In the fourth century a group of monks
fled to the deserts of Egypt
and he began to pray this prayer
we beg you
god make us truly alive
we beg you make us truly alive
which sort of begs the question doesn't it what does it mean
to be truly alive
fifteen years ago I went to divinity school looking for answers to that
question
upon graduation when most of my classmates ended up
in a place like this in a congregation of people
I ended up
in a congregation of plants
let's not whole truth there were also some people involved
I was hired by a small methodist church to start a community garden
in the rural
uh... piedmont area of north carolina
the garden was called Anathoth and we took our name and mission from the book of
Jeremiah
to plant gardens
and eat what they produce and seek the peace of the city
we saw planting gardens in seeking peace as really symbiotic activities
exactly the kind of thing to church should be doing, sort of like planting
marigolds with your tomatoes
we were given land
and we soon turned an acre into
a lush
garden in bio-intensive beds
we planted uh... blueberry bushes
had all kinds of fresh vegetables, we dug a well, we built a barn
We built a high tunnel
uh... passive solar greenhouse so that we can grow year round
when our members joined we invited folks from all around the community to join
And when they join they would work several hours a week
in exchange for their produce...it was sort of uh... a co-op
people came from all around
and Anathoth quickly became known as a community gathering place where
everyone was welcome
we have spanish english classes
we started a youth program
and we hosted bi-weekly pot lucks
we brought the gifts of the garden to the church
blessing the seed and soil on the altar
And we brought the gifts of the church out to the garden
sharing the bread and wine of the lords supper right out among the beds of collards
and kohlrabi
it wasn't perfect
despite that beatific vision I just described we had our squabbles just
like any other human community
but on its best days
Anathoth gave me a glimpse of what i think of as the kingdom of heaven
a place where everyone has an equal place at the table
place of conviviality and delight
i realize that this vision of
what I'd witnessed at Anathoth
a vision that I would call soil in sacrament
I saw this vision as uh... soil being sacramental, that is
soil could be a channel of divine love and mercy
in its ability to feed people
And I realize that this vision of soil in sacrament was not a new vision it was in
fact a very old vision
one of our oldest human stories
we all know the creation story from Genesis- God creating Adam and Eve
But what's interesting is the hebrew text there
Then the Lord God formed the the Adam from the adamah
the fertile soil
and i love that etymological clue there as to how
inextricably linked our lives are to the soil
the Adam formed from the adamah
in the genesis story though we're not just soil
It tells us they were also formed in the divine image inspired by the very
breath of God
and i think that makes us capable of greatness
This vision of soil in sacrament
what St. Augustine called animated earth
that's us humans
was not limited to just Anathoth
i began to learn about others who are doing some more projects around the
country right now there's really a movement- a of sort of food in faith
movement
of other groups like Anathoth building these places
recreating a food system
and in 2011 I set out to visit some of these places and I ended up
writing a book about what I've learned
the first place I went to was a Trappist monastery in South Carolina
low country
a place called Mepkin abby
these Trappist monks are part of the benedictine tradition a 1500
year old
monastic tradition
thats very much concerned with the cultivation of soil and the cultivation
of the soul
and if you're looking for a sort of ground zero of the food and faith movement
you need look no further
than these guys right here
that's quite a crew
I do a yearly retreat at this monastery and these guys have become my friends
and uh...
their motto is ora et labor
which is latin for prayer and work and that's pretty much what they do they
pray
and they work
they get up at three a.m. to begin praying
and they pray for the next five and a half hours and then at eight-thirty when
most of us are disorder rolling out a bed, they actually start going to work
their work is to grow mushrooms that's how they earn their livelihood
they grow oysters and shitake mushrooms
and I got to work with them
in their mushroom shed that week
I worked with Brother
and when I asked Brother one day as we were packing
cottonseed holes and uh...
