The
first story we have after the creation of the cosmos takes place in a
garden. Artistic interpretations over
the centuries have imagined what that paradise looked like. Vibrant colors, rich foliage, idyllic
landscapes of lush and fruit-bearing plants.
There was water trickling, bees buzzing pollinating the flowers. This is what God created and called so very
good.
Human sin resulted in the birth of
pests, weeds, and thorns. Oh, and
sweat. Growing gardens is now going to
require hard work. No more easy fruit
hanging low on the branches – that was too tempting. Toil in the soil, that’s what we are
sentenced to. But the worst part is we
have to leave the garden. We are
distanced from God and that changes how we feel about life. It’s harder to remember sitting in the palm
of paradise while we are plowing and sweating and blistering.
Do
we remember, millennia later, what that paradise to which we want to return
looks like? The answer: probably not.
That’s why active imaginations (childlike, in fact) are integral to
kingdom living. While agrarian metaphors
like “faith like a mustard seed” and “bearing fruit” are interpreted to depict
a bucolic and idealized spiritual life we are to seek after, I wonder if we are
missing something that is right in front of our noses. We ignore Creation’s groaning and the ways
our neighbors are exploited in food production and distribution because we are
working on our spiritual cultivation.
What better place to start living
the faith than with our food choices? It
occurred to me when I opened our CSA box to find the first apples of the fall
season, that I was looking at the fruit that theoretically started it all. (If it was in fact a fig, I’m still giving
the apple credit for this tiny revelation!)
Food choices, after all, were where we as a human race fundamentally
messed up at the beginning of the world.
Maybe we should try that again.
I’m
not suggesting that the reason “sin”
happened was because we ate an apple that was grown by a migrant worker who was
underpaid and then deported when she was done being useful to mega
companies. I am not suggesting that the reason “sin” happened was because we ate
an apple that was gathered overseas, sprayed with a staying agent and shipped,
trained, trucked, and tanked to the grocery store aisles. I am suggesting that sin happens when we eat an apple that was grown by a migrant worker who
was underpaid and then deported. I am
suggesting that sin happens when we
eat an apple that made its way to our home in a way that hurts our
creation. I am suggesting that sin is
complex, it is insidious, it is corporate, and it is sneaky.
We have to be more alert to snakes,
stealthy and manipulative and articulate snakes that blind us to the real
choice we should be making - the choice that treasures above all God’s will and
the love of neighbor. Sinning results in
finger-pointing, blame games, and lack of accountability for our own
actions.
Our food choices have always been important. The food that is provided at the Lord’s Table
is centrally located (spatially and spiritually) in our worship services. Choosing to follow the justice and love of
Jesus Christ means arriving at the Table in all its complexities. It means evaluating ourselves, remembering
the apple, confessing our complicity, and trying a new way. Fed and sustained by the very body of our
Lord, we strive to embody in this groaning creation a new way. A way of justice and love, trusting that God
will renew us all. Maybe, God willing,
we can be a part of the reprieve – maybe choosing to eat the right things will
be part of the restoration of this world.
With God’s help, we can re-write history and restore our
reputation. And the apple’s.
*Pictures from CTS Outreach Garden
No comments:
Post a Comment