Food Audit Checklist

by with No Comment Posts on Eco-Discipleship

Created by Dr. Presian Burroughs

We connect with God, people, other creatures, plants, and non-living things through our eating and drinking. Our food choices, in turn, affect the wellbeing of ecosystems, people, animals, and plants. In light of God’s purpose to liberate creation from its slavery to destruction (Rom 8:21), Christians may reasonably conclude that we follow our Lord’s designs when we minimize creation’s destruction. More specifically, we might extrapolate from Paul’s instructions to the Christians in Rome that we should “not, by [our] eating, destroy that one for whom Christ died” (Rom 14:15b) (Presian’s Translation). Christ’s death liberates human creatures from our slavery to sin and death and nonhuman creation from its slavery to destruction (Rom 5–6; 8:19–21). Such a central theological conviction offers Christians a guiding ethical principle: we are called to live our lives in ways that cause minimal amounts of undue and long-term forms of suffering and degradation to people, animals, plants, and ecosystems. We are invited, instead, to cooperate with God in the divine work of establishing justice and restoring life.

There are countless ways we can decrease destruction and inspire restoration in God’s creation through our food and farming choices. The following set of checklists are provided to congregational leaders and participants to get this dauting process started. Congregations are encouraged to engage in a congregational food audit, in which they strive (over a reasonable period of time) to implement strategic goals related to food production and consumption in their worship spaces and homes.

Strategic Goals

  • Serve foods that
    • come from regional sources that practice regenerative forms of agriculture
    • come from animals that are treated with respect and allowed to flourish
    • contain minimal pesticide residues
    • pay fair wages to farmers, farm workers, and processors
    • reduce energy consumption
    • minimize harmful and unrecyclable forms of packaging
    • engage in other forms of sustainability / creation care
  • Use serving ware that
    • can be washed and reused
    • is compostable or readily degradable
  • Dispose of food waste and compostable materials via compost services rather than in landfills
  • Display signs and other forms of communication that clearly explain sustainability procedures
  • Provide compost and recycling containers that are user friendly and appropriately accessible
  • Install energy efficient appliances

With the above goals in view, leaders and congregants might evaluate the following aspects of the faith community’s activities to ensure that love for God and love for human and nonhuman neighbors guide its decisions related to food:

Food-Related Activities to Consider:

  • Communion Elements
  • Fellowship Refreshments & Meals
  • Food Pantry & Soup Kitchen
  • Snacks / Food during Religious Education Classes & Youth Group
  • Community Garden

Land-Use around the Building:

  • Can some land be used for a community garden and perennial fruit tree / shrubs / vines and nut trees?
  • Can a pollinator garden and local plants be planted in support of birds and beneficial insects?
  • Are synthetic pesticides and herbicides used? If so, what alternatives can be implemented?
  • Are insecticides that harm pollinator insects used minimally around the building?
  • Are synthetic fertilizers used sparingly and replaced instead with more natural fertilizers (such as compost)?

Faith Community Mission / Outreach:

  • Do congregants have food-related skills (such as canning, food prep, gardening) they might teach others in the community?
  • Are congregants informed about and encouraged to participate in gleaning opportunities?
  • Are there local farmers or ranchers with whom the faith community might establish ongoing, mutually supportive relationships?
  • How might congregants promote just regional policies related to land use, land access, and food access?
  • Do people in the community have ongoing food needs that the faith community and its congregants might alleviate?
  • Do people in the community have access to arable land, and, if not, can the faith community help?
  • Might the faith community collaborate with local hospitals, schools, and other organizations to support regional, regenerative forms of agriculture and food production and service?

For a PDF of this checklist, see below.

Congregational Food Audit ChecklistDownload

This is God’s Table – Review

by with No Comment Publications

In her book, This is God’s Table: Finding Church beyond the Walls, Reverend Anna Woofenden invites readers into the beauty, struggle, and delight of planting “a church that is a garden and a garden that is a church.” While tracing the first years of the Garden Church—a unique, outdoor church in San Pedro, CA—Woofenden skillfully exegetes scripture and engages in rich theological and liturgical reflection to portray this church’s mission, history, and practice.

Woofenden’s portrait includes a holistic depiction of the social and ecological injustices faced in San Pedro, as one microcosm of the U.S. Her mission in San Pedro was to be “the pastor to the neighborhood, not just the people in my congregation. I wanted to create a place where all could come together and reconnect to their food, to the earth, to each other, and to God” (43). Because she attends so carefully to the nonhuman creation along with the human, Woofenden’s story provides poignant theological reflections on the concrete realities of life. Her insights into death, decay, and resurrection are especially powerful: “The gospels, the good news, doesn’t promise us a pretty garden with linear rows and predictable fruit. The gospel shows us a messier picture, but also a defiantly hopeful one. It is the gospel of the dust and the good news of the compost heap. It is not always pretty, it does not smell good, but it is always moving into the renewal of all things”  (129). Example after example of renewal, love, and restoration at the Garden Church illustrate creative ways in which church leaders and members can align their ecclesial lives with the work of God.

