What do we eat?
/In the last post, I suggested that it would be good to ruminate together about the situation we're in. Goats and cattle literally ruminate - they eat grass or leaves then barf it up later to chew more thoroughly and get more nutrition out of it. People ruminate by thinking together over time about a topic so the end decision is thorough and careful and beneficial. We ruminate as a way to avoid problems that might come up with impulsive rush decisions or procrastinating or missing out on important points of view or pieces of information. For Christian people, ruminating allows for discussion, prayer, and discernment in light of Scripture.
I also noted that goats and cattle all have to participate in the ruminating - they can't delegate some to chew the cud and others to eat the grass. Everybody eats and everybody lies down to chew the cud. Ruminating for those animals also demands that they cycle back and forth between the pasture and the cud-chewing several times each day. No goat can eat for days in a row and then chew her cud for the next several days. Likewise, as a Christian community, we participate with each other in thoughtful discussion, prayer, discernment, and Scripture reading. We move regularly back and forth between acting on our faith and gathering together to study and reflect on it. Nobody sits around thinking big thoughts all the time and nobody is out doing stuff all the time. That cycle back and forth between action and reflection is sometimes called praxis.
But what should we think about? Can we pick whatever we want or are some things better for us than others? Are there passages of Scripture that are extra nutritious? Are there teachings or specific stories from the Bible that stand out from their context and speak through all the layers of culture and tradition since they were written straight into our experience? I believe there are several and one of them is Isaiah 58.
In chapter 58, God is frustrated. God's tone of voice is like a grade 4 teacher who wrote out clear instructions, left for a minute, and came back to find the kids standing on their desks making fart noises and throwing chalk brushes around. Or maybe a boss who laid out a list of job site tasks, left briefly to meet another customer and came back to find the crew gambling and smoking pot in the tool trailer. God's hands are in the air. God is mad. God yells. Then God uses that very very calm very very clear voice looking straight into your eyes standing a bit too close that teachers and bosses and parents use when they're done yelling and want to be very very sure that you get it this time except this isn't a grade 4 class or a slacker framing crew. God is talking to people about the overlap between what they do in worship and their lives during the rest of the week. You should read all of Isaiah 58 for yourself and talk about it with your friends but here are a few highlights with comments:
In verses 1-3, God is angry and sarcastic. God imitates the people in a mocking way. “Why have we fasted and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed?” The people complain that they're doing the right stuff but they don't feel like God notices.
Then God gets down to it in verses 3-5. “On the day of fasting you do as you please, exploiting your workers ... You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.” We can argue about economic models but how you treat the people you know is part of your relationship with God. Then God is sarcastic with questions again, “Only one day for bowing your head ... is this what you call a day acceptable to the Lord?”
If you've ever been on the receiving end of the teacher/boss/parent speech you know that when they say, “is this what you call a ... “ that you'd better get ready for the kicker and that's the way it goes here beginning in verse 6. I'll put it in point form instead of poetry:
God says, “is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen?
loose the chains of injustice
set the oppressed free
break every yoke
share your food
provide shelter
provide clothing
And then comes the promise. If we act on those things God notices and:
your light will break forth like the dawn
your healing will appear
righteousness will go before you
the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard
you will call and the Lord will answer
ask for help and the Lord will say, “here I am”
Then again for emphasis starting in verse 9, God ticks them off like on fingers plain and direct. “if you do away with:
oppression
pointing fingers
malicious talk”
and if you instead, “spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed” then:
your light will shine in the darkness
your night will become like noonday
the Lord will guide you
And so on until the end of the chapter plus a part about keeping the Sabbath.
This passage lines up with many others in the prophetic books of the Old Testament and with Jesus' words in Luke 4 quoting Isaiah 61 at the beginning of his ministry as he announces himself in his home town and then again in Matthew 5 with the Sermon on the Mount and also the end of his teachings in Matthew 25 with the sheep and goats and with later teachings from Paul and other New Testament writers like First John.
So, when our congregation looks around for things to ruminate together about, we might do well to consider how the health of our congregation in public worship reflects our health in other areas of God's concern. We participate in oppression and we feel oppressed. We point our fingers at others and we cringe when fingers are pointed at us. We speak maliciously about people and dread what others might be saying about us. On the other hand, we really do long for our light to shine in dark times. We really do long for God's answer to our call for help. We do want the Lord to guide us.
The path is laid out clearly. What remains is to walk down it together.
