Tuesday, June 22, 2004

consuming the body

Jesus took bread. Food. Stuff from the earth.

Take, eat, this is my body.

And in so doing, Jesus linking our eating with our spirituality.

What we eat shapes our faith.

Ben Witherington has a fascinating perspective on 1 Corinthians 11. He argues that Corinth is a divided body. The rich eat first. The poor eat little. So when Paul suggests that those who eat the bread and the drink the wine in an unworthy manner sin against the body, Paul is linking eating and a spirituality of justice, that if we eat in way that keeps the poor hungry, then we are sinning.

This is not about our inner relationship with God, this is about what and how we consume.

The kiwi~mission~diet is not just about money for mission. It is a way for us to ask ourselves; how can we eat justly? how can we consume without harming the worldwide body of Christ?

Posted by steve at 10:09 PM

4 Comments

  1. Thanks for the clarification including visiting my site to do so! I’m really in agreement and [as I say at nouslife] would encourage people to consider eating [much] less meat and perhaps shopping more often but for less [and the exercise is probably good for you too]. AS well as seeing buyng organic and fairtrade as part of our giving, so to speak rather than as a kind of self-imposed taxation [though if that helps …].
    Good on ya! Thanks. -Andii

    Comment by Andii Bowsher — June 22, 2004 @ 10:26 pm

  2. your comments here remind me of my mennonite background.

    Comment by tammy — June 24, 2004 @ 6:17 pm

  3. Steve i love this quote. Jesus connecting our eating with our spirituality. profound.
    i think Rikk Watts from Regent said he would like to hack a movie called Restaurants of Fire – I feel close to God when i eat. I do applaud your musings on justice and consumption. Have u read rich christians in an age of hunger? I think Tom Sine is the author.
    I hope we don’t get too minimalistic or an eating type of poverty mentality. Jesus was accused of being a gluton and a drunkard. I like that role model. 🙂

    Comment by theblokman — June 25, 2004 @ 12:01 am

  4. the interesting thing, from my perspective as a nurse, is that eating the cheaper foods, if done thoughtfully, is often healthier than eating the expensive ones.

    i think of proverbs where it often talks about the blessing of eating simple foods, and the curse of eating rich foods.

    Comment by tammy — June 26, 2004 @ 1:24 am

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