Food

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“Signs of Life” as we experience the Coronavirus outbreak.

Pray your gratitude for provision of food. Pray for farm workers who grow our food, for those who transport and package our food, and for food suppliers and venders. Pray your awareness of your own needs and others’: food varieties being limited, the plight of restaurant workers being jobless, the myriads of people in our world who are starving.


 

In this video, The Rev. Becky Zartman is in conversation with Brs. James Koester, Curtis Almquist, Luke Ditewig and Sean Glenn to discuss Food.

Questions for Meditation

Holy Communion serves not only as a memorial of our redemption, but also a chance to be united with Jesus, as we “feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.” Being fed by Jesus, how might you feed others?

As Jesus said in his wilderness fast, “we cannot live on bread alone.” We must feed our souls as well as our bodies. For what do you hunger?

Practice:

  • As you eat this week, give thanks to God for your food and also for your feelings, whether hungry or full.

Facilitator Support

The learning goals for Food are:

  • Connecting the sign of food to personal spirituality or experience
  • Understanding how food plays a role in Christian worship and community life
  • Learning a new contemplative practice that can help participants connect more deeply to the sign of food

Food: Small Group Guide

A detailed outline for leading a Small Group on Food, with notes, questions and tips on set up.

Food: Forum Curriculum

Preparation and guidance for using Food in a forum setting.

Downloads and Print outs

Quick links to PDFs for downloading and printing.

Practices to go deeper

Food: Facebook Live

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Food: Saturday

I’m showing up as I can – some days more than others. I say to God, “This is where I am. This is what I have and don’t have. And this is what I need.” In the Eucharist I say, “Here I am.” And God says, “Yes, here I am for you today.”

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Food: Friday

Since the very beginnings of the church, we have remembered Jesus with food, food that we eat and share in community, and we have remembered Jesus as food, food that sustains us, and becomes part of our very being. Eating this food together, we become the body of Christ.

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Food: Thursday

It’s a really powerful practice to recognize the gift of sustenance in a world where so many people are starving – starving for food, but also starving for love, starving to belong, starving for shelter, starving for justice. We can use the gift of our hunger – and the provision to sate our hunger – as a reminder to take food as a gift, not just a given. Let food have a symbolic, iconic quality of the hungers that surround us in this world.

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Food: Wednesday

The Eucharist has a way of surprising us. It’s not always this feeling that I’m engorged and full – and so grateful to be full of Jesus. Sometimes the Spirit says, “We are going to feed you today with this lack that you are feeling. This lack that you’re feeling is going to be what feeds you.”

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Food: Tuesday

Jesus comes to us as food in the Eucharist, and he’s truly present in the bread and wine. But even before that, he is present in the breaking open of the bread of scripture. And he’s present in the gathered community.

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Food: Monday

Having now received the Eucharist – most days – for ten years, I know that there’s always more. There’s always more to receive of God. I’m always further in need, which is the humbling part. And God has good gifts to give.

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Food: Video

The Eucharist and the liturgy continue to be an ongoing invitation. Even when I think I’ve got it all figured out, there’s always more. I’ve been receiving communion now for thirteen years, and it’s never the same any day. I never walk away feeling fed in the same way. I always feel fed.

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On Food

From a conversation with Br. Jim Woodrum, SSJE

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Food: Homily

When we remember food is life, we gain a better understanding of what it means to ask God to give us our daily bread . . . But most importantly, when we remember that food is life, we discover what it means when Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” Jesus is the food that will feed us.

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Angels in the Architecture

“Why were these angelic figures everywhere? What were they trying to tell me?”

Br. Jim Woodrum follows the angels toward a deeper appreciation of why our church buildings matter and how they can help us to become one with the angels. This Monastic Wisdom refection accompanies and illuminates our Lent 2020 offering Signs of Life.

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Worship engages our deepest human needs and has the power to transform our lives. Join the Brothers of SSJE in exploring the signs and symbols at the heart of Christian worship.

This free 5-week offering encourages individuals and groups to explore the riches of our worship traditions, liturgy and sacraments, and the art and architecture of our worship spaces, revealing the full meaning of these signs, deepening our experience of Christian vocation and guiding us toward ongoing conversion.