What does it mean to eat faithfully? This is a deeply personal, yet essentially communal question that we often don’t take the time to consider. Delving into this question, however, can have some profound and worthwhile outcomes. In this article from the Duke Clergy Health Initiative, Reverend Grace Hackney addresses this question. It is a worthwhile and inspiring read when considering the theological implications of and motivations behind the choices we make around food.
In it, Reverend Grace Hackney says:
“I was convinced through my work at Cedar Grove that eating is a theological act and that the church didn’t do a very good job of how it ate or fed other people. What was lacking was this eucharistic imagination. If we are people of the table, then there should be this eucharistic imagination that opens that table up, and how we eat is going to matter.”
The more we delve into how our theology shapes our everyday acts, like gathering around the table, the more faithful disciples we become. I hope we all have the opportunity to engage in conversations that inspire our imaginations to find new ways to feed and nourish both ourselves and those around us, to challenge ourselves to be more faithful. For all of us and our communities of faith, I pray that such conversations will be a step toward living into the fullness of life to which we are called. Reverend Hackney and her ministry, Sabbath Life, are great examples of what it looks like to live and eat faithfully.
Read the complete article along with an interview with Rev. Hackney here. For resources to help with having conversations about eating faithfully in your faith community, check out the Council’s resource, Eating Well, available here.
