Food and Faith

The Earth is coming alive

"The Earth is coming alive," or as Dr. Ellen Davis phrases it:

The earth is a living creature, with its own integrity in the sight of its Creator.

Dr. Davis has been providing the Hunger Program, the Agrarian Road Trippers, and many in the United States who have read her work (such as The Manna Economy), a biblical basis for understanding the power dynamics and theological interpretation of the industrial food and farming system. This highly technified, energy-intensive system has all but replaced family-scale and organic farming, which of course had been the dominant food system not a century ago. In this new essay called, A Living Creature: A Biblical Perspective on Land Care and Use*, Dr. Davis says that when it comes to food,

...I have been surprised to find that even those who do not habitually read the Bible care what it says. Perhaps there is a kind of practical theism that informs the thinking of those who deal daily with the essential means of life. Especially they care when they realize (often with surprise) how much the Bible has to say about maintaining adequate food and water supplies, about protecting the fertile soil and at the same time the economic viability of farming communities – all matters of vulnerability, urgency and indeed danger in our current era of industrialized agriculture.

In A Living Creature, which you should download right now and savor, Davis reflects on the relationship between how we eat and the horrific oil disaster the planet just experienced. The modern food system, which hungers for and consumes 10% of our petroleum, is practically connected to this tragedy, but also theologically --

The wound in the ocean floor and our dominant food production practices are also connected ideologically, in that both reflect a profound misunderstanding of the created order and the human place in it. That misunderstanding is in the first instance not scientific but theological.

Without setting off the spoiler alert, here is one more image from the essay that sets the context for her insightful perspective:

Having watched it bleed for months, we are better able to see that the earth is not a machine, nor is it a convenient repository of useful goods. Journalist Naomi Klein comments: 'After 400 years of being declared dead, and in the middle of so much death, the Earth is coming alive.'

Near the end, Davis asks this question:

Can we even begin to imagine a faithfulness so fully realized that the fertile earth invites the Divine Farmer to walk upon it – as God once walked in Eden – in the path marked out by ‘righteousness’ (sustainability)?

You can download a PDF of "A Living Creature" here

UPDATE: The New Internationalist magazine just came in and has an article on the oil spill called -  That petrol emotion: BP’s ‘cleanup’ of the Gulf of Mexico which highlights the rose-tinted media reporting. Even if you don't get this fabulous magazine, you can subscribe to their blog here. And did you know you can also get the RSS feed for Food and Faith. Just choose your reader here.

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And don't miss the radio interview with Ellen Davis on Speaking of Faith accompanied Wendell Berry's poetry.

* Originally published in The Bible in Transmission, Winter 2010 (Bible Society, UK), pp. 5-7, also available in the resources section of their website. We are grateful to the editor and to Ellen Davis for allowing us to republish this essay.

Seeds – How to criminalize them

UPDATE: BREAKING: Senate votes cloture on S 510 – must now be voted on in 60 days. 

Linn Cohen-Cole, in her post Seeds - How to criminalize them, asks us to wake up to the implications of this bill. Lots of email has been flying around the cyber heavens about this Food Safety Bill. The Bill language starts below and the rest can be linked to in Linn's article. Read with your critical mind engaged and give your thoughts in the comments section below.

Wisdom says stop a bill that is broad as everything yet more vague even than it is broad.

Wisdom says stop a bill that comes with massive penalties but allows no judicial review.

Wisdom says stop a bill with everything unspecified and actually waits til next year for an unspecified “Administrator” to decide what’s what.

Where we come from, that’s called a blank check.  Who writes laws like that?  ”Here, do what you want about whatever you want and here’s some deadly punishments to make it stick.”

Wisdom says know who wrote that bill and be forewarned.

Wisdom says wake up.

Here’s the bill.  Let’s use our imaginations and extrapolate from the little bit it reveals and from the reality we know.

SEC. 206. FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITIES.

(a) Authorities- In carrying out the duties of the Administrator and the purposes of this Act, the Administrator shall have the authority, with respectto food production facilities, to–

Job announcement!

The Presbyterian Hunger Program-PCUSA is looking to fill two full-time Food Security Americorps*VISTA positions starting late-January 2011. Candidates should send resumes and cover letters
by Tuesday, November 30.

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Presbyterian Hunger Program (PCUSA) - Jobs Announcement ~ [Download a PDF of these VISTA job descriptions]

PHP is currently placing two full-time AmeriCorps*VISTA members for 12 months. They will be based in the national denominational offices in Louisville, Kentucky. Visit the AmeriCorps website for more information about the VISTA program. Please visit pcusa.org/hunger for more info about PHP.

1) AmeriCorps*VISTA Community Food Security Coordinator

Scope: Under the supervision of the National Associate for PHP, the Food Security AmeriCorps*VISTA will assist congregations and organizations in the Metro Louisville area in outreach for SNAP, WIC and Senior Nutrition Programs, and in connecting low-income individuals and communities to locally-grown, healthy foods through these programs.

Responsibilities:

- Develop good working relations with feeding programs, congregations, refugee communities, and food justice organizations in the wider Louisville area, as well as with farmers, farmers’ market associations, and related producer/distributor groups.

- Work collaboratively with community and faith groups to develop volunteer, outreach and marketing plans for USDA nutritional programs, including incentive programs for locally-grown produce for low-income individuals.

- Organize and implement training programs.

- Support groups in finding funding sources for related initiatives.

- Increase access of low-income communities to healthy food and increase SNAP and nutrition program benefits use at farmers markets and supporting local, community gardening and agriculture and nutrition education

Requirements:

1. Desire and ability to work with a diverse group of people. Must possess cultural competency skills to work with people of many different backgrounds.

