The Potluck Project: Reflections on Faith, Food & Community-Building

Family and friends from outside Washington, DC have asked me a number of times this year how life's been going in DC, and perhaps I haven't had the negative response that they were expecting. While I've had to add the caveat that yes, it's awful that ICE is taking away immigrants and that so many people are losing their jobs, and less than ideal to have the National Guard milling around, I've also been filled with a lot of hope and encouragement this year. There's been a wealth of community building efforts that have been giving me life and demonstrating that there's another way - we don't have to be despondent about the current state of affairs. But we have a lot of work to do. Fortunately, it can be done around something that everyone likes: food.

I was on a Braver Catholics call last night, and Fr. Ricky Manalo shared that reconciliation is supposed to happen BEFORE coming together to celebrate the Lord's supper. We can't fully and truly celebrate the meal that Jesus wanted us to share together if there is divisiveness among us.

I've been encouraged this year learning about the Potluck Project initiated by Rev. Terry Kyllo, recently taking it into my own hands to spearhead in Washington, D.C. The Potluck Project brings people together across various divides (religious, political, age, socioeconomic, etc.) to break down silos and simply have us get to know each other, ever so slowly chipping away at the divisiveness that exists when we live in our own bubbles. While it has arms in depolarization and civic engagement through collaboration with Braver Angels and Better Together America, the Potluck Project also seeks to simply replicate the coming together around a meal where everyone's invited, which Jesus modeled for us.

I just finished reading Br. Gary Nabhan's book "Food from the Radical Center: Healing our Land and Communities" and to be honest, it took me until I got to the end to get a sense of what he meant by the term "Radical Center." I get excited when I see the word "radical" and know it's referring to the origin of the word (root), but what exactly was meant by the "Radical Center"? Reading about the ways that communities are being revitalized quite literally from the ground up through a bolstered food economy contributed to by people across the political spectrum in his community in Arizona, it solidified for me what I've been saying for a number of years - that food has the unique ability to help us bridge the political divide. My rationale has been that the Democrat/Republican divide is roughly also the urban/rural divide, and food generally comes moreso from rural areas in order to feed the masses of people in urban areas, and so focusing on food would be a way of bridging these communities together. But as I reflect, there are actually many layers to the idea of "Food from the Radical Center."

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From the book:

"They have put their energy into rainwater harvesting, hothouse gardening, vertical farming, wild foraging, making mesquite tortillas or planting heritage trees, gleaning fallen fruits or fermenting greens into sauerkraut, learning the ropes of managing a community kitchen, or selling vegetable transplants at a swap meet.

Their roles are so much more varied than simply being a grass-fed cattle rancher, an heirloom corn farmer, or a celebrity chef. It is this diversity of voices and choices that is making Tuscon live up to its status as the first 'City of Food Cultures' in the United States.

The people working in these collaborations are well aware of the divisiveness that surrounds them. They can see how polarization is undermining our federal government, crippling our state governments, anesthetizing our foundations, and diminishing the compassionate responses of our educational institutions.

And yet most Tuscon residents are choosing collaboration over competition to get our food system back on track. They have found novel ways to create - from the grassroots up - a series of striking innovations that not only have begun to feed our community members who are most in need but have offered them a new range of livelihoods.

It is fair to say that they are now being nourished by food from the radical center, perhaps because they are reengaged with many of their neighbors who are also taking the middle path....

It is my prayer that your efforts will keep building, rising, and raising all of us up - like a leavened ball of dough - to become a more richly textured world where we may eat all together at a common table."

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This reference to a "common table" written by an Ecumenical Franciscan does not go unnoticed by this Catholic Franciscan working in the food space, which is another reason why I'm excited about the Potluck Project in bringing people together from every walk of life, the way that Jesus wanted it to be and modeled through his own life.

