From the Pastor

“The Happiest Meal”

In an article written for Christianity Today several years ago, Pastor John Ortberg shared about taking his young children to the “shrine of the Golden Arches” (in other words, McDonald’s). They always wanted the same thing when they went to eat there. If they got it, the trip was a success. If not, it was sheer misery. The odd part is that what they were after was not the food. They wanted the prize. Now the prize itself is a pitiful thing, worth maybe 10 cents, but for the moment, getting it was all that mattered. 

John Ortberg says, “McDonald’s, in a fit of marketing genius, gave this package of food and prize a special name – The Happy Meal. You’re not just buying fries [and] McNuggets, you’re buying happiness! Their advertisements have convinced my children that they have a McDonald’s-shaped vacuum in their little souls…The creation of what might be called strategic discontent in children enables McDonald’s to inflate the price far beyond the value of the toy. I try to buy the kids off sometimes. I tell them just to get the food and I’ll give them a quarter to buy something on their own, but the cry goes up, “‘I want a Happy Meal!’” 

All over the restaurant, people craned their necks to look at the tightfisted, penny-pinching cheapskate of a parent who would deny a child the meal of great joy. So he would buy each child his own, and they would be happy, at least for a minute and 30 seconds. If ever there was can April Fool’s joke, it has to be this. The problem with the Happy Meal is that the “Happy” wears off. It’s an illusion. No child discovers lasting happiness in one. When the excitement wears off, they need a new fix, – another Happy Meal. They keep buying them, and they keep not working. In fact, the only one Happy Meals brings happiness to is McDonalds. Why do you think that Ronald McDonald wears that silly grin on his face? 

“The Happy wears off!” It doesn’t last! More importantly, it can’t. It can’t last. We are not much different in our own lives. Nothing we create ourselves ever brings lasting happiness and contentment. The things we pour our hearts into can’t bring us lasting joy or peace because they don’t last either. If we are ever going to find true satisfaction, a deep contentment, and the peace which passes all understanding, then it will have to come from somewhere else.

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” It’s not exactly what the crowd wanted to hear that day. It’s not what they expected to hear. But, it’s what they needed to hear. And, it’s what we need to hear ourselves.

In a deceitful world always trying to lure us away from God by telling us we can find satisfaction and salvation any number of ways, – Jesus says there’s only one way, -- and that way is him. Jesus didn’t offer the crowds more bread when they asked. Instead, he offered himself. It’s because Jesus knew at the heart of it all, our deepest need isn’t for bread, or anything else that may be here today and gone tomorrow. Our deepest need is, and always has been for God. And that is a need only Jesus Christ himself can ever truly satisfy. He is the only “Happy” that never ever wears off!

This Sunday, April 3, I will continue my Lenten Sermon series titled, “The Great I AM” which will be on the “I Am” statements of Jesus, and how his claims, and who he is shapes our lives. We will also celebrate around the Lord’s Table for Holy Communion. Please join us in the sanctuary at either 8:00 am or 10:30 am. For the 10:30 service, we will also be broadcasting on Zoom, Facebook Live, and YouTube.     

Blessings,

Pastor John