1st Sunday: Walking Through Lent with Our Creator Scriptural Reflections

Read: Genesis 9:8-15 and pray or journal: what word or phrase speaks to your emotion or intellect?

Read: the provided reflection (below) and pray or journal: what speaks to your emotion or intellect and what might you do?

I will recall the covenant I have made between me and you and all living beings… Flooding, devastation, destruction. That’s what Noah witnessed and God promised would never happen again by God’s hand. God loved his creatures enough to begin anew with a covenant of love and hope. Yet “the excessive amount of land and water that people are using has killed 70% of terrestrial biodiversity and 50% of freshwater biodiversity” . Most of this land and water use is from agriculture: what we choose to eat and what we meant to eat but wasted instead.

In many traditions, Lent is a time of fasting and abstinence from food. For me, hunger reminds me of my dependence on God, calls me to prayer, and spiritually connects me with those without enough to eat. But what if I go deeper still, and acknowledge the toll my dietary choices take on our common home, and maybe even on my relationship with God? When I “eat lower on the food chain” by choosing vegetarian or chicken instead of red meat, or when I “treat meat as a condiment” I use significantly fewer resources. Meal planning and composting are also useful strategies I can use to reduce resource use and landfill emissions.

I invite you to join me in reducing food wate by checking out SaveTheFood.com, and while you're at it, spread the word!

Blessings, Kate