wheat chaff into these plastic bags where the mushrooms grow, I said
why did you come to the monastery
And he said you know I studied academic theology at Notre Dame for four years
and i realized that my faith
was all from here up
I came to the monastery he said because I want to learn to put the faith
in my hands
and by growing mushrooms
by engaging in manual labor he was doing that, he was putting the faith in his
hands
in june i traveled out to washington state to the skagit valley where many of
our vegetables and fruits are grown
and met Bob Ekblad
Bob's the founder of Tierra Nueva ministries, New Earth ministries
and Bob and his colleague Chris Hoke
uh... work with folks on the margins migrant workers people
uh... from gangs people struggling with addiction
and they started several micro-enterprise businesses they start a
small csa farm and a
bakery
and a coffee roasting business
Bob told me something that week that was really profound
he said
the front lines of sustainability
should be led by those most wounded by the system
the front lines of sustainability should be led by those who've been most wounded
by the system
that stuck with me
I want to tell you about their coffee business they buy beans from honduran growers organic
beans, they have a direct relationship with these growers
and the folks who work there do the roasting
this guy Zach Joy on the right was a former crystal meth cook
and now at Tierra Nueva at the underground coffee business
he's become their chief coffee roaster
so meth cook to coffee roaster just I love that transfer of skills
Zach told me as I worked with him that week
and learned about coffee roasting he said
you know after wasting so much of my life I just love having something
constructive to do with my hands
and as those beans spill out of
the the roasting drum into the cooling trays, Zach holds his hands over each batch of
beans
and he blesses them
i drink that coffee everyday and I love knowing that my beans have been blessed
by Zach
in the fall i traveled to Adamah farm
Adamah is the Jewish farm up in connecticut
And I went during the feast of sokkot the fall harvest festival
Adamah trains twenty-somethings in the arts of organic agriculture and jewish
spirituality
their day begins early like the monks
Doesn't begin at three not quite so early but it begins at six
when they get up and they meet in the red yurt for prayer
they don't call it prayer they call it davening and its a kind of sung communal
prayer, some of the most beautiful melodies I have ever heard
and so I woke up at six and davened
with these folks
and after davening we would head out to work on the four acre
csa the the organic farm that they have
or perhaps
go and work in the picklearium
which they call
the center for cultural proliferation
it's what they call their picklearium
uh... making kimchi and sauerkraut or they might go and milk the goats
and make chèvre cheese
one of the most fascinating things for me
uh... about that week i spent at Adamah farm
by the way remember Adam from adamah
fertile soil
so one of the fascinating things about Adamah farm is their practice of shabbat
the jewish sabbath
on friday evening at Adamah about two hundred of us gathered for sukkot
uh...
five or six on friday evening everything just sort of
shifted
and time sort of entered a different
space
people turned off their cell phones
you didn't see people walking around doing this
they turned off computers
we share this amazing meal and all the next day we shared all these meals and and drink
wine and it was just this
this wonderful time of rest and enjoyment
one of the guys that i met that week was Nigel Savage
Nigel is the director of Hazon
the largest jewish environmental organization in the country it means
hazon means vision
and Nigel told me he said you know
sabbath shouldn't just be for Jews he said the world needs a sabbath
and if you think about it ecologically
spiritually
physically
our world does need a sabbath
as I think back about what i learned on my journey
I want to leave you with three things
whatever your deepest held
convictions or beliefs don't let those stay just in your head
let them become the work of your hands
if you think about how to reform our broken food system
we should be supporting people from the margins we should be supporting those
who've been most deeply wounded by the system and we should be elevating them
to positions of leadership
and we should follow them
and finally the world needs a sabbath
the world needs a rest
the goal is not endless consumption the goal is not endless work
the goal i would say looks more like this
conviviality
rest and delight
sitting as equals at the same table
this fourth century monks
fled to the desert not to escape the world
they fled to create a new one
many of us in today's faith communities are
escaping from we are fleeing from this industrial food system
but also creating new ones
we're creating systems that look less like a system and more like
ten thousand small acts of love
we're hungry to create patterns of life in which everyone
can flourish
And in the ways that we grow and share our food
we're learning to pray this prayer
we beg you
make us truly alive