Envision your local church; the altar, pew, or whatever space in which you take communion. What does that look like for you? Now imagine your dinner table, coffee table, couch, where you eat dinner most frequently transported to that space.
What thoughts come to your mind?
Would your dinner plans change in reference to your new surrounding?
What would you eat?
Would the table look different?
Who would be sitting with you?
Who would cook and clean up?
Is it still your dinner table?
A lot of thoughts have been floating in and out of my mind as I’ve been preparing for a workshop I’m facilitating for The Revolution Starts at Home series entitled “Justice at the Table“. And from the beginning I’ve sensed that I’m missing something. Something essential, foundational but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
As so often happens in my life something I recently read started to pull it all together for me. I decided to pick up the book Take This Bread by Sara Miles. This book is very open look at the life of a amazing women who was dramatically transformed by partaking of the eucharist. And it dawned on me finally what I was missing in my whole view of food issues and my faith.
I was missing communion, I was missing the body of Christ. And not just the spiritualized view of the Lord’s Table but the actual down to earth translation of what that meant. What does it mean to BE Christ’s body for people? What does it mean to say that his body is offered freely? And how should that change me?
Christians are in no way unique in their desire to eat justly. There are many groups the world over that are working extremely hard to change the systems that marginalize others. But I feel we have an added mandate and it is directly related to Christ’s body. He not only called himself the Bread of Life but he shared bread with others many times in his ministry. He didn’t just talk, but literally became what he preached.
I’m at a crossroads right now. I feel that I can’t just buy fair traded coffee and locally grown produce and say that’s the epitome of food and justice for christian life. I need a way in which to become the bread, to become the body and I need to do it in a way that puts me in communion, in the truest sense of that word, with the rest of the body as well. I’m not sure where this will lead but I think I’m finally at a place where I’m ready to find out.
The Revolution Starts at Home 
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I’m in the struggle with you. I’m a big proponent of food justice, but educating our little family community here is a slow process. They have been on the Standard American Diet a long time! How to explain? When we consume more than our fair share, we take from the mouths of others. And the concept of “fair share” is a difficult one to explain. It’s relatively easy when they are eating a meal of curried lentils and brown rice, but it seems to be forgotten as soon as they pass a McDonald’s! I do the cooking and menu planning, but I don’t want to become a food fascist.
I wrote this to post on the refrigerator:
A kitchen is a place of blessing and rest,
A place to be renewed.
We come to the family table
The way we come to the Lord’s table,
With joy and gratitude.
[…] And around the world millions have been pushed into poverty and starvation because of the economic downturn. As I thought about this I was reminded of this blog post by Ricci Kilmer who is getting ready for the Justice At The Table workshop February 7th I’m at a crossroads right now. I feel that I can’t just buy fair traded coffee and locally grown produce and say that’s the epitome of food and justice for christian life. I need a way in which to become the bread, to become the body and I need to do it in a way that puts me in communion, in the truest sense of that word, with the rest of the body as well. I’m not sure where this will lead but I think I’m finally at a place where I’m ready to find out. Read more […]
I also started out asking questions about health and now find myself asking more about justice. I can steer my kids away from some of the worst choices (for now — they’re still young), but what about the kids who have to take the school lunch for economic reasons, or who don’t have a decent grocery near them, etc.? If the standard, processed American diet is bad for me, it’s probably bad for my neighbors, too — not to mention the people who grow and process the food.
I’m rediscovering communion as a regular practice (visiting an Episcopal church) and I like your thoughts linking that meal with all the other meals we eat. I wish I could attend your workshop! It’s encouraging to know there are others on this journey.
[…] This reminded me of an article Ricci Kilmer, part of our MSA team wrote some months ago about Justice at Christ’s Table, which addresses another aspect of this issue. […]
Hi Ricci, Eliacin suggested I feature this article on the Sustainable Traditions blogazine that my wife Pam and I started. We would love to feature this article. All I would need from you is a one sentence bio.
-shalom!
Jason Fowler
if we teach someone to fish, they eat for a day.
if we sustain someone’s fishing rights and refrain from poisoning their waterhole, they eat for a lifetime.
(unless, of course, we WANT to drive someone off their land, get at their natural resources, and induce cheap labor: then driving someone to the brink of starvation just barely sustained by our charity is definitely the way to go)
[…] The Revolution Starts at Home -Thank you Ricci!] var a2a_config = a2a_config || {}; a2a_config.linkname="Justice at […]
I am shopping for some Xmas presents. I am considering buying Maid For You Lingerie Costume from Peaches and Screams Boutique 🙂 Has anyone used them before?
[…] Justice At The Table workshop with Ricci Kilmer […]