Tomatoes in December

Do you know where your food comes from? Sure, we buy our bags of lettuce, tomatoes, chicken, and eggs from the grocery stores. I regret to inform you, however, that lettuce does not grow in bags, tomatoes are not supposed to be "fresh" in Pennsylvania in December, and chicken's breasts are not naturally that large. (Yes, even chickens breasts are augmented)

Recently I watched the movie "Food Inc." This movie attempts to tell us where exactly our food comes from. At one point, the screen filled with hundreds of acres of cattle eating corn in brown desolate land. Cows do not naturally eat corn, but corn is a quick easy food source to give them and boosts production and efficiency. Mad cow disease and other food contamination has come from cows whose diet is solely corn. There is some reaction in the cows stomach with bacteria and corn which scientists describe, but the end reaction is the same, poor food for the consumer. So, is efficiency what our consumption and production should be based on?

I saw chickens kept by the thousands in small coops that could only take a few steps before falling over due to enlarged breasts from hormones and other chemicals in their food. In the end all we see are large pieces of meat neatly packed by the hundreds in the grocery store. But what are we eating, chicken, or chemically enhanced chicken look alike. At what cost to our own bodies and the bodies of chicken do we get our big cheap meat? The system is very efficient, but again, at what cost?

Both the chickens and cows are kept in close quarters, so much so that most of their days are spent walking, sitting, and sleeping in the feces of the animals around them. What are we eating?

Most of the places that these animals are raised look more like factories than farms. Smoke stacks hover over fields while smoke pours into the land. Lush green vegetation can hardly be seen anywhere. What happened to some of our farms? These are not rare occurrences either. A majority of meat is produced by only four (4) companies in the U.S. and all four of these companies handle and prepare their meat this way.

The good news is, we have a choice. We do not need to eat meat look alikes enhanced chemically or fed an unnatural diet. We can benefit our own bodies and the bodies of the animals that we eat by buying food that you know where it comes from.

"Food Inc." ends with a clip showing a farmer Joel Salatin in Virginia (pictured above). The farmer walks around his lush fields where his cattle roam, feeding on their natural diet, stretching their legs, and in return fertilizing the land as their waste goes back to the earth grazing from field to field. Chickens freely walk in and out of their coop eating the grass, bugs, and other feed, growing fully and naturally. The farmer and his family sell fresh meat to customers up to nearly five hours away. While this may be a long drive, these customers not only know exactly where their food is coming from, but they have a relationship with the farmer. A closer example of a farm that grows free range chickens and cattle is in Ohio, where my friends Mel and Steve Montgomery live at Lamppost Farm.

For further information on how to get fresh food around you google CSA (community supported agriculture).

Eat fresh, live well, be informed.

Thanks For Your Time

For the past few days, the Summer Youth Institute at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has been blessed by the presence of David Bailey. While here David played a concert for the scholars and led a workshop on faith and creative writing last night. He was energetic with the high school students, cracked jokes, and played the guitar beautifully picking with his long quick fingernails. David has recently released his 23 album and is leaving directly from the seminary to go to the New Wilmington Mission Conference.

David also had a brain tumor removed just 7 weeks ago. He is learning to balance himself again and was warned by loving family and friends to not come to the seminary to play, saying he was not fit for travel. David, however, wanted to be here and nothing was going to stop him, especially not an ailing body. You see, over 13 years ago David was diagnosed with brain cancer and was told he had six months to live. Ever since then, time has been something very important for him. He has written many songs about time and talks about how he spends his time with family, friends, and especially drinking coffee. David does not dwell on the fact that he has overcome cancer multiple times, but he definitely does not ignore it either. He is very aware of his limitations with vision, being partially blind on the left side, and his balance. These limitations, I believe have only made him more aware of the blessings of life.

Ironic, isn't it how we sometimes only see the blessing in our lives when they are threatened, hindered, or away for a certain amount of time. I hope the take David's life as a lesson, so that I do not need to wait for my freedoms and gifts to be threatened to appreciate what I have. I hope we can all take time to appreciate time. Take time for others, to truly talk to them. Take time for yourself, to sit quietly and listen to yourself and God. Take time to be in awe of the world around you. Time, like so many things in our lives is not a renewable resource, there is a limited time that we will be here. I am not trying to be morbid, but am attempting to spur myself and others to live life, to appreciate the small things, and to forget about the trivial and unimportant things in life.

So, David Bailey, a man who has such precious time, thank you very much for spending the time you do have with us.

Hugaholic

This is the story of how I met Gregory, a self-diagnosed hug-aholic.

Last Wednesday night I had the chance to go and worship at East Liberty Presbyterian Church for their Taize service. The service was in an old stone chapel decorated full of candles, icons, and banners. As we sat in the pews singing and praying, there was no one in front of the congregation leading worship, but instead different members of the congregation would lead prayers from their seat. Having no one up front to focus on only helped our focus on God.

Now East Liberty Presbyterian Church, you must understand, is located in a neighborhood in Pittsburgh that is said to be quite economically and socially depressed. A lot of the commercial building space is vacant and many of the houses are run down. The church itself is a beautiful historic building constructed with money from Andrew Carnegie. If the church wanted to, it could get by on the endowment from Carnegie. However, the church has committed itself to living and serving and not just getting by, and has therefore been quite involved with the community. The church supports local programs that help get community members ready to own homes that have been remodeled, and provide freshly grown food in formerly abandoned lots at a low cost. East Liberty Presbyterian Church is not just getting by, but giving life to a place which is used to desolation and abandonment. The church also warmly welcomes those in the community who many churches may not be as welcoming to.

