I heard a story recently about a Hindu man who brought two sandwiches to work every day. One was for his lunch. The other was to give away to someone else, on the street, in a park, in the office.
Making and carrying an extra sandwich built generosity into his day. It was a physical reminder of his faith’s dictum to consider feeding others as important as feeding yourself.
His practice embodies what theologian L. Shannon Jung calls God’s two purposes for eating. First, enjoyment, providence, goodness and delight in the sandwich you get for lunch. Second: hospitality, justice, mission and sharing the sandwich for the stranger. Both are delicious. After all, shouldn’t we want to respond to goodness and delight by wanting to share them with everyone? And if everyone is not being fed, look closely at the obstacles? As Sara Miles (an Episcopal preacher and author of Take this Bread) says about communion, “Now that you’ve taken the bread, what are you going to do?”
This message is excerpted from “Feasting and fasting” By Anne Basye in the July/August 2019 Gather magazine. Today is the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. Today we commemorate Clare, Abbess of San Damiano, 1253.
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