I'm currently organizing a book study of "The Meal that Reconnects: Eucharistic Eating and the Global Food Crisis" by Mary McCann. We have to acknowledge that our food system is harming humans and the environment, rather than being the ethical food system that would characterize Eucharistic eating. We also have to acknowledge that true Eucharistic eating - where we can all come together around a common table - is a way of eating where reconciliation with our fellow humans and non-human aspects of creation happens first. I believe both of these need to happen before we can celebrate a true "Eucharistic" (translated as "Thanksgiving," from the Greek ευχαριστία) meal - the "Lord's supper," a meal where relationships in society are healed and that manifests God's will on earth as it is in heaven.

May we find that Radical Center through centering food and those who are traditionally excluded from our circles, to heal both our land and our communities.

Learn more about the Potluck Project here:

https://pathstounderstanding.org/get-involved/potluck/

The Role of Faith in Depolarization Work - A Much-Needed Conversation

Braver Angels, an organization focused on depolarization in the U.S. political context, and Rumi Forum, dedicated to interfaith dialogue, came together for a Braver Angels "America's Public Forum" event about the role of faith in bridging divides entitled "Interfaith Bridges, Intra-faith Divides, and Polarization." It was a fascinating event and only the beginning of the conversation that needs to happen on this topic.  Luke Nathan Phillips of the Braver Angels DC Alliance moderated the event, with Ibrahim Anli of the Rumi Forum and Rev. Rich Tafel of Church of the Holy City as panelists. Pretty much everything they said I found important so I have recorded it to share with you all here.  

Rumi was a jurist, a man of law as well as a man of spirituality. His first work on reconciliation between these two was through intra-faith efforts within Islam.  Some attendees expressed interest in learning more about the history of Islam during Rumi’s time to understand the dynamics and value of this intra-faith dialogue.

Rev. Rich Tafel who is on the board of the National Council of Churches (NCC) shared that NCC has held Christian-Muslim dialogue and Christian-Jewish dialogue but was not open to a dialogue with evangelicals. However, when he asked the head of the equivalent of the NCC for evangelicals, they were open to dialogue. 

We need to engage in the intra-faith and interfaith dialogue to learn what is keeping people away from organized religion, because people need something to believe in in order to make meaning of the world, and in some instances the alternative is “conspirituality,” or people developing their own and following others’ conspiracy theories, which can be quite dangerous. 

In the past, Christian denominations split over the issue of slavery. In today’s day and age, churches are beginning to split over the issue of LGBT issues. 

Politics, economics and culture influence on another.  Politics however is downstream from culture. This means that culture influences politics.

Protestant habits are part of the dominant culture in the US.

Seeing the “contractual” (which is important in politics) does not ensure seeing the “relational.”  This is why we need civic engagement, especially interfaith dialogue, to be an autonomous actor in order to build and secure relational power.  We have a loneliness crisis which leads to authoritarianism.  Just having a community of faith is a bulwark against loneliness and depression.

Christianity is countercultural in a culture focused on what is measurable and profitable. A focus on being peacemakers, on spirituality, and enchantment, brings an important dimension.

We are living in a time of theological deprivation. People are dissatisfied with the way faith is conveyed, organized, and manifested.

Within Muslim society, this is causing people to abandon the faith in Muslim-minority countries and to veer towards extremism in Muslim-majority countries.

Within Islam, as life changes, how the Muslim law is comprehended is supposed to change as well.

Braver Angels has a community of atheists and people who are not closely affiliated with particular faith traditions.

Nursi, a 20^th century Muslim theologian, observed sentiments of both superiority and inferiority against the secular west; however he said no, we will look eye to eye and engage meaningfully as believers, in the most inclusive sense of the term “believers.”

There is a lack of overall performance from the faith community to help humanity frame material and technological advancements over the past few decades. Whereas in past centuries, technological advancements were accompanied by intellectual and philosophical performance. Faith is an invaluable source of wisdom. Without adequate engagement, human dignity is at stake.

Rev. Rich comes from the Swedenborgian church, founded by a scientist who had a mystical experience. He sees science as a way of understanding God’s world.  The problem is that when science became a belief system, a religion, it became crushed into a one-dimensional world where spirit and faith became lost.  From a faith/spiritual perspective, however, we are all connected.