As a scholar of New Testament and Ecological Theology, I strongly recommend this book to church leaders, clergy, and professors. It will inspire all readers to reconsider how churches might expand beyond their typical walls and re-conceive their mission as supporting the health of the entire earth.

Consider ordering This is God’s Table at https://bookshop.org/lists/recommended-books-a5b33cec-844b-4e64-bd67-fec643ada814?fbclid=IwAR3dQILBIgQ9SShC2L-zcar3eGoyxcBLf93KAfBGiKoPKTCykXn0h7_ruLo.

Christlike Feasting – A Chapter By Presian Burroughs

by with No Comment Publications

Cascade Books has kindly given me permission to share a PDF of my chapter entitled “Christlike Feasting: Attentiveness, Solidarity, and Self-Restraint.”

burroughs_christlike-feasting_practicing-with-paul_chp-11Download

The chapter appears in Practicing with Paul: Reflections on Paul and the Practices of Ministry, written in honor of Rev. Dr. Susan Eastman and edited by Presian R. Burroughs.

Learn more about the book and my chapter in the interview at Practicing with Paul – Book Interview.

Enjoy!

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Easy, Healthy Steel-Cut Oatmeal

by with 2 Comments

If you’re looking for a healthy, easy, and relatively inexpensive way to feed yourself and others in the mornings, this is a great recipe!

Start with organic steel-cut oats (sometimes called groats). Now, I know this can be expensive if you purchase the small bags of steel-cut oats that major grocery stores sell. Instead of this, try to find a bulk food grocery store in your area (if possible). I’ve been able to find several such stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where I’ve lived recently.

  • If the bulk store doesn’t sell organic groats, ask them if they would be willing to order them for you.
  • If they give discounts for larger purchases, you might consider buying 20-30 pounds of organic steel-cut oats all at once.

If you’re concerned about not being able to eat the oats before they go rancid:

  • You could place the oats in airtight bags and put them in a freezer.
  • You could place them in a large airtight container in a cupboard or pantry.
    • Your local hardware store might sell food grade HDPE buckets with screw-top lids. These can keep mice out and reduce exposure to oxygen (which can cause the oats to go rancid).
  • My family of four eats 25 pounds of these oats in about 2-3 months, so we aren’t too concerned about the oats going bad before we eat them. We store them in a food grade bucket in a closet. For daily use, we put the oats in a gallon sized Mason jar.

Recipe

  • Rice Cooker, Crockpot, or Instant Pot
  • 2 cups steel-cut oats
  • 1 Tbsp molasses (optional)
  • 4+ cups water
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)
  • 1-2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  • Milk, soymilk, oatmilk (optional)
  • Raisins, other dried or fresh fruit, or nuts (optional)

Instructions

Before going to bed:

  • Pour 2 cups steel-cut oats in a cooker that allows you to set a delay timer
  • Pour in 4 cups water
  • Stir in 1 tablespoon molasses

Instructions

Continued . . .

  • Set cooker appropriately
    • If you’re using a rice cooker, set delay timer so that your oatmeal is ready when you’d like to eat in the morning. My rice cooker has a “white rice” cooking option. This setting works great for us.
    • If you’re using an Instant Pot, set the pressure on high for 4 minutes and the delay timer for about 25 minutes before you’d like to eat. The machine will naturally release the pressure.
    • If you’re using a slow cooker, you’ll need to experiment a bit. I’m sorry I don’t have specific cooking instructions. You might be able to find them on the web. If you figure it out, please share your suggestions in a comment below!

Instructions

In the morning:

  • When the cooker has finished its cooking cycle, open the machine carefully. Stir the oatmeal. You may want to add water to bring it to the consistency you like.
  • Add sugar, cinnamon, and / or nuts (optional) to entire pot.
  • Dish out desired amount of oatmeal into serving bowls, add fruit and / or milk.
  • Place remaining oatmeal into a heat-proof (preferably glass) container and put in refrigerator for tomorrow’s breakfast!

Enjoy!

Additional Information:

  • You can increase or decrease the oats and water proportionately.
  • If you’re using Bob’s Red Mill Quick-cooking Steel-Cut Oats, you’ll probably find that this process overcooks the oats (makes them too mushy). You’ll probably want to skip soaking through the night and decrease the cooking time.
  • If we increase the amount of oats to 3 c and water to 6 c, my family of four can eat the batch for at least two mornings. We just reheat in the microwave (sometimes with a bit of extra water in the oatmeal), add milk and raisins, and nourish our bodies!

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Practicing With Paul – Book Interview

by with One Comment Workshops, Lectures, & Presentations

A small group of New Testament scholars, theologians, and practical theologians collaborated in honoring Rev. Dr. Susan Eastman with a collection of essays called Practicing With Paul: Reflections on Paul and the Practices of Ministry. I edited the volume and was invited by Cascade Books to discuss the book and my chapter in the video below. The interview gives a snapshot of my interpretation of Romans in relation to agriculture.

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