The Resurrection of this Blog

The last time that I blogged here was way back in December 2010.  This has been for several reasons, most notably my lack of time, but also self consciousness in my writing style.  Necessity has driven me to begin blogging here again.  I recently was hired as the Sustainable Food Coordinator for a program called CCSP, located in Santa Elena Belize.  At this point in my life, this is exactly what I want to be doing.  All through college I would look out onto the busy Chicago Avenue streets of Minneapolis, MN and yearn for the peaceful farm that I spent so much time on during my formative years.  Now, although I am not on that peaceful farm, I am gaining knowledge that will be beneficial to a lifestyle that more readily resembles that childhood memory.  I am an amateur gardener looking to become more proficient at it while in a position that requires me to do just that.  I wake up every morning and am still surprised that I am in this position, that it is my job to garden, hang out with college students and shop at a farmers market.  While, although I have not blogger here in a quite a while, from here on out that will be the subject of my blog: my discovery of how to successfully garden in Belize, about sourcing food in a developing country and its preparation in the kitchen, all of which has a steep learning curve.    
  

Sacramental

I realize more and more everyday how sacramental I view the world.  The word Sacrament comes from the Greek word μυστηριον which means a mystery or secret, a religious or mystical truth or a symbol of a sort.  When this word is translated into latin, it becomes the word sacramentum, which is where we now get the English word sacrament.  A sacrament is a mystery, something beyond our grasp.  It is in it's own way a holy thing; unexplainable by purely physical terms, taking place not only in the physical, but also on a very spiritual level.

When I say that I view the world in terms of the Sacramental, what I am saying is that along with the physicality of the world, there is also another level of reality, a spiritual one in which there are constantly things going on.  Usually the first thing that people think about when they hear the word Sacrament is of the Holy Eucharist, where the bread and wine are said to be something more that simply bread and wine.  What exactly happens during the Holy Eucharist has been widely interpreted. Calvin thought that the spiritual presence of Christ was present during the Holy Eucharist.  Luther explained it in terms of the consubstantiation, in which the body and blood  of Christ coexists with the bread and wine.  The traditional Roman Catholic view is known as transubstantiation wherein the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.

Albeit that there is much more going on here in terms of philosophical categories of thought, but the one thing that all of these formulations get at is the centrality of something bigger going on than meets the eye.  Sacrament has also meant a number of other things in Christian history, such as baptism, reconciliation, marriage, and confirmation.  As many of the people who know me area aware of, some of my favorite spiritual influences have been Emerson, Thoreau, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, and Annie Dillard.  If there is one thing that these people have taught me, it is that the world is a μυστηριον.  The world is filled, infused with the divine.  The world is sacramental.  The more sacramental we view the world, I would argue, the more we have a propensity to treat the world and all life forms with a sanctity, with an honor.  In the Buddhist tradition, all sentient life forms automatically have a worth and a value on their own.  In Christianity, this has not always been the case, and often times christians act as though the only sacred act of World Making that God did was that of humans.  I propose that christians must begin to see the world in more sacramental ways if they are to foster any sort of protection for the non-human portions of creation. God's World Making extends far beyond the human sphere, and far be it from us to limit God's efficacious spirit which is infused into all of creation.  What is it about the grandeur of the world that has always marveled man.  It is not simply for its beauty, although this plays a role, but it is also man's sense that there is something beyond what is seen, that the world in all it's beauty has a source.  What I am getting at here is what is known as Panentheism.  God is in everything, but God is not the sum total of everything, for he/she is much farther beyond that.

When I look at the world, I see it as such, as infused with the divine.  The animals, plants, trees, soil are all a part of God's being.  They are infused with the divine.  In this, I wonder and am amazed.    

Lectio Divina: Reading the Book of Nature

"I live my life in widening circles

that reach out across the world.

I may not complete this last one, 

but I give myself to it."

-Rilke-

Ok, so I have to admit that what I am about to share is not at all unique.  I am proud to say though, that I only know of one other person that has done research into this area.  In 2010, a woman by the name of Nancy Menning did her Doctoral Dissertation on this very topic.  It was titled "Reading Nature Religiously: Lectio Divina, environmental ethics, and the literary non-fiction of Terry Tempest William."  Although I have not read this dissertation, and have no intention of doing so entirely, it is to this that the idea that I now present is indebted.  I will begin with a definition as to what exactly I mean by Lectio Divina, as well as what I mean when I talk about "Reading the book of nature."

The idea of nature as a revelation of God is not a new formulation.  Although the formulation as is now commonly understood is a product of the early ages of scientific investigation in the 17th and 18th century, it is not totally unattested to in the scriptures.  Take for instance Romans 1:20, or Psalm 19.  The scripture clearly teaches that nature is revelatory of God in some sense.  If God is the imminent creator of the cosmos, and if we believe that this God is a personal deity, then this consequently means that he has in some sense revealed himself to his created creatures through creation.  Thus, although humanity has been given the book of scripture, they also have been given the book of creation (nature).  In this self manifestation and revelation of God, we are then called to the careful study, observation, and meditation on both of God's revealed books.

Lectio Divina is a careful, close, and methodical reading of the scriptures in a contemplative way.  It often includes mulling over one particular passage, letting it sink into your consciousness, and being attentive to what the text and the Spirit of God might be saying to you personally.  After you have allowed the text and the spirit to speak, one must then contemplate what this means in the context of life.  How is it to affect your actions and the way in which you live in the world?  The last step is to remain in God's presence; resting in the knowledge that God has spoken.  What I am then suggesting is that it is possible to perform this "Divine Reading" on the natural world in very much the same way that you would on the scriptures themselves.

