Today in Gloucester it was about 6 degrees, and it's getting colder this week we're told. Soup time... mmm.
Recently we were invited to a "Soup party" by two of our former students. We were asked to bring along an ingredient for soup, so I brought carrots. When we arrived, we found only one other couple were invited, and they brought lentils, so that was lucky. Our hosts made a yummy carrot and lentil soup, followed by a good beef casserole.
We were quite a mixed vegetable soup ourselves: The hosts are a Ugandan husband with a Dutch wife, the other guests were from New Zealand, and Dan and I are of course American and English. We talked about the famous stone soup fable. But we found out something pretty interesting. The version I heard as a schoolgirl went as follows:
Three poor tramps decided that if they combined food they had, they could make a better soup than cooking on their own. So they agreed that each of them would bring a different vegetable the next night and they would boil them up together and make a lovely soup. But the first man thought, "No-one will notice if I just put in a stone..." so he popped a stone into the boiling water. The second man thought the same, so he also dropped a stone into the water. The third man thought the same, so he stealthily placed a stone into the pan of boiling water. The three of them sat there silently drinking the tasteless hot water, none of them wanting admit what they had done. The moral - everyone has to do their bit. If you don't, why should anyone else? Pull your weight or everyone loses out.
But the Kiwis and American Dan had a different version of the tale:
Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnishto improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with a few carrots to help them out, so that gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all.
What does this show you about our different cultures?! The British version is the pessimistic, cynical story where everyone ends up losing out and being miserable. The American/Kiwi version is the positive, optimistic one, where everyone does the right thing and the results are fantastic. Hmmm. Interesting...
On the same evening, we were asked to bring a Bible verse for the other guests - we were not told who they would be, but just a rough idea (as in, someone from abroad doing ministry in this country...) The Bible passage that was given to me was absolutely amazing and fabulous, and the exactly perfect passage I needed that week. It was 2 Samuel Chapter 22, about God being our rock, refuge, shield, defender, fortress, saviour... and then there comes a description of when God hears me calling out to him for help, he comes storming out of his heaven like a warrior riding on a flaming dragon, furious at my foes, crushing them and rescuing me... It reminded me that when we talk about "spiritual warfare", we usually think of being under attack by an enemy - but spiritual warfare is this as well - God in all his power going to war against his, our, enemies - and always being the winner.