This brings me to Gregory. I noticed Gregory during the worship service on Wednesday night. He sat towards the front of the sanctuary and sang with all of his heart during the worship service. He had one of those smiles that is contagious and begs you to begin a conversation because you just know there is a story waiting to be told. So, after the service I approached Gregory during a time of refreshments right outside of the chapel. Gregory warmly introduced himself and proceeded to tell me about his button that he made which reads "Hugaholic". He told me about the importance of hugs, how everyone needs hugs, that they are great because they are free, and pretty much that hugs just make the world a better place. Gregory gave me a pamphlet that he drew himself and made photocopies of describing the benefits of hugs with quotes about hugs from various authors. After talking to Gregory for a bit and learning just a small bit about his history I had to join up with my group again. Before I left I asked Gregory if I could give him a hug, and I am confident that us two men hugged the biggest most loving hug two strangers have ever hugged before. We smiled and said our goodbyes, thinking that this could possibly be the last time that we see each other.

Gregory however, had more love to give.

As I gathered some other members of the group that I was with, we headed downstairs to walk to labyrinth. Again, the room was filled with candles, banners of every color of the rainbow, and light instrumental music in the background. When I entered the basement, I found that most of my group, made up of high school students, was already walking the labyrinth, and there in the midst of them was a middle age man, Gregory. Gregory was not walking the labyrinth, he was gracefully dancing and moving with the music, letting the twists and turns of the labyrinth direct his movement. I did not walk the labyrinth, but sat and prayerfully walked the labyrinth through the movements of Gregory.

I saw God that night in the form of a middle aged man named Gregory dancing in and among us. Isn't that how it usually happens? God is right there in front of us, dancing through our lives, so in sync with the movements that we make, that it is hard to recognize at times. I believe that God is always around us in the beauty of music, art, the nature, and people around us, but we need to slow down sometimes to see that it is God. So, may we slow down and join God in the dance he is dancing. Let God wrap his hands around us, pull us tightly towards him and follow God's lead in this dance of life.

Donald Miller

Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.

To Live My Story

In the past year I have read Donald Miller's Million Miles in a Thousand Years, I have talked about it before once or twice. Since then, I have gone to Boston and been involved in a conference with the Fund for Theological Education where I was able to think about my story somewhat. I began thinking about what it meant to live my story, how I could live that story, and what that meant for me and those around me. I have not completely figured out my story, but what good story is the ending known at the beginning? However, I am beginning to know who I am more fully and where I am headed. Hopefully my story will be full of twists, every day adventure and character development. So.... for now, some things I do know about my story.

Next year I will be attending Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. I however will not be living on campus, and this is very intentional. Next year I will be living in the community around the seminary. I have always believed that an education without any application is quite useless. A seminary education, specifically my masters of divinity really truly would mean nothing to me without any application. This intentional living in the community is one reason why I picked to attend Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

The area around the seminary is an amazing and complex area. On one side of the school is East Liberty, a socially and economically depressed area with some new life budding. On the other side of the school is Highland Park, a middle to higher class area full of beautifully renovated old houses, coffee shops, and parks. Both neighborhoods are beautiful and wonderful and are full of amazing people. I want my story to be living in community with these people. I want to know the people that I pass by on the roads and be able to invite others over for dinner or coffee. I hope to know my neighbors and to be intentional about making it known that I will be a true neighbor, available for any needs.

Specific examples of this hope of mine continue to fall into my lap each day I get closer to moving in to my new apartment. First, a friend of mine told me that I should contact an old friend of his who works at a church in East Liberty. This friend of his, is already doing exactly what I want to be doing and I have had the great pleasure of meeting some of his coworkers this week. These young men started a community building, The Union Project, while in seminary that helps family buy and own houses responsibly and affordably so the people that make up the community can continue to live in the community. Shops are not what makes up communities, but it is the people that work at and frequent the shops that make a community. The Union Project also runs a community garden, growing in previously abandoned gardens. Where there used to be ruins, life now grows. Where there used to be depressed houses, life is now living inside. Where there used to be an abandoned community, I want to help bring life and love.

I began this journey of living today actually, while I was at a seminary camp for high school students. I was stopped to get gas in the neighborhood and a homeless man came up and kindly asked if I could spare a few dollars for food. At first I was hesitant because I really did not think I had any money. However, as I was pumping gas I looked through my wallet and found a few dollars. When I called the man over a second time, I took a good look at his face, something I am not sure a lot of people around him do, and it was at that moment that I realized I had met BIll before. Five years ago when I was attending the same seminary program that I am now helping to lead I had met Bill, talked with him, and a group of friends and I had taken him out to McDonald's. I asked Bill if he remembered me and told him that I remembered him. I had a conversation with him for a while and respected him as a person, looking him in the eye. I told him that I was going to the seminary next year and that I will see him around town. He mentioned something about needing a hair cut, exactly what he had said five years ago. If Bill needs something as simple as a hair cut every five years and a friendly face to talk to, I think I can do that. I hope to see Bill again soon and begin frequent conversations with him. I hope to meet others like Bill, and I hope to be other people's Bill as well, living together in a community joined by love.

I am not sure where this story of mine will take me, but I hope it is not comfortable, predictable, or even safe. I hope at times I wonder what I am doing and why I am doing it. I hope that I fail, and that I learn from my failures. But most importantly, through all of these times, I hope to be in a community in which I am interdependent, loving and receiving, bringing love to the broken places and life to the abandoned.