10 years ago, Rev. Rich was asked by people in AI what a person can do that machines can’t. Understand the good, the beautiful and true, and the meaning of life, he said. What about the transcendent?  We surely can’t understand everything God, the great spirit and Creator of the universe, can.  Sadly, the theological arguments haven’t kept up enough with the technology of the modern age. But perhaps the breakdown of community and society will force us to realize there is more.

During the enlightenment, an emphasis on the spiritual was taken over by an emphasis on machines and what is transactional.  This leads to depression, sadness, and nihilism.  People are rejecting the way they see religion in the world. 

There was a question about orthodoxy (focused on doctrine) vs. orthopraxy (focused on practice).  Literalism is a national security problem. Within Islam, Muslims have countered legalistic trends through Sufism.  Teachings are connected through the Qur’an, but it is also spiritual. It has helped to counter extreme forms of heterodoxy.  Scholarship, economy, and military being under one power leads to tyranny (“gunpowder empires”).  This can be countered with the power of spirituality.  Spirituality and legal studies have informed each other and prevented extremes.

Jesus’ opponents were also religious fundamentalists.

Literalism in Christianity can be challenged by pointing out when an extremist takes one passage literally but not another which may actually contradict the first. Extremists often interpret passages for their own ends.

Orthodox views can be helpful to certain people depending on where they are in life. For example, a man who was dangerously addicted to drugs, drinking and other vices who found power in the black and white teachings of a faith tradition changed his life and probably even saved his own life. People come to faith in different ways and at different levels and therefore the avenue through orthodoxy should be respected.  

A literal interpretation could mean many different things, and is not necessarily going to be top/down or aggressive. It is also about how a person interprets faith teachings for the place they are at in their life.  It is important to bring compassion into the situation.

A question was asked about Fiddler on the Roof and how people can be moved to acceptance of interfaith relationships.  It is important to anchor yourself to where you are and then explore the stories of others in a spirit of learning. Devotion and openness do not contradict one another, they are a fake dichotomy.  Some guidelines:

o   Ask people directly when you have a curiosity, rather than asking other people about them.

o   Don’t compare your best with their worst.  There is Christianity and there is Christendom. We all have moments where we shine and moments where we fail.

o   Hold space for “holy envy” in your heart. Reconverting to your own faith by interacting with the other.  Ibrahim shared how he was reconverted to Islam through deep conversations with devout Southern Baptist evangelicals when he was in Israel.

o   Have humility – be open to seeing the parts of your life that need to change. Having the person who will tell you the truth about yourself is the greatest spiritual gift.  Often there is a common value of love for kids across religious traditions.

Borders define but don’t divide.

There was better interaction in medieval times within the scholarly sense. There was more mingling. Interestingly, each branch of science was in its own language and was therefore siloed. Muslims translated them all into Arabic which ushered in a new era of understanding and cross-cultural exchange.

In the Swedenborgian church, all faith paths are considered good. A good person is in Christ consciousness regardless of whether they believe in God.

It’s important to have cultural translation and travel between different worldviews, to genuinely seek to understand where people are coming from in their perspective. 

We have too many “conflict entrepreneurs” who pay on divisions. We need more peacemakers.

G.K. Chesterton said “America is a nation with the soul of a church.”  If this is true, it is a fractious church. The great American spiritual and political leaders have used a mix of spiritual and political language to make people feel they are all part of the same thing.

There was interfaith activism after 9/11 but people had to be careful. This work started with highlighting similarities rather than differences. This may have been seen as diluting faith.

People who have power are less interested in interfaith dialogue, whereas people without power are more interested in interfaith dialogue. What would it be like if people who were involved in interfaith dialogue had the power?

“People of faith” actually is a rather exclusive term. There are not enough bridges being made to people who don’t claim to be of any faith.

Rumi Forum is modeled off of an Abrahamic group in Turkey.

