Session 6: Community Efforts Can Transform Food Systems photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl
Read Mark 2:1-5 and Luke 5:17-20
Both versions of this gospel story offer a vivid image of a group working together for a positive goal. God calls us into such community. Genesis makes it clear from the beginning of creation that God intends for us to have helpers. God says of Adam, “it is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). The biblical story continues as a description of the relationship between God and the people of God. It is a community, not an individual, called to the Promised Land. And God blesses community. In Matthew, Jesus promises the disciples, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
In the community described in our passage, a collection of individuals combined their resources and skills to get the paralytic to the place where he could receive what he needed. Note the differences and similarities in these two versions of the story. (See Leader's Notes at www.bread.org/go/hunger2012 for ideas on the similarities and differences.) Consider the many gifts that people in the story likely offered: resources such as a ladder and tools to get through the roof, creativity, strength to carry the man, and even the willingness of the homeowner to have a hole put in the roof. After the group achieved its goal, Jesus recognized their faith, not simply the faith of the paralytic.
Reflection Questions
1. What struggles might this group have faced as they saw the challenge ahead? What might have helped and hindered their efforts?
2. How are these same dynamics in play as communities face the challenge of ensuring everyone is fed?
Hunger Report Theme Summary
It will take a variety of efforts to change the food system. Many communities around the country (and world) are taking important steps to promote the distribution of and access to nutritious food. Throughout the report you will find stories about communities that are harnessing their own resources to improve their lives.
There are stories of farmers working domestically and internationally with local school systems to provide food for healthy meals. There are communities organizing to bring supermarkets to their neighborhoods in order to improve access to a wider variety of fresh foods. Former tobacco farmers in Virginia have come together to learn more about organic and sustainable practices to produce healthier food, and they have partnered in distribution to gain access to wider markets. They are getting educated, getting organized, and improving the reach of healthy foods to communities in need. The positive impacts of these efforts can be multiplied if supported by better food policy.
Discussion Questions
1. What efforts are happening in your community to promote the growing and processing of nutritious food?
2. Where have you seen unlikely collaborations between individuals and groups to improve the availability and quality of food?
Activities
1. Read “Eat Well and Create Jobs” (Box 1.3, page 40) and “Closing the Healthy Food Gap in Rural Oregon” (Box 2.2, pages 56-57). In the middle of a piece of flip-chart paper, draw stick figures representing a household with small children that decides to start eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Around the figures, draw (or list) in a different color marker all the people and groups you can think of who will be affected by the family’s choice. Using a third color marker, add the names of all the people or groups who can make it easier for the household to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. What connections do you see among these groups?
2. Read “An Appetite for Sustainably Produced Food Creates New Opportunities for Farmers” (pages 34-36). How did this community come together to make the transition from tobacco farming? What community resources did they tap? Break into pairs and see which pair can come up with the best idea for a similar transformation from program crops (rice, corn, soy, cotton, wheat) and commodity programs in your community.
3. Read “Farm-to-School Programs Help Kids Eat Better and Benefit Local Farmers and Communities” (Box 2.3, page 64). Now find your state on the tables for youth fruit and vegetable consumption. In no state are adults or youth eating the recommended amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables. What do you make of your state’s results? How can this story serve as inspiration for what might happen in your community or state? Now find your state on the chart of “Policy and Environmental Indicators.” Using the data you find, list ways you believe people could increase the fruit and vegetable consumption in your state.
4. As you conclude, pray for efforts to transform our nation’s food and farm system, and consider if there is something God might be calling you to do as a result of this conversation.
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