A Word for 2014 - Feasting

A Word for 2014 - FEASTING

The word that has found me, and now will take me on a new journey through this New Year, is the word “Feasting”.    Does this take any of you by surprise?   Actually it has taken me a bit by surprise!   The words over the last few years have been ones that suggested I be very intentional in how I hold them, act upon them, and let my heart be open to them and they were new ideas.   Feasting seems natural in one way, knowing how hospitality is my life theme, and bringing people together at the table is how I express that.  Yet feasting seems too connected to the materialism and gluttony of our culture today, in deep contrast to my desire to live more simply, to be more proactive in being careful with food sources, making the meal table a place of equality for everyone, and moving away from the thinking of excess.  Which then means that there is a new way of looking at ‘feasting’ for me in this next year.  It also suggests that my adventure will be putting those new ways into action here in my community and sharing them here on Eat, Savour, Linger, Live.  That will surely be a huge part of the adventure of 2014!   

There are a couple of books that I start this search with and I am sure more will be piled up on my desk as the year progresses.  

Feasting With God:  Adventures in Table Spirituality by Holly Whitcomb.   My husband gave me this book the second time I met him.  It was one he had and thought it might be one I could use!  One of the reasons I knew this man ‘saw’ me at the beginning of our relationship.

Charlemagne’s Tablecloth:  A Piquant History of Feasting by Nichola Fletcher.   A fabulous gift from my friend Angi in 2005 when I visited her.

Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around The Table, With Recipes by Shauna Niequist.   A Christmas gift from my husband this year.

I will share the following two pieces that speak to Feasting and hold wisdom that I want to incorporate in my way of seeing this subject.  I have shared them before and hope that as you read them for the first time, or a repeated time, that they will speak to you too.

“The feast is an opportunity for community.  We are inviting those around our table to share everything that is in front of them with one another.  A feast invites a celebration of abundance over scarcity, of community over individualism, of distribution over hoarding.  A feast invites us to celebrate that our God-given gifts are meant to be shared.”  (I cannot remember where I found this quote but I love it)

Feasting and Fasting by Jim Burklo, found on progressivechristianity.org

“So let us feast on simple pleasure, and fast from all that gets our bodies and souls out of balance.

Let us feast on kindness and fast from sarcasm.

Let us feast on compassion, and fast from holding grudges.

Let us feast on patience, and fast from anxiety.

Let us feast on peace, and fast from stirring up needless conflict.

Let us feast on acceptance and fast from judgement.

Let us feast on joy and fast from jealousy.

Let us feast on faith, and fast from fear.

Let us feast on creativity, and fast from all that deadens our souls.

Let us feast on social justice, and fast from negligence of the most vulnerable.

Let us feast on service to others, and fast from selfishness.

Let us feast on delight and fast from despair.

Let us feast on bread and wine in spiritual communion, and fast from all that keeps us from communing deeply with one another so that our lives might be sufficient, fulfilled, complete, whole, enough.

Amen