The idea of “tolerance” is outdated and insufficient.

We need more “spiritual entrepreneurs” who practice both faith and action.

The biggest barrier to church work is the church.  Issues such as the pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church have pushed people away for decades.

People often come to terms with conversations about faith around times of significant life events such as funerals and baptisms.

Ibrahim describes himself as a persecuted dissident because he has seen religion be used for political ends in his home country.  Settling in America, he believes in the American ideal and sees the urgency of ensuring that we succeed as a country of religious pluralism and democracy rather than being overcome by division and polarization.

We finished with an iftar meal - the breaking of the day-long fast which happens every day during Ramadan. What better way to have interfaith dialogue than through enjoying a meal together that holds such significance to those who are fasting to make more space for God. 

Preventing gun violence, cultivating peaceful communities and supporting youth so they do not fall into despair

Guns scare me.  I’d rather not be around them, not talk about them. But ignoring their presence in the world doesn’t make them go away, and gun violence persists. Sadly, sometimes gun violence has to impact someone we care about before we are brave enough to speak out about it.

There are more weapons in the hands of private citizens (393 million) than there are American citizens. According to WAMU,

“Recent surveys find that about 40% of adult Americans own a gun or live with someone who does. A majority of those gun owners cite protection as their primary reason for owning a gun, and most believe the gun or guns they own make their homes safer. But research has consistently shown that households with guns are actually less safe — with markedly higher risks for accidental deaths, suicides and domestic homicides.”

Clergy for Safe Cities understands the danger of guns. Led by Brooklyn’s 67^th Precinct Clergy Council’s “God Squad,” Clergy for Safe Cities held a recent National Clergy Gun Violence Prevention Summit with Senator Chuck Schumer and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul where Senator Schumer mentioned how we need a universal background check law that he will advocate for when it is re-introduced in Congress.  Faith leaders from around the country have also signed onto a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in support of gun violence prevention.

We must advocate for such federal policies, but also work towards gun violence prevention in our own communities in whatever ways we can.  What better way to do this than by ensuring that youth have quality education and opportunities?  Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul perhaps said it best during the National Clergy Gun Violence Prevention Summit:

“What we can control are giving people better options, better opportunities. I was in Brooklyn a couple years ago when we announced something called Work for Success, asking corporations and employers to sign a pledge that they will hire people who have been incarcerated. We know that people who have paid their debt to society, they come out, the temptation is great to slip into their old world. We can stop that by giving them the dignity of a good job, we get companies to agree to do that. We also have to address, that there have been a lot of people who have lost their jobs, that are desperate right now. Workforce development training will help them have the dignity of a job. Even something like good nutrition programs to make sure that our youngest kids are growing up healthy and have the best chances of success. A home over their heads…There is so much going on that we can control. And that is taking care of people when they are younger. Give them good role models. Bring them to our churches. We know the mamas and the grandmas are there, I sit there often. And I say, where are the young people, where are the young men who need to hear the Word of God, to have a strong role model in their clergy guide them to a better life?”

What are better opportunities that we can be providing youth, that also give youth the opportunity to work towards a better, more sustainable world?  One promising program is the Next Generation of Leaders Institute organized by Kellogg Foundation Fellows in 2015. This program provided ways for vulnerable youth in Mississippi to learn about culinary arts and healthy lifestyles and expand their worldviews. Per the video:

“Over the course of 5 days in July, 48 youth were afforded the opportunity to travel beyond the familiar, experience the broader world, and to envision a future that holds immense opportunity and promise. These participants were engaged in social, educational, and cultural experiences that challenged their perspectives. The Next Generation of Leaders Institute, NGLI, helped broaden their understanding of the world and their place in it as young adults. One of the greatest needs for Mississippi teenagers is the opportunity to explore the world beyond the confines of their family, neighborhood, and school settings."  The program integrated "self-discovery, health and wellness education, and community-based change in a comprehensive leadership program that allowed students to see themselves as agents of social change….The measured impact of the NGLI on these youth saw their perceptions of health, society, race, and their own future narrative expand over the course of their engagement, providing that when given the opportunity, young people are more than willing to actively seek to better themselves and their neighbors.”

