If You Never Had to Grocery Shop?

I never really marveled at the story until yesterday.

Returning from Spring Break travels and dealing with an overgrown backyard gave my brain some exercise, and my thoughts turned to the Israelites' wandering in the desert for 40 years.  A comment on this blog brought this story to the forefront. 

For those who do not remember the story: God had rescued His chosen people from slavery and had brought them into the desert to reveal Himself to them and give them instructions for how to live with Him and with one another.  During this ordeal, the people whined and complained about a great many things.  It's not surprising given their enslavement for hundreds of years.  God actually shows quite a bit of patience and restraint with them throughout the story.  Throughout the peoples' complaints, God responds with great provision, culminating with perhaps the greatest one--manna.

7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin. ⁸The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it. (Numbers 11)

For 40 years God provided this food. 

I confess, I never marveled at this.  Not in the least.  It was kind of a "ho-hum" detail in the midst of the biblical account.  There were other things which seemed much more exciting--much more gripping.  So what if God provided a bit of food each and every day for 40 years.

But then my brain really wrestled with this:

The world of that time was not even close to the world I live in.  In the part of the world I live in, food security is taken for granted.  We have plenty of food.  Most folks don't grow their own food anymore.  With 85% plus of the population living in areas classified as urban, the connection with growing and having your own food supply is almost lost.  Grocery stores provide much of our necessities.  This was not so in those days.  The vast majority of people (95% if I remember my history classes in seminary) were subsistence agriculturists.  In other words, 95% of the population was in a continuous struggle to grow and raise their own food.  95% of the people worked in the fields from dawn to dusk simply to put food on their own tables.  There was no such thing as free time for them.  Life was a struggle to survive.  To eat.  That world was nothing like our world here today.

And you never knew when a storm would wipe out your crop.  You never knew if hail would destroy your grain; your vegetables; your hay meadow.  You never knew if a swarm of locust would eat your garden down to nothing.  You never knew if the "heavens would be shut" and you would have times of extreme drought.  These events could and did happen paving the way for hunger and starvation.

There were no means of keeping food fresh for long periods either.  No refrigerators.  No freezers.  No canning of vegetables.  You had clay jars to put things in.  You could salt meat for a period of time.  You could put grain into dry storage, but it wouldn't be long before infestations of weevils and other insects.  You just couldn't store up enough to prevent hunger if your crops suffered catastrophic failure.

And so you dedicated your life to finding sustenance.  You dedicated the vast majority of your waking hours to make sure you had enough food to feed your family.  This was your life.

And for 40 years.  14,600 days.  The Israelites did not have to work for their food.

They didn't have to worry about destroyed crops.

They didn't have to worry about storing things up.

They didn't have to worry about drought or hail.

Provision was made day after day after day after day.

Can you imagine never having to grocery shop for 40 years?  Can you imagine the amount of time and money you would have given that you no longer had to budget for food; you no longer had to drive to the store; you no longer had to garden; or shop organic; or try to be healthy.  God provided food straight to your door-step.  Food which was nutritious; life-giving; sustaining; wholesome; abundant; and free.  Completely and utterly free. 

And if your life once revolved around the appropriation of food, what would you do with all the time you now had?  What would you do given that the most basic need of your existence was fulfilled for 40 years?

Mind boggling.

The provision of God in this account is simply mind boggling; for He provided for thousands of people during this period of time.  Thousands.

As the chief cook of my household, I spend quite a bit of time menu planning and then cooking.  I have also begun the duties of appropriating food for our house, and I know the amount of money one spends with a family of five.  I can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to have none of the concerns of buying food and wondering what to prepare.  I can't even begin to comprehend what it would be like to have no need to grocery shop.  I can't even wrap my head around how generous and gracious God was during this ordeal.

Amazing.  Simply amazing.

The Trouble with Food

This past month, I received my copy of The Lutheran magazine--it's the official magazine of the ELCA.  The cover story read "The Trouble with Food."  (The link is an abbreviated article.)

