I'm going to a conference this week. It's a gathering of pastors (and pastors-to-be!) I've been a part of for over a year now, and I'm looking forward to studying more about prayer and Scripture with friends and friends-to-be.
I am, however, dreading meals. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Boo.
I was thrilled when I registered for the conference and there was a box to check for special dietary needs. I was doubly thrilled when a new drop-down menu appeared where I could select "gluten free." Really? For moi?
However, now I am skeptical. I have been in correspondence with one of the conference higher-ups, and she mentioned that I should "probably pack something for dinner and maybe lunch and then we'll see what there is." Um...
Luckily the conference is in Nashville (where I live), so I can pack meals if I really need to do so. But still, the thought of eating a cold breakfast, lunch, and dinner for four days makes me want to do a bit of foot stomping worthy of my two-year old niece. I want food, too! Warm food! Free food! I'll eat anything as long as there's no gluten!
Of course, I'm getting a bit prematurely carried away. They seem to be trying to accommodate dietary oddities like mine, and I am still an ounce hopeful that they'll get it right. But I'm about a pound skeptical. And fairly certain I'll end up getting sick at some point...
Do you run into these struggles? What do you do when food is iffy? How do you put on a happy face for a four-day conference where you may be eating crackers, almond butter, and apple slices from your own home for every meal?
Or do I, perhaps, just need to learn a bit more about prayer at this conference, and let the food thing go?
When I travel, I practically live off of Lara Bars. It isn't so bad so long as you focus on the traveling or in your case the conference. OR! You can always fast?... Haha.
ReplyDeleteI'm attending a conference in a couple of weeks. They usually don't allow outside food to be brought in, but told me they would make an exception since none of the choices are gluten free. Gee. Thanks. I am another who lives off Lara Bars. At first they were wonderful. Now I'm about Lara Barred out and have no idea what to take with me.
ReplyDeleteI have an unrelated question. How do you handle communion at your church? Do you walk up with the GF wafer in your hand? Do you have the pastor store it in a different place and let you pick it up yourself? I am the only one in our congregation who needs a special wafer and we're trying to work out the procedure so I won't get cross-contaminated.:(
Wow, Zippy, that IS generous of them! They're actually going to let you eat food? Things like that make me nuts... There really IS no such thing as a free lunch if you're a gf-er. :(
ReplyDeleteAs for communion, it depends upon the church. Some churches here (Presbyterian, mostly) have a separate station, at one the priest (it's an Anglican church) keeps a wafer in a little separate container in his pocket and lets me grab it out of the container myself.
It depends a lot on what tradition you're coming from - do you go forward for communion or are trays passed? Does the pastor/priest hand it to the congregants, or do you take a piece yourself?
The most important thing, in my theological opinion, is that you get to partake with everyone else. Communion is about our communion with Christ, but also our communion with one another as the body of Christ. Whichever way allows you to do both within your tradition is the way I'd go.
However, you say you're the "only one" who needs a special wafer, but I'd be willing to bet that there's an occasional visitor or out-of-town relative who needs one, too, but is hesitant to speak up. Once your church decides on a policy, I'd ask them to print it somewhere public (bulletin board, Sunday bulletin, etc.) so visitors know and can partake rather than just sit quietly without partaking with everyone else.
Make sense? :)
(I attend Hope Lutheran (WELS) in Irmo, SC.) I think I am going to put the wafer in a plastic condiment cup prior to the service so that we know which one is mine, but will still allow our pastor to "hand" me the wafer. Our pastor is wonderful and wants to be sure I don't get "glutened".
ReplyDeleteAs for the conference, I decided on a sandwich until I found out this afternoon that my store was out of Udi's bread..ARGH! I can't go back to the nasty bread after having Udi's!! Even my husband likes it and he can eat whatever he wants.
Okay, I'm not gf, but I do have hte same trouble with corn syrup and going places. It stresses me out to go somewhere for a conference where they are serving lunch or dinner or breakfast and there are no ingredient labels. When I am going to somewhere close to home, I just bring a lunch. Recently, the teachers from my school went to a teacher convention and I stayed home because they were not staying at a place where i could store food and everyone was travelling on a bus and going out to eat at the same restaurants and like you, there are only certain places that I can eat forsure. It was a hard decision to make, and I guess I could have pushed it a little asking for a different place to stay or driving myself....but it's something most people don't think about. When I think of something like that I always wonder if I am going to be able to find food. I also get really nervous because the smell of corn syrup also sends me into a reaction so at many conferences or seminars people have mints, cough drops, etc... For that reason, traveling on the bus would be scary and almost drive me into a panic as well. I get nervous on planes and in movie theaters too....ok I totally got off on a rant. Maybe I could write something for you!!! :-)
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