2. Ability to work independently and in a team environment.

3. University degree or equivalent life experience preferred.

4. Good written and oral communication skills.

5. Interest in community development, food justice, social justice, and refugee concerns.

6. Must be proactive, innovative, reliable, and detail-oriented.

7. Fluency in English and one of the following languages preferred: Spanish, French, Creole, Nepali, Burmese, Lingali, Kituba, Bantu or Somali.

8. Prior understanding of how faith-based agencies function or willingness to learn required.

9. Must be willing to commit to one year as a full-time worker with AmeriCorps*VISTA and PHP. VISTA requires that applicants have no outside professional or educational commitments.

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2) AmeriCorps*VISTA National Food Security Coordinator

Scope: Under the supervision of the National Associate for PHP, the Food Security AmeriCorps*VISTA will facilitate and assist congregations and organizations in several USDA target states around the United States in methods and best practices for outreach on SNAP, WIC and Senior Nutrition Programs, in volunteer recruitment and management, in fund raising, and in connecting low-income individuals and communities to locally-grown, healthy foods through these programs.

Responsibilities:

- Develop good relations with congregations, interfaith hunger ministries, PHP grantees and other organizations in the target states, as well as with local producer/distributor groups in those areas.

- Work collaboratively with these groups to develop volunteer, outreach and marketing plans for USDA nutritional programs, including incentive programs for locally-grown produce for low-income individuals.

- Facilitate the development and implementation of training programs.

- Support groups in finding funding sources for related initiatives.

- Facilitate increased access by low-income communities to healthy food and increased benefits use at farmers markets and CSA programs.

Requirements:

1. Desire and ability to work with diverse groups and individuals. Must possess cultural competency skills to work with people of different backgrounds.

2. Ability to work independently and in a team environment.

3. University degree or equivalent life experience preferred.

4. Very good written and oral communication skills.

5. Interest in community development and food, social and economic justice.

6. Must be proactive, innovative, reliable, and detail-oriented.

7. Fluency in Spanish a plus.

8. Prior understanding of how faith-based agencies function or willingness to learn required.

9. Must be willing to commit to one year as a full-time worker with AmeriCorps*VISTA and PHP. VISTA requires that applicants have no outside professional or educational commitments.

To apply for this position, please email a cover letter and resume to Andrew by November 30, 2010.

Go to their website to learn more about AmeriCorps*VISTA.

For more information, call Andrew Kang Bartlett at (502) 569-5388.

The Sacred 'neath Your Soul!

Along with Dr. Larry Rasmussen, we said "Amen" to this prayer...

Lord of skies, you walk among us
in the plain brown soil of earth.
How you’ve chosen to be present
often seems of little worth.
You have chosen common bushes,
kindled them with heaven’s fire,
spoken through unlikely prophets
heralding your love’s desire…
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Dr. Rasmussen spoke at the Festival of Faiths Interfaith Breakfast in Louisville this week.

"...the soul is the animating element of our humanity and the way we touch the divine.  But the spelling is wrong.  Soul is properly spelled s-o-l-e.  Where is your soul/sole? On the bottom side of your bare feet, in touch with the sacred ‘neath your sole, the soil."

One more snippet to make sure you read the treasure below --

"But let’s not lose the main point: cultus (worship), culture and agriculture—we belong to these as the miraculous clods who are cultivators by calling.  We are here to maintain the fertility of the soil for on-going life, to “renew the face of the earth,” in the phrase of Ps. 104, and to give glory to God. The ancients would have understood Wendell Berry well.  “In talking about topsoil,” Berry says, “it is hard to avoid the language of religion.”   So put aside the superstition that soul and soil are separate categories.  Decent land-use is not about economics, it’s about cultivation and the state of our souls."

We laughed. We listened. And at the end of his talk, glancing at people standing in ovation, I noted I was not the only earthling moved to tears at the beauty and truth in his words. Larry agreed without hesitation to have his talk published here, so consider yourself blessed!

Download the PDF of his talk on Sacred Soil

Sharing God's Bounty: Community gardens are part of a growing movement addressing the root causes of hunger

Check out the cover story from the latest issue of Presbyterians Today. Reporter Darrin Youker shows how churches are addressing hunger in their communities with church gardens.

Presbyterian congregations are in the garden for a lot of reasons. They are donating the harvest food pantries or soup kitchens - which often don't have fresh produce - as part of their local hunger ministry. Congregations are reconnecting with the land while tending to Creation, and gardening builds community and strengthens the congregation. Also, children love gardens! Sometimes the best way to get kids to eat veggies is to show them how a carrot grows, and churches are tapping into this phenomenon.

The Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) has a series of resources for adults and children called Just Eating: Practicing Our Faith at the Table that explores the relationship between the way we eat and the way we live.

Youker's article tells the story of four different Presbyterian churches (three of which PHP helped to start with the One Great Hour of Sharing offering), but we know that there are hundreds of other similar ministries across the country. Read the article and then let us know what your congregation is doing. Email [email protected] or comment below.

Read the full article at http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/today/cover/. If you're subscribed to the magazine, you'll also notice Linda Valentine's column that talks about PHP's Heaven on Earth Agrarian Road Trip.

What is food sovereignty anyway?!

"Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

It puts those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.

It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation.

It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime, and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determined by local producers.

Food sovereignty prioritises local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal - fishing, pastoralist-led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Food sovereignty promotes transparent trade that guarantees just income to all peoples and the rights of consumers to control their food and nutrition.

It ensures that the rights to use and manage our lands, territories, waters, seeds, livestock and biodiversity are in the hands of those of us who produce food.

Food sovereignty implies new social relations free of oppression and inequality between men and women, peoples, racial groups, social classes and generations."

This is from the DECLARATION OF NYÉLÉNI which was written in 2007 by those gathered in Sélingué, Mali. The PDF of the full declaration can be found here.