally means being satisfied by eating food. It refers to the kind of sensation you have after having completed a splendid dinner. It is also used figuratively to mean being full of joy.
In Paul's letter to the Colossians, he also talks about fullness, using a Greek word that means to cram (as in a net) or to level up (as a hollow) or, figuratively, to furnish, satisfy, complete or supply. What Paul is saying is that in this life now, letting Jesus in fills up some of the hollow places inside us and crams us full with the goodness of God, so that even here on earth, we can, in those areas, experience some degree of higher-level satisfaction and fulfillment.
Welcoming Jesus Christ into our lives brings the first installment of that ultimate fullness. It is no mere happenstance that Jesus initiated the practice of Holy Communion at a meal, using as elements items of food and drink. Remember too that it was only when Jesus broke the bread before the Emmaus disciples that they recognized him (Luke 24:30-31).
Questions: If receiving Christ does not satisfy every higher-level hunger, why do it? What hunger or thirst do you find remains, even after receiving Jesus into your life? What hunger or thirst is satisfied, at least part of the time? In what ways has following Jesus brought you fullness? In what ways can we consider the Lord's Supper/Holy Communion as a foretaste of the fullness of God's presence?
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. (For context, read 18:15-20.)
The airport incident as Nye described it made us think of this verse. We're not suggesting that the gathering at the gate was a specifically Christian happening, but certainly the spirit of fellowship and generosity that sprang up among the previously unacquainted women there was a good and godly thing.
Questions: In what ways does what you've experienced in church help you to recognize God's activity in everyday life? What does your experience in the midst of God's people do for you after you leave church? Are you strengthened? What longing do you experience to return?
Matthew 6:11
Give us this day our daily bread. (For context, read 6:7-15.)
In giving us this line as part of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus was emphasizing the dailiness of our need, certainly for actual bread, but also for spiritual sustenance.
These days, preservatives in store-bought bread prolong its freshness, but before preservatives, bread needed to be made fresh every day. Right from the oven and for a few hours afterward, bread is a wonderful food. If you seal it in something to keep the air from it, you can keep it soft for a day or two, but the second day it doesn't taste nearly as good. And by the third or fourth day, green mold starts to appear on it. Of course, you can keep the mold away by not sealing up the bread. But within hours, it turns stale and hard. So for centuries, the only way people had good and tasty bread was to bake more every day.
Thus, when Jesus tells his disciples and us to pray for daily bread, he's reminding us that the blessings of God are given for immediate use, for the present moment, and that we are never self-sufficient. We need to rely on God not just for our future, for the present as well.
Question: In how many different ways do you receive daily spiritual sustenance?
For Further Discussion
1. There are some hungers that, when met, leave us feeling only guilty or disgusted. Imagine what it is like for a person with the eating disorder known as bulimia, which is common especially among young women of normal or nearly normal weight. It is characterized by episodic binge eating, followed by feelings of guilt, depression and self-condemnation, often then followed by self-induced vomiting. What might a spiritual version of bulimia look like?
2. In Philippians 3:18-19, Paul makes a telling comment about those who live as "enemies of the cross of Christ." He says, "their end is destruction; their god is the belly ...." Could Paul have meant that people who will not admit God into their lives are driven by hungers they cannot satisfy?
3. Respond to this: Preacher/writer Frederick Buechner defines a glutton as "one who raids the icebox for a cure for spiritual malnutrition."
Responding to the News
This is a good time to commit yourself to being a catalyst for change to create "the world [you] want to live in." Although Nye was responding to a need, her actions were the impetus for creating the celebratory environment that occurred. Consider specifically how your relationship with Christ can enable you to live your best life and to create a positive environment for those around you.
This is also a good time to recognize that God often woos us through our higher-level hungers.
Closing Prayer

O Lord, give us this day our daily bread. In Jesus' name. Amen.