First Baptist Church on Littleton Common    

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Matthew 14:13-21

One of the many blessings of living in New England is witnessing its change of seasons.  There is nothing better than seeing the creative hand of God working when the first blanket of snow arrives in winter, the first daffodil pops up in the spring, in the summer enjoying the shade of lush green leaves which will slowly change into a rainbow of browns and reds for fall.     The change of seasons is also marked by the appearance of seasonal food that will appear at our area farm stands.   Red strawberries, juicy peaches, sweet corn on the cob, crisp apples, followed by orange pumpkins.               

I was eating an apple the other day –thinking how the apple season was almost here – but after just a few bites I realized it wasn’t all that good and was about as  juicy and crisp as a piece of cardboard that had gotten soaked in one of these summer rainstorms and then dried out again.   I looked at the little sticker that I had peeled off from the store – and lo and behold – my Gala apple that I bought in Westford came from New Zealand.   New Zealand is 9187 miles from Boston – which is a long way for an apple to travel from tree to table. 

Out of curiosity I went back to that same store and began perusing my way through the produce section and here is what I discovered:

Pineapple from Miami

Watermelon, oranges, nectarines and strawberries from California

Clementines from Peru

Red, green, yellow and orange peppers from Canada

Onions from New York

Gala, Fuji and Braeburn Apples from New Zealand

Kiwis from New Zealand.

Oranges from Australia

Limes and mangoes from Mexico

Pears from Chile and Argentina

Bananas from Costa Rica

Grapes, cherries, peaches and plums – from the United States

Peaches from New Jersey

Blueberries from Missouri

Blackberries from Florida

Carrots with roots, stems, still displaying dirt all over them - from California

An international fruit and vegetable basket.  I did stop and think it was pretty funny to see how all the other traveling produce was clean and shiny and yet this batch of carrots from California still had dirt on them.   I had just read a story about carrots – in a book by Barbara Kingsolver – called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which I had picked up after hearing an interview on NPR’s Speaking of Faith.   This particular show was called The Ethics of Eating and the host, Krista Tippett was interviewing the author of the book who had spent a year eating only food they had grown themselves or food that was grown locally.  

In the book the author recounts a true story from her husband Steve’s graduate school days.   During that time Steve lived within the city, but worked hard to maintain a small garden in his yard, which became quite a curiosity factor for the youth who congregated and who ran around the neighborhood.   Steve tells the story about one young teen – named Malcolm - who loved to hang around the yard and was astonished with the fact that the food that he was used to seeing neatly and cleanly packaged in the stores - actually came from the ground.   Kingsolver says:

The first time he watched Steve pull long, orange carrots out of the ground, he demanded:

“How’d you get them in there?”

Steve held forth with condensed Intro Botany.  Starts with a seed, grows into a plant.  Water sunlight, leaves, roots.  “A carrot,” Steven concluded, “is actually a root.”

“Uh-huh…,” said Malcolm doubtfully.

A crowd had gathered now.  Steven engaged his audience by asking “Can you guys think of other foods that might be root vegetables?” 

Malcolm checked with his pals, using a lifeline before confidently submitting his final answer: “Spaghetti?” [1]

As amusing as we think that is - we often take for granted the abundance and the plethora of choices in front of us when we enter a store.   Many of our children and adults as well have forgotten or never learned about growing and gardening.   This story and the book – have inspired me to say a prayer of thanks when I enter a grocery store - as I try to shift my own personal focus from a state of want - into a state of gratitude. 

What is our ethics of eating?   Should we even have an ethic of eating?  This is a pretty personal and often emotional topic – but our food choices, our eating and the physical side of our body, mind and spirit composition – is pretty important to us – yet we rarely talk about it in church or in the context of our spiritual journey.   We eat at least three times a day, shop for food, think about food, exercise, worry or celebrate our health and maintain a yearly round of visits to our physicians’ offices.  More than half of our prayer concerns every week have to do with the challenges of the body – so why shouldn’t we have an ethic or spirituality of eating which guides the food or the drink that we put into our body?  

Even if you are not interested in the ethics of your own eating – did you know that you could help your countries dependence on oil by eating just one locally grown meal per week?  Everybody seems to want to do that these days – the amount of fossil fuels used to transport, refrigerator and package that apple that was 9000 miles away – is extremely high. 