Lectio Divina has the ability to teach us a different narrative than the one that society at large lives.  It requires that we slow down so that we might be attentive and quiet enough to hear God's first language: silence.  Thus, when we come to the revealed book of nature we are confronted not only with a silence unlike that of our busy lives, but also with the multiple voices of God's creation.  Flannery O'Connor once said that the more sacramental our theology is, the better.  This is certainly true when we are outdoors, when we are in the midst of God's creation.  When we face another human we are confronted with the image of God, but when we come into the midst of the natural world we are confronted with the fingerprints of God.  It is when we realize this that nature stops singularly being nature and can be called a creation, and it is in this that it is deemed worthy of our attention and study.  It is when we realize that all of creation is sacramental that we can come into it's midst expecting that we will not only sense the presence of God, but moreover be confronted by the immediacy of it, that is manifest in creation.  One distinction that I want to make quite clear is my view of the natural world.  While I agree that any Christian view of the world when viewed through the lens of scripture and tradition must affirm the Creator Creation distinction, I nonetheless see nature as infused with the divine in every respect.  Some prominent process and open theologians refer to this as a formulation of panentheism.  I certainly have affinities for the notion of panentheism as it not only offers a more apt reason for Care of Creation, but also because it is more congruent with divine action in the world in lieu of scientific inquiry.  Some may see this as an abandonment of the Creator Creation distinction, however if one is to see God as encompassing all of Creation yet infinitely beyond it, this notion remains intact.

I would love to hear stories as well as thoughts on how you have connected with God in the natural world.

The Excitement of Color

I am not sure that there is anything that gets me more excited than seeing the vibrancy of the color of pastured egg yolks.  If you have never bought eggs directly from a farmer who pastures their chickens, you have no idea what you are missing out on.  The eggs bought at the supermarket are so deficient of egg yolk color, and even a bit watery compared to pastured eggs from a small farm.  Beyond the color of egg yolks, the next best thing is   going to a farmers market, and being overwhelmed by the amount of colorful food.  Everytime I go to farmers market in a larger city, such as Minneapolis, I am amazed at the variety of vegetables that can be grown in the area.  Today I saw Apples, Kohlrabi, a bazzilion varieties of tomatoes, grapes, plums, radishes, lettuce, beets, carrots, Okra, Eggplant, Zucchini, onions, spinach, squash, pumpkin, green-beans, cucumbers, leaks, in addition to things such as honey, beef, pork, bread, milk, and eggs.  All of these things beautifully displayed, with no advertising other than the beautiful vibrancy of their colors, and the smiles of those who oversaw their growth.  The amazing thing to me is that my home state of Minnesota is able to grow such a wide variety of things.  I am told that I can expect that the farmers market last into the first week of November.  All of this variety that I see at the farmers market leads me to wonder why the farm policies of 70's has led us to a time in history when, at-least here in Minnesota we farm soy beans, and corn from fence row to fence row, with essentially no bio-diversity in our conventional agricultural systems?  Thank goodness, this madness is coming to an end, and we are once again taking part in our food production by either growing a portion ourselves, or connecting with farmers in our community.  In the process, we discover once again that it not only is better for our community, environment, our bodies, and even tastes remarkably good...  Now, please excuse me while I pull my fresh bread out of the oven, and pour myself a bowl of my colorful vegetable lentil soup.

Farmers Market

I often talk to people who think that the whole idea of natural and organic food is only for those people who can afford such luxuries as these.  I understand where this notion comes from, but I think that it is vastly misinformed.  It comes from a shopping experience in a conventional grocery store where there are highly processed foods that have the label organic on them, and happen to be twice the price of its conventional counterpart.  If this was the only future that organic had, I would certainly abandon the idea of organic, or naturally grown foods altogether, but thankfully it is not.  There is a whole new movement underway that goes far beyond organic grocery store products that simply mimic their counterparts, or are shipped from places far away to us, the naive consumer.  This is the local food movement, and as the name suggests, you are highly likely to find some in your local area.  This food, if not highly processed, is generally the same price, and maybe even cheaper that the conventional counterpart.  Why? you might ask...  Well, this local food is generally grown with far less chemicals, all of which add cost to food production.  It is generally moved a far shorter distance than its counterpart as well.  The average plate of food has traveled an average of 2000 miles before it reaches the the plate here in America.  In contrast, local food generally travels less than 100 miles from farm to plate.  All of these things lend themselves to a lower cost of food production, not only in terms of monetary value, but also in terms of environmental impact.  So, before you make the claim that Organic and natural food is only for the elite, check out your local farmers market first, because most of it is probably 90% organic, and by the way, it tastes a hell of a lot better than the stuff shipped a bazzilion miles across the ocean that is found in the grocery store.

    

A New Season

Just as the earth changes seasons, so I am now entering a new season of my life.  Fall is well on it's way, and I am certainly ready to start my senior year here at North Central University.  Among the most exciting things that has already occurred this fall is the internship at Restoring Eden, that I am about to take on come the 13th of this month.  As those of you who are familiar with me know, I have always had a passion for food (good food), faith, nature, ecology, and local communities.  Not necessarily in this order, but...  You get the point.  These issues have gained increasing importance over the last few years of my life, as I have had the opportunity to dive into the recesses of my faith tradition for thoughts and theological reflections on the nature of how we eat, the communities that we live in, the ecology and environments that surround us, and it's vast connection to faith.  It is because of this reason that I am starting this new blog series.  It is here that I will be posting my thoughts and reflections as well as any papers that I write on this topic while I am doing my internship at Restoring Eden.