A Hopeful Earth: Food
A sermon by Ted Virts
September 29, 2013
Sonoma CA
Theme:
Throughout our salvation history, God has given us food rules. Food rules were given right away in the Garden of Eden. Later when the people were in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, they were hungry, and Moses was instructed to tell the people that God would provide for them -- but food rules went along with the supply of manna and quail. They were to gather "enough for the day" Not too much and not too little, but enough for one's daily bread and meat. If they gathered too much, it rotted, and if they gathered too little, they still had enough. God's provisions were just right for what the people needed. Furthermore, they were to gather enough for the Sabbath...food rules were central to obedience and faithfulness to God...Food - or eating together -- became metaphoric for the inclusion of the church.
A Hopeful Earth p 126
Scripture:
Luke 9:12-17
"And all ate and were filled..." Luke 9
Good to see you this morning. I'd like to start out with a question - and I am looking for your responses:
What did you eat as a kid? You know, the stuff mom fed you...
Congregational responses...
And How many of you here eat "right" most of the time? - use your own definition of what constitutes "eating right."
congregational hand raising - I expect few will raise their hands...
Here's a poem that reminded me of my own "food as a kid" story.
American Cheese
by Jim Daniels
At department parties, I eat cheeses
my parents never heard of—gooey
pale cheeses speaking garbled tongues.
I have acquired a taste, yes, and that's
okay, I tell myself. I grew up in a house
shaded by the factory's clank and clamor.
A house built like a square of sixty-four
American Singles, the ones my mother made lunches
With—for the hungry man who disappeared
into that factory, and five hungry kids.
American Singles. Yellow mustard. Day-old
Wonder Bread. Not even Swiss, with its mysterious
holes. We were sparrows and starlings
still learning how the blue jay stole our eggs,
our nest eggs. Sixty-four Singles wrapped in wax—
dig your nails in to separate them.
When I come home, I crave—more than any home
cooking—those thin slices in the fridge. I fold
one in half, drop it in my mouth. My mother
can't understand. Doesn't remember me
being a cheese eater, plain like that.
We are completing a four week series informed by the book A Hopeful Earth by United Methodist Bishop Sally Dyck and her niece, Napa resident Sarah Erhman. This series is focusing on linking Faith, the environment and our personal practice. We have looked at the places on this earth that are sacred to us individually, the stuff that we have and keep acquiring, water as a major component of our life - physically, spiritually, metaphorically and mystically, and today we talk about food.
The scripture this morning continues the tradition of blending both physical and spiritual. I hope you noticed that when Jesus fed the folks described in Luke's telling this morning that he used the same formula that is used for communion: He took, blessed, broke and gave to the hungry.
This week's topic is just as difficult as the earlier weeks. How do we make the link between the basic daily stuff of food and the life of the spirit? How can we begin to see and to live the holy clothed in every day experience?
I am wrestling with this series because I'm less interested in "ain't it awful" than I am interested in noticing and appreciating, and in sharing how we struggle with our faith and the environment knowing that we are citizens of a most wealthy country in an interconnected biosphere and economy. I believe that our internal truth telling is where we must begin.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, used to tell his circuit riders: "Refuse no [one's] table. " If someone invites you to a meal with them, do not refuse.
This mirrors the ancient practice of shared meal as basic human responsibility and obligation. Hospitality.
Charlie and I have had first hand experience with this. In my work as DS I was able to travel to both the Philippines and to Korea. There was a standing joke among our Filipino friends wondering if we would eat balut (a Filipino delicacy - a fertilized duck egg). Charlie, who will eat anything, never tried it.
So what is a "Normal" diet when the human diet across the globe is so varied, and our individual bodies have unique food preferences and tolerances? Is balut more strange than sushi or a bleu cheese burger?
In our country food has become more complex. We talk about nutrients, vitamins, calories, carbs, agribusiness, food distribution, business ethics, omnivore, carnivore, vegan, no-oil vegan, comfort food, soul food, organic, fast food, slow food, no egg, no meat, only meat, only fruit, kosher food, whole food and more.
It makes it tougher to "refuse no one's table." It makes it tougher to offer your table - what are our friends, our family, our group's food rules? Will I make something they will eat? And, among some in our town, will I make it well enough that they will eat it?
My observation is, just like sacred places, the stuff we keep buying, and the water that permeates our lives, food issues aren't so much about food as they are about us:
Our status, our class, our history, our memory, and our belonging. All based on diet.
And O, yes - diet. There are few I meet who don't want to lose a few (or a lot) of pounds and have tried or are trying a diet to accomplish that goal. Some how this is a long way from and different from prayer and fasting.
So what do you do about food?
are you on a mission?
Are you avoiding the issue?
Do you feel guilty about your food practices?
Do you feel righteous about your food practices?
Is food a religion for you - "if you eat in that way you are doomed to death and misery?" Are you a fundamentalist about your food beliefs?
Do our "food camps" separate us? Does our unique position in this valley separate us from realizing that year round sustainable food production isn't the norm?
The global situation is somewhat different.
In many places on earth there are not so many choices. Having food is the first question. What kind of food is a luxury option.
And yet food unites us. Without food we die. Maybe it is that the church potluck is the ultimate answer/image and metaphor for understanding food issues and how
we might live into a faithful response. At the potluck each person brings what they can, from what they appreciate. Each person at the potluck makes choices, without judgment. Is food welcomed or judged?
A Hopeful Earth recognizes the fallenness of world food production and distribution, of which our country is a major player as well as the complexities of the planet feeding 7 billion people.
You know, no matter where you are "they" eat yucky stuff. If you are used to rice and fish for breakfast, the idea of coffee and donuts or eggs and waffles to start the day seems quite odd... What food rules do you have for you? for your family? My associate pastor in Bakersfield, Lisa Warner-Carey was scrupulous, rigorous and religious about keeping her first born son Micah away from sugar. It worked til he was about 2 and someone gave him chocolate cake for his birthday. He buried his face in the cake, it was so good. Sometimes our rules aren't so easy to follow.
Bishop Dyck uses a phrase that I like: Just Eating - a small step movement toward eating in a way that promotes justice all around, production workers, distribution, reduced suffering for animals and more.
My belief is that our spiritual journey involves struggle and pondering more than just accepting someone's version of the "right answer" but I must admit that I like the suggested "food rules" from Sally Dyck offers from Michael Pollan (there are a good 5 or 6 varieties of this list from 7 rules to 64. I'm sharing the 12 offered by A Hopeful Earth)
I like them, not because I follow them very well, but they link food, community and a direction of small steps without judgment. They have helped me, I hope they help you. I have copies of these in the IOR after worship.
1. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce.
3. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.
4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket. Stay out of the middle.
6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers market or community supported agriculture.
7. Pay more, eat less.
8. Eat a wide variety of species.
9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10. Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.
As humans we carry on the ancient realities of life here. We share the need and the reality of food. Jesus eats with the rich and the poor. The central remembrance of faith that we are called to celebrate is a shared meal. We are called to be with each other, to refuse no one's table.
Food isn't just nutrients to sustain our organism. Eating is the miracle that transforms sunlight into life. As the saying goes - in the end we are all starlight.
And maybe that's the point.
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