"Practices surrounding food and eating are one of the best avenues for building upon Christ's injunctions. We can all understand hunger, because we all eat every day. Food makes a direct connection between our beliefs and our daily life. Eating is a practical, easily comprehended, foundational experience. Developing such practices is easy to do; it is a daily routine, and it helps avoid the segregation of religious matters to an isolated sector of life. It encourages a spirituality that is not ethereal or fragmented but pervasive, concrete, and holistic. Furthermore, the Christian faith is replete with practices connected to food.
"We could include here a long list of activities that encourage the appreciation of food and the alleviation of others' (as well as our own) hunger. However tempting it may be to produce just such a list of 'things to do,' I want to limit this to three core practices:
"1. Pray carefully in church and at home. Say grace before meals thoughtfully in a way that recognizes the specifics of the meal and of what is going on in your life. Being specific about what all goes into getting food prepared and on the table helps us not only be aware of this blessing, it also puts us in relationship with God. It helps us recognize that we live in grace.
"2. Find a way of sharing food with others, especially others who cannot share in return. Do this for yourself, for Christ's sake! Some good ways to do this are by volunteering regularly in a soup kitchen or working in a food pantry or helping to staff a shelter for homeless or otherwise disadvantaged persons. You could begin in small ways to share with those, like children or the elderly or shut-ins, who need food to be provided. At the least we can make certain food is provided through such agencies as the Christian Children's Fund or Heifer Project International. Sharing face-to-face is better. Get to know individual people. Prepare the meal yourself.
"3. Make it a practice to know where your food comes from and to eat as locally as possible. This may mean growing some of your own food and appreciating what comes close to home. Seek to discover where God is active in your local food supply system. Where does food waste go? Learning about the source of your food and eating (and buying) locally will be a great joy and it will also be a spiritual blessing to expect to find God at work in all the processes that produce food and delight at table. You will not be far from worship at that point."
