Posted 574 days ago
February Seed Sampler: Lent, Easter, and Food Justice
At the end of this month on the 25th, we come again to the liturgical season of Lent. During this season, we spend 40 days meditating on our brokenness—the brokenness in ourselves, in our relationships with God, with others, and with creation—that Jesus came to heal with his death and resurrection.
After that comes Easter, a long celebration beginning on April 12th and lasting until Pentecost on May 31st, in which we celebrate that healing and God’s promise of wholeness and shalom. According to NT Wright in Surprised By Hope, Easter celebrates “planting, watering, and training up things in your life (personal and corporate) that ought to be blossoming, filling the garden with color and perfume and in due course bearing fruit” (p. 257).
These two extremes in our faith, brokenness and celebration, meet in the middle at the Last Supper. At that table, Jesus called himself “the Bread of Life” and invited us to partake in his body and blood. This issue of the Seed Sampler lingers in this in-between place. Articles from Ricci Kilmer, Christine Sine, and others explore what Communion really means and how it teaches us about justice. Is it just a ritual of which we partake at occasional intervals around an altar? Or is it something we do every day at every table we sit at?
All this is leading to a workshop we are having at the Mustard Seed House on February 7th, Justice at the Table, at which we will explore the intricate connections between our faith and our food. We hope you will join us.
Blessings,
Judy Naegeli
Mustard Seed Associates
Seed Smile | Fill a Freezer Day
Seed Story | Justice at Christ’s Table, by Ricci Kilmer from The Revolution Starts at Home blog
Liturgy | Station 10 Litany: Let Justice Roll Down Like Water, from Stations of the Banquet by Cathy C. Campbell
Reflection | Feasting at God’s Communion Table, by Christine Sine
Seed Share | Review of ‘The Gift of Good Land’, by Judy Naegeli
Seed Share | Getting Ready for Lent and Easter: a Synchroblog with Christine Sine
Seed Share | Checkout Line: Lean, green eating machine, from Grist
Resources | Click here
Recession Preparedness Update from Tom Sine!
How can followers of Jesus and their congregations more fully be God’s compassion as the recession continues to worsen? Part of the ministry of MSA is to not only identify new challenges but create new kingdom responses. Read some of the creative ideas for helping people losing jobs, homes and savings that came out of an MSA brainstorming session last fall in this article just published in Leadership Journal.
Would you please send us your stories of how you and your church are responding to the growing human impact of the recession in your community? We want to share stories of compassion to motivate others to be Christ’s compassion in these turbulent times in which growing numbers of our neighbors in the US and all over the planet are suffering from this devastating recession. Sincere thanks for your service and prayers for our neighbors.
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Reader Comments
Hey… I’m from Eugene, OR, USA or EUA as some people say, and i find this really interesting… i might even try the meditating… it might help me fill up spaces i don’t understand in my past… thanks,
Willow
Willow Merritt » 568 days ago » Link
I’m from El Salvador, and thankfully, my church’s pastor has been educating us for well over 2 years about this recession. He even wrote a book about surviving in an world economic meltdown to give us better guidance. One very valuable piece of advise was that since most homeowners have a backyard, they should use part of it to grow vegetables in it. I’ve done some research on it and it is pretty easy to grow bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and herbs. Even if you don’t have a back yard, there are some really good websites that show you how to grow vegetables in containers. All you need is a place where the plant will get at least 6 hours of sun a day. This is a tremendous lifeline for someone who can no longer provide food for their family. And if you church has nice gardens, maybe you can start a bigger vegetable garden there to help those in need.
Christa de Lara » 573 days ago » Link