From Slow Food to Slow Church

Another book I read this summer was Slow Church by C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison.  It was interesting to be reading this one alongside the Barbara Kingsolver book I talked about here.  The authors make the case that our fast food culture that values efficiency, predictability, calculability (measurable results), and control (or illusion of control) has leaked into, not just our food, but into all areas of our life including the church.  They make the case that the values of the Slow Food movement are values to be embraced in our churches.  The authors want us to "reimagine what it means to be communities of believers gathered and rooted in particular places at a particular time." (p.15)

Here are some quotes that I thought were helpful in understanding some of the tenets the authors were trying to present as an introduction to the idea of Slow Church:

Slow Church is a call for intentionality, an awareness of our mutual interdependence with all people and all creation, and an attentiveness to the world around us and the work God is doing in our very own neighborhoods. (p.16)

Slow food wasn’t started by farmers.  It was started by eaters who stood up and declared that they were no longer content to be passive consumers of industrialized food.  Thus, we think it’s appropriate that a lot of the energy in the early staged of the Slow Church conversation comes from non-specialists who are motivated by a love of God, a love for the body of Christ in the world, and a desire to be more than passive consumers of religious goods and services. We want more risk, beauty and wonder than can be experienced at a spiritual filling station.  We want some skin in the game.  (p.20)

            “Eating is an agricultural act,” Wendell Berry famously said, and Slow food views consumers as active participants in the production process.  Eaters who know where their food comes from, know how it got to their table and support local farmers become nothing less than co-producers. P.20

            Similarly, Slow Church is more than a consumerist experience.  It goes beyond just offering people a safe haven on Sunday morning from the storms of fast life.  Slow Church is a way of being authentically connected as co-producers to a Story that is as big as the planet (bigger) and as intimate as our own backyards. (p.20)

The primary work of slow church is not attracting people to our church buildings, but rather cultivating together the resurrection life of Christ, by deeply and selflessly loving our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, and even our enemies. (p.33)

[Slow church]…sees people not as in or out but as closer or further away from the center [which in this case is Christ]… In one of Wendell Berry’s short stories, the character Burley Coulter says, “The way we are, we are members of each other.  All of us.  Everything.  The difference ain’t in who is a member and who is not, but in who knows it and who don’t.” (p.34)

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There are lots of other good ideas about church in this book and I will share more about this in future posts.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Over the summer I read a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  In this book Kingsolver chronicles the year her family of four undertook the monumental task of eating only what they could raise or buy locally, in their county in rural Virginia.  This book has had a direct effect on me since I’ve been home from Canada.  I have been to the local stand across from Walmart on many occasions (which I never did before) and brought home some fresh produce, including some really outstanding peaches.  I even put several bags of these peaches in the freezer for making some pies later on. (One may show up at the next Poetry, Prose and Pie.)  I know these seem like small steps, but they represent a real shift in my thinking and desire to change.  For all you out there who have been doing this for years, Bravo!

So let me tell you a little more about this book.

Ms. Kingsolver and her family began the agricultural and gastronomical journey in late March, just as the first fruits of spring began to appear at the farmer’s markets in her area. She vividly describes the work they all put into selecting the seed varieties they will plant in their garden and the breeds of chickens and turkeys they will raise. 

The rest of the book tells the stories of the food they grow on their small farm, and the connections they make with those who raise the food they eat and grow the staple crops they will depend upon.  They even learn to make their own cheeses.  Kingsolver is an excellent storyteller, and her writing is witty and entertaining, even for someone like me, who has never been a foodie, or remotely interested in gardening of any type.

One of my favorite incidents from the book is Kingsolver’s description of their Thanksgiving dinner. They had a true cornucopia of their own foods; everything needed for the feast except one thing they couldn’t do without—cranberries.  The family decides that they are not going to be a slave to their ideals and go to grocery store to buy a bag of organic cranberries. She describes this bag as some alien that has landed in their kitchen, lying there seductively in its cellophane wrapper.  She thought all the members of the family went by and fondled it at some point.

There’s also a chapter on turkey sex which is very amusing and entertaining.  Since most turkeys grown on industrial farms are artificially inseminated, very few people ever get to see this event happen. She said, “Of course I watched.”

All of this is connected to a growing movement called the Slow Food Movement.  This movement is a reaction against the fast food culture in which we live.  The fast food culture is characterized by its values, which are efficiency, predictability, measurable results and control.  In contrast, the Slow Food Movement values relationships, relationships with others but also with the earth itself.  Slow Food enthusiasts want to know who is growing their food, want to know who is preparing their food, and want to spend leisurely times enjoying their food.

All this seems very idyllic, and for sure, it’s beyond my capabilities on a regular basis, but I want to try to add more of these ideas to my life.  I think it’s a journey worth going on, even if it’s only once in a while.

My friend Jane just told me that she got to have dinner with
Barbara Kingsolver once.  I am very jealous.