Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A plea at La Espiga bakery on Nolensville Road, "la espiga" in the Gospels, and Christmas thoughts of Alex, Alexis, and Alan

next to the cash register at La Espiga on Nolensville Road

Earlier this month, I was buying a "tres leches" cake at the La Espiga bakery on Nolensville Road.

If you haven't tasted tres leches cake, it's kind of moist. I don't really have a taste for it, but it's my wife's favorite, and it was her birthday.

As I was paying for the cake (and a few other pastries we called "Berliners" in Chile), I noticed a box next to the cash register, with this message:
"I need your cooperation with little boy Axel. He was born with a bone problem called 'antigriposis.' His parents Alexis and Alan were reported, and the three children stayed behind with their grandmother. I ask you for your help, brothers. May God bless you."
Axel, Alexis, and Alan: three names of Hispanic Nashvillians. Two of them - the "reported" parents, may or may not return here to be Nashvillians ever again. If they do, it will almost certainly constitute an immigration violation, at least under current law.

What "la espiga" means, and Jesus' lawbreaking disciples

Before I sat down at the computer to post this picture and this story, I had thought "La Espiga" - the name of this bakery - meant "the crumb." Actually, "miga" is the word for crumb, and "la espiga" means, "the head of grain." It's a word that comes up a lot in the Bible.

I went looking for some "head of grain" verses, and three of the four times the word appears in the Gospels is in a story about Jesus and his disciples being rebuked for lawbreaking.

One recounting of the story is in Mark 2:23-28 (NLT):
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus:
Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?
Jesus said to them:
Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.
My thoughts turn to Axel, Alexis, and Alan during this Nashville Christmas.

1 comment:

  1. Heartbreaking. It stuns me that the little ones are most often the victims of our failed system. Too many here lack compassion, and it will not serve us in the long run. Stay up, my brother, yours is an important voice.

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