Thank you for joining the Partners in Health and Wholeness Book Club. You can officially sign-up here. Through it, we hope to engage people of faith in discussions over why our health matters. Our current choice of reading is “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life” by Barbara Kingsolver. We are posting updates through the PHW Facebook page, but our PHW blog page has the discussion posts in full with responses from staff. Just look for the apple on top of the book picture among the blog post pictures and you will find past Book Club entries.
Imagine a world of fast food places, restaurants and diners where you knew the farmers who harvested the tomatoes and brought you the hamburger. Well, Kingsolver and her family did have one burger restaurant they felt comfortable supporting during their year of local food. It was a place they could love on their neighbor. By being guests at this local restaurant they supported their neighbors while eating good, ethically grown food.
The farmer who sold the beef said, “thinking globally is an abstraction…what the world needs now isn’t love sweet love — that’s a slogan.” He maintains that world needs, “more compassionate local actions…buying locally raised tomatoes in the summer, and locally baked breads, cooking meals at home. Those are all acts of love.”
Questions:
1) God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. In what ways do you support this philosophy?
2) Have you ever thought of supporting the local economy as an act of love? How can you, your family, and your community take action to support and love your neighbors?
–Amelia Brady, PHW Regional Assistant
Partners in Health and Wholeness is an initiative of the North Carolina Council of Churches. PHW aims to connect health as a faith issue. Please visit our website to sign your personal pledge to be healthier, and to find out about grant opportunities for places of worship in NC.