This type of program is needed for youth across the country and even the world. We also need trauma-informed schools with teachers and administrators who care deeply about the welfare of each student, like the school featured in the film Paper Tigers. As well as forums for youth to organize for restorative justice such as Sistas and Brothas United.

There are so many more solutions that need to be discussed. Like Pace e Bene’s Nonviolent Cities Project, turning guns into plowshares, Cure Violence, identifying where states stand on the Giffords Center Gun Law Scorecard, and organizing that can happen through States United To Prevent Gun Violence. Successful gun buyback efforts that incentivize turning guns in by offering something community members need, like iPads that children could use for remote learning. Also, ensuring that those who are incarcerated are given dignity by prioritizing their COVID-19 vaccination, and improving procurement of quality food in prisons.  I’m a fan of having these conversations over a meal, which might not be possible much now during the pandemic but is something we should think about for when we’ve all been vaccinated and the pandemic subsides.  My hope is that conversations around building healthy communities through Mindful Eating for the Beloved Community will involve mindfulness around what is needed to create nourishing, sustainable food systems – including how to support youth in doing so for future generations – and the healing that is truly needed in order to build a resilient, Beloved Community.

More than anything, youth need to be shown that they are loved, that they are children of God. Not just told, but meaningfully, tangibly shown by walking alongside them, sharing in their struggles, providing them opportunities, expanding their horizons. That is what one man, Ray Engelking, did during his lifetime as a father, and as a teacher in at both West Bend High School and Moraine Park Technical College in Wisconsin. That man was tragically shot and killed in his own home by a 30-year old intruder who did not have the benefit of knowing Mr. Engelking during his lifetime. In Ray’s honor, his family has set up the Ray Engelking Memorial Scholarship Fund for at risk students from West Bend High School to attend Moraine Park Technical College. Coming full circle, this scholarship fund will offer at-risk youth the opportunity to create a path of success for themselves, while also offering a way for the family and community to hopefully heal from the pain and grief of the loss of their beloved father, husband, teacher, and neighbor. While the loss of Ray’s life to gun violence was not able to be prevented, I’m sure he would want others’ lives to be saved through the compassion and educational opportunities that will be provided through this scholarship fund.

In a world where so many are falling into despair, every little thing we do makes a difference. It is like the story of the boy and the starfish:

When asked what he was doing, “The young boy paused, looked up, and replied ‘Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves. When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.’ 

The old man replied, ‘But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.’

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, ‘It made a difference to that one!’”

A New Paradigm for Penance

One of the most seemingly contradictory aspects of the Franciscan tradition is the focus on penance and how this can bring us perfect joy. Yet in the chapter from Fully Mature with the Fullness of Christ, "Through Penance," we are told that penance:

“is not ‘giving up something’ for Lent. It is not what you say and do after going to confession. It is not disciplining oneself or doing something hard to ‘toughen up’ one’s spirit, to make atonement for having done something wrong, or to assuage the feelings of guilt or shame. 

Penance is the conscious choice to respond to God’s immense love discovered…after a time of need and want… by conforming to and committing oneself to… Jesus’ plan of healthy, growth-filled living on an ongoing basis.”

This, to me, sounds revolutionary!  In Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth, the authors write that, "Eating locally is good for our health and the health of the planet, it is good for local farmers, it builds community, and it contributes significantly to curbing global warming. It is the perfect penitent action.”

What if, instead of looking at eating locally as having to give something up, for example, we looked at it from a different paradigm – that of recognizing and celebrating the abundance that God has provided to us?  What if we looked at the world through the lens of St. Francis of Assisi, who praised God for every element of creation, and found joy in biodiversity and nature and the opportunity we have been given to be alive? 

Fully Mature with the Fullness of Christ goes on to say that,

“With this primary choice [to respond to God’s immense love] come the additional choices of removing obstacles to healthy living…, of supporting healthy living with the eucharistic community, and of authenticating healthy living with works of charity.”

