January 12, 2022
Lipton’s Chicken Noodle Soup Is What Did It: A Prayer
O Lord, Lipton’s Chicken Noodle Soup is what did it,
got me thinking,
got me going,
got me praying
this prayer;
noodles,
little noodles, and
real chicken flavored broth,
all dried in a pouch,
just add hot water,
and presto,
a cup of childhood,
magic medicine,
my goodness still good
(well, at least, I think so);
and that got me
thinking,
thinking that something
once good for us
still good for us,
no matter
how dated,
how old-fashioned,
how completely yesterday;
not just soup, but
manners,
responsibility,
respect,
values,
virtues;
these too it seems
now dated,
old fashioned,
completely yesterday, but
once good,
still good;
and that
got me going,
going on about childhood,
going on about where such things
taught or not taught,
learned or not learned,
acquired or not acquired,
and that got me
praying,
praying this prayer,
no matter how
dated,
old-fashioned,
completely yesterday
it sounds,
because
if ever
hope is to return to our land,
fear and anger are to be lessened,
prejudice and hatred are to be overcome,
violence is to be curbed,
grace and goodness
are to be part of our
lives and relationships again,
it won’t have to do with
politicians,
but with
parents and grandparents and teachers and neighbors
and believers, and
childhood.
And that is what I pray, O Lord, as I sit here looking at
a box of Lipton’s Chicken Noodle Soup
and thinking about childhood;
I pray that
parents be parents (again?)
and teach manners,
saying “Please” and “Thank you”,
saying “Excuse me” or “After you”,
saying “Let me help” and holding the door open,
the little things that make life
more gracious;
and teach respect,
respect for others,
respect for this land,
respect for self,
enough self-respect
to show respect;
and teach responsibility,
taking responsibility,
accepting responsibility,
not always blaming others;
and honesty and courage and kindness,
compassion and integrity and
serving and more;
and stop teaching
fear and
prejudice and
hatred,
and such things are taught,
at the dinner table,
in the car,
watching the news,
fear and prejudice and hatred
handed down;
and stop teaching
anger and resentment;
and stop accepting
violence as an answer,
violence as entertaining,
violence as something
to be glorified.
And I pray that
children will always have
grandparents and friends and teachers
and neighbors and believers who are
good influences,
good models,
good supports,
so needed they are.
O Lord, that is my prayer because what we see today
in more than a few adults
(and in lots of politicians),
are children who were
never taught, or
badly taught, or
forgot what they
were taught, or
were taught what they
should never have been taught;
which means
that the answer
to the mess we are in
lies in our own hands,
no mystery to it,
just the plain truth
that we are reaping
what we have sown
and we’d better stop it
before it’s too late,
and start sowing
in our children
the seeds of love and truth and generosity
and moral courage and kindness,
all those
out of date,
old-fashioned,
completely yesterday
things
once good,
still good.
And we pray, O Lord, that you heal and comfort and strengthen
those who are ill or suffering or dying,
those who are grieving and don’t know what to do,
those who are hungry and homeless.
Be there for them!
Let us be there for them!
O Lord, it was the Lipton’s Chicken Noodle Soup that got me
thinking,
going,
praying;
a cup of childhood,
little noodles and broth,
saying it’s time we remember what is good and right and
true,
and be what we were taught to be,
or overcome what we were taught to be, and
be what we ought to be,
and help the children be the best they have it in them to be.
Amen.