Gratitude in a time of worldly strife
Reflections after an Interfaith Food Justice Program
by Cathy Fattah! Layland
Ah, Autumn! The time of harvesting the fruits of our efforts of the preceding season.
Abundance!
Wonder.
Gratitude.
Pause reading and scrolling for a few moments to notice what comes up from your heart that you are grateful for.
The second line of the Prayer for Peace says “Dear God, may I be grateful and content for all thy bounteous gifts.” And the very next line says “Dear God, in the midst of worldly strife may I enjoy thy gifts.”
Worldy strife… a few weeks ago I attended an interfaith gathering devoted to learning about Food Justice in the Lehigh Valley and the world.
This hymn opened our time together:
“For everyone born a place at the table
for everyone born with clean water and bread
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing
for everyone born, a star overhead
for God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace.”
This story was shared:
Once upon a time in a village far far away, a young couple celebrated their love for each other by marrying. The village joyfully celebrated with them and came together to construct a cottage for them. This cottage was on the edge of town, near the river, because the man was a fisherman, and the woman a weaver of reed baskets.
The young couple wished for children. They prayed and lit incense and they ate a very healthy diet, but each month, they were disappointed when the women’s courses came.
One day while floating his little skif out on the river to fish, the man saw a basket floating towards him. Imagine his surprise when he pulled it into his boat and discovered….. a baby! “God has answered our prayers!” The baby was very little, very new. Soft cloth swaddled it, but there was nothing else – no note, no talisman, no indication from wence it came. He quickly brought his skiff to shore, scooped up the baby in the basket, and ran home to his Beloved.
Ah, they cooed and cuddled and loved the infant. As the days then weeks then months rolled one into another, their little cottage was filled with laughter and even more love, harmony, and beauty than the two of them had shared. Now they were content.
Sometime later, when the woman was down by the river collecting reeds to weave into baskets, what does she see but a basket caught in the reed patch? And in that basket? A newborn child! The baby was very little, very new. Soft cloth swaddled it, but there was nothing else – no note, no talisman, no indication from wence it came. Excited to have a sibling for her growing one, she ran home with the baby in the basket. Her husband was astounded – what were the chances that God would twice bless them in this way? Ah, they cooed and cuddled and loved the new infant as much as the first. As the days rolled one into another, their little cottage was filled with even more laughter and even more love, harmony, and beauty than the three of them had shared. Now they were indeed content.
Well, you can guess what happened. The baskets kept showing up and increasing in frequency, sometimes one, sometimes several, and one time a full dozen at once! Although the man and the woman welcomed each new person into their home, soon they ran out of room!
So they asked the village for help. Of course, the village said “Yes!” More families opened their homes and took in the newcomers. And they kept coming. Faster. More. And more. And soon the town was overwhelmed.
So they reached out to surrounding villages and towns. But soon those communities became overwhelmed as well.
There came a day of a great gathering in all the villages and towns to strategize, “How can we take care of so many? We are all, each family, each neighborhood, and even the neighboring villages, maxed out…. “
Finally, one villager raised their hand and suggested, “Maybe instead of trying to come up with ways to handle this, what we should be asking is WHY the babies are being put in the river in the first place? And THEN, what can we do to help?”
………
Today we are experiencing the largest human migration ever. Families are fleeing war and famine everywhere. The Climate Crisis is creating increasing suffering and death with droughts, with flooding killing crops and destroying abodes, with fires. Unnatural disasters are destroying homes and cropland, entire villages, and entire islands.
What can we do to stop Climate Crisis?
What can we do to create peace (which the speaker for the Abrahamic Reunion at Parliament of World Religions in August pointed out is NOT the absence of conflict.)
What can I do to ensure food abundance for all?
A roof over heads?
Safe water to drink and to bathe?
Can we hear their voices?
…….
Can we raise our own?
…….
For everyone born a place at the table
for everyone born with clean water and bread
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing
for everyone born, a star overhead
for God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy, compassion and peace.
…….
The words of another contemporary hymn:
As the Climate is changing, Creation cries out.
And people face flooding fire and drought.
We see the great heat waves and storms getting worse.
We pray for the poor, G knows they suffer first
We thank you for voices courageous and brave
Who knows that earth is worth fighting to save
Who cares about justice and what they should do
Who listen to science and pay what is due.
The Ask
There are many grassroots and international groups and organizations working towards a more just world. They are happy for volunteers and donations if you have that capacity. They run ‘postcard campaigns’ for us to write on a specific topic to our elected officials.
And, there are many ways we as individuals and local groups can take action as well.
Perhaps a group you meet with always serves a meal or snacks. Why not have a bank of phone numbers of people living nearby who suffer food insecurity to text them when the meeting is over that there is food to be had? This idea is in the works on college campuses around the country.
After a party, take the leftovers to a shelter or food bank. Matt and I did that, as he was active in a local shelter that provided food as well as a safe, warm, dry bed each evening for men without homes.
Do you have a garden? What to do when all of the tomatoes, or the string beans, come in at once, and you’ve frozen or canned or dried all you can use for the year? A month ago I was drowning in string beans. What about cut-and-come-again herbs? Often a food bank will accept donations of fresh food – no matter how small an amount – to have on the shelves for food-challenged families. I’m going to post on my neighborhood’s internet chat site about this, inviting people to drop off their surplus on Thursdays, and then I will drive it to the Allentown foodbank on Friday mornings.
Please take a few moments and let your heart suggest, what can I do.
…….
Now, take a few more moments to return to feeling contentment and gratitude for God’s bounteous gifts in your own life.
…….
Amen
Hafiz: When I turn into a leaf
and start dancing
I ran to kiss our beautiful Friend
and dissolve in the truth that I am.