And so, the question of penance then becomes, what are ways that we can remove obstacles to healthy living – for ourselves and our neighbors?  Fr. Richard Rohr OFM and others who we look to for spiritual enlightenment talk about “removing obstacles” as eschewing the false self and finding the true self.  Marianne Williamson says that the biggest barriers to loving relationships are those which we put up ourselves, because God is love, and relationships are merely a way for God to share love between one element of God’s creation and another.  When the love cannot freely flow through relationships, it is because we, as humans with egos and false selves, put up barriers to that love.  When love cannot flow freely from God’s creation in nature to human beings, or from one individual human being to another, it is because human beings have put up obstacles to that love – obstacles that must be removed. And so, to fully restore God’s love, it is our duty to identify and remove those barriers. That is the joy of “penance” – restoring the ability of God’s love to flow as originally intended.

Further on in Fully Mature with the Fullness of Christ, it says:

“Penance is primarily a positive experience: choosing spiritual health (whole soul), mental health (whole mind), emotional health (whole heart), physical health (whole strength), and social health (loving neighbor as self) as the way of returning the love God has bestowed upon us.  It is setting oneself on a five-point program of daily living which fulfills God’s plan for a healthy, productive, stimulating, creative love-life with God.”

What an encouraging message!  Isn’t it so liberating to know that penance is about finding our true self so that we and others can flourish, as God intended?  Furthermore,

“The first step of our response in fulfilling a life of penance in the Franciscan tradition is to choose life: to choose the health or the growth or the life-style that is the plan of our loving God for us and thereby is the productive means for us to return the love God has showered upon us.”

This, then, can help us have a more whole-of-life-approach to our daily interactions. Choosing life is more than just about doing all we can to support women in childbirth, stopping the death penalty, or even advocacy to prevent further man-made climate change.  It is about finding the way of living that God has uniquely chosen for each of us individually, so that we can let God’s love flow through us – so we can be the vessel in whom and through whom Christ lives.

Fully Mature with the Fullness of Christ shares with us the teachings of Sister Carol Przybilla, who dedicated her life to this theme of choosing life, which she calls wellness. According to her, “wellness” is:  

1)      A choice – a decision you make to move toward optimal health;

2)      A way of life – a lifestyle you design to achieve your highest potential for well-being;

3)      A process – a developing awareness that there is no end point, but that health and happiness are possible in each moment, here and now;

4)      An efficient channeling of energy – energy received from the environment, transformed within you, and sent on to affect the world outside;

5)      The integration of body, mind, and spirit – the appreciation that everything you do, and think, and feel and believe has an impact on your state of health;

6)      The loving acceptance of yourself.”

How much would it change our penitential and Lenten practices if we were to think about penance as the path to wellness so that we can become more of the vessel of Christ’s love that God has intended for us to be?   

Many people encounter obstacles to health that are caused by policies that allow environmental pollution, an industrialized food supply with high amounts of ultra-processed foods and high food insecurity rates, insufficient support for regenerative agriculture, income inequalities, poor quality housing, and systemic racism – to name a few of the injustices. So, as we transform ourselves during Lent, may we find new ways to remove the obstacles to healthy living for our fellow brothers and sisters. This will allow us to build the Beloved Community that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., yearned for so much. 

Interfaith Public Health Network

I am excited to share the launch of the Interfaith Public Health Network website! 

Faith communities offer a wealth of tradition and wisdom that transforms hearts and minds, which supports people in addressing social injustices in their midst. 

The public health community, which has as a core value the commitment to addressing root causes of poor health outcomes and inequities, too often overlooks the profound potential of faith communities to contribute to meaningful and substantial public health practice and policy changes. 

The Interfaith Public Health Network seeks to change that, lifting up the moral voices from faith communities and their expanding their contribution to vital, transformative changes to society and the world. 

Join us! 

www.iphnetwork.org