Pertinent quotes:

The trouble is that the food in our grocery stores has “background.” It has been grown, harvested or slaughtered, processed, packed, shipped, distributed, stocked and shelved by the time we place it in our carts.

And at each step along the way, questions arise about the ethics of our eating. Questions that might complicate our customary ways of relating to food. Questions that also have theological dimensions, but ones most of us haven’t been asking since our food systems have become more technological, globalized and profit-driven.

A Lutheran ethics of food starts with the recognition that we are all part of systems that we create and support--either directly or indirectly--and ends with a hopeful account of what it means to be free in service to others and to creation.  A Lutheran food ethics should include room to think and work toward the improvement of our systems, and to develop awareness of the background of our choices.  Ethics is always messy, and it almost always involves tradeoffs.

So does God's grace extend to Minnesotans who eat strawberries in January?  Of course it does.  Does this mean there are not problems with this picture?  No, it does not.

Food is a necessity.  There are no two ways about it.  We have to eat.  It is a requirement.  This is not in dispute.

And it is not in dispute that in the U.S. most of us do indeed have choices in regards to the food which we purchase--including the fact that we can choose to purchase relatively fresh fruit when it is out of season in our areas as we have the ability to preserve and ship it around the globe.

There are some who decry that the use of preservatives and pesticides and herbicides are killing us, but those notions are actually destroyed by the data: just take a look at the life expectancy in the early 1900's versus now at the beginning of the 21st century.  Our increasing health is due, in no small part to our ability to provide relatively inexpensive, healthy food year round.  This is perhaps one of those tradeoffs that Sam Thomas should have put in his article.

But the article is less concerned with facts and more concerned to get people to think ethically about the food choices they make.  As Thomas says, "Ethics are messy."  Indeed they are.  For Thomas gives little consideration to the reality most people face when it comes to food choices today.

Not everyone has the ability or space to grow their own food--even if it is a little.
Not everyone (in fact, quite a few folks) do not have the luxury of shopping at farmer's markets or for organic foods which are much more pricy.

When shopping for my family of five, we hit the specials at the local chain grocery store.  We have to.  Otherwise, our food costs would be out the roof.  To keep the kids eating healthier, I buy all kinds of fruits and vegetables--fresh and frozen--when they are out of season.  I do this as a parent knowing my kids need those nutrients to develop into strong, healthy adults.  Tradeoffs.

Do I know about the ethics of food production?  Sure.  I grew up with a very close connection to my family farm.  I know quite a bit about the injustices of farming.  (Try beginning with the fact that farmers are the only folks who are told what they will be offered for their crops--and when they rebel against the system and try to sell crops themselves, they are usually investigated!)

But the question is: should our conscience be bothered by such things?

Thomas is astute when he says that we are a part of systems that we create and support either directly or indirectly.  But what Thomas does not lift up is the fact that such systems mirror our own human nature: they are both saintly and sinful.  They produce both good and bad, and there will be no escape from this reality this side of eternity.

It doesn't matter what you try to do, you will commit injustice--with food or otherwise.

Should your conscience be burdened by such a thing?

The Lutheran response is, "No."  When we go to God and ask for forgiveness, we can rest assured our sins are forgiven: those we know of and those we don't know of.  We know we are a part of a sinful world and that we cannot be perfect in all we say and do.  We know there are systems we participate in which we cannot escape and are dependent upon which are not perfect and cannot be perfected.  We would like things to be different, but we know that no matter how much effort we put forth, we will not eradicate sin.  We strive to do so within our sphere of influence, but are we to allow ourselves to be burdened by things which are completely and totally out of our control?

Does the budget strapped family need to worry about where their food comes from?
Does the worker at the food pantry need to feel guilt about accepting donations from a corporate food chain?
Does the person eating strawberries in January in Minnesota need to worry about whether it is ethical or not to do so?

In a word: no.  The church has no business burdening people's consciences with such matters.