According to Kingsolver, “if every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.   That’s not gallons, but barrels.  Small changes in buying habits can make big differences.  Becoming a less energy – dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast.” [2]

In our text this morning – we are served the parable of the loaves and fishes, a story that I believe informs both our ethics and our spirituality of eating and consuming.   This wonderful parable is found in all four of the Gospel accounts – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all had something to say about a time that Jesus tended to people’s actual physical needs as well as to their spiritual longings. 

The crowds of people had been following Jesus around and were hungering for every word of hope that came from his mouth and the healing that came from the work of his hands.   We read and see that Jesus had compassion for the people.  Compassion has been described as a “quivering of one’s heart” but also as a way to act.   We are going to see that demonstrated in this story.   The crowd had followed him to a location that is described as a lonely or deserted place….similar to the area where Jesus had been temped for 40 days and nights.  Now it was the end of the day and the people were all hungry.   The disciples suggest to Jesus that he send them away to buy their own food – but Jesus steeped in compassion, which is a way to act, makes a miracle happen.  Taking only five loaves of bread and two fish – he looks up to heaven, blesses them, breaks them and shares them with the crowd.   They all ate, they were satisfied and they had twelve baskets left over.  They had fed 5000 men – besides the women and children (which is another sermon!) The feed a lot of people – but they had a lot left over.  

How much did each person eat then – to be satisfied or to have their fill?   Was their portion the size of a Kimball’s special?  Or was it just enough – the size of a kiddy cone?  We have heard countless sermons on the feeding of the 5000.   And we know that it is a story about the generosity of Jesus and of our Creator.   It is about the abundance of God’s grace, love and provision for us.  It is about compassion – and taking care of the physical needs of both the flock as well as those who are hungry and who have great needs.  

But what if the story also helps us form a faith based ethic or a spirituality of eating and even consuming?   The crowd of people ate until they were satisfied or had their fill.

What does it mean for us to eat until we are satisfied?   We struggle with the concept of being “satisfied” in our culture and in our lives.   We rarely sit calmly and feel content.   We often have something else in the back of our mind that we have to purchase, to strive for, to accomplish or to consume - we don’t know how to say “no” to ourselves.   Maybe this important story, which also has a component of service and care for others within in it, also teaches us how to let go of our own desire for more of whatever it is that keeps us restless.  And maybe it challenges us to understand what it means to be satisfied and find balance in our lives.  Balance is very important for the health of our emotional, spiritual and physical lives – when one of them gets out of whack – the other two have to carry that shifting weight and if we are not careful   - we can fall over, fall down and fall apart.  

What does it mean to be satisfied?  Paul answers in Philippians 4:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

We find that balance through Jesus Christ – who is the one who give us strength, clarity, wisdom – and who gives us enough. 

On way home from the larger grocery store that same day – I decided to stop at Springdale Farm right here in Littleton to see what they had that was locally grown and here is what I found:

Juicy tomatoes

Lush blackberries & blueberries

Fresh crisp corn on the cob

Green and yellow string beans and cucumbers of all sizes and shapes.

Carrots with stems that had Littleton dirt on them – because all of the produce was grown on their farm here in Littleton -  except the peaches which were grown in nearby Harvard which was only 8 miles away.  

I was examining the peaches and I was being helped by a young girl, who was maybe ten or eleven years old.  She was very helpful and knowledgeable.  I picked up a few peaches and upon closer examination – I noticed something unusual about all these particular local peaches…there was this white fuzzy stuff on them.   I don’t remember seeing fuzzy white stuff on the peaches in the grocery store and I realized just how long it had been – since I had seen real “peach fuzz” on a peach.  And so I asked her if this was peach fuzz – and she very politely affirmed my astute agricultural observation.   

Later that night, Eddie and I enjoyed the peach – peach fuzz and all.   And it was delicious – it was soft and juicy and it came with a smile.  

Today is communion Sunday.   It is a day set aside for table fellowship where we come together as a community of faith to celebrate – to give thanks and to remember that it is in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ where we truly can receive - all that we need.

You are invited to the table of the Lord.

Come, taste and see –for the Lord is good.    Amen.