Show Notes
When we think of faith, we often pause at prayer or worship—but what if our everyday choices, like grocery shopping and meal preparation, could also reflect God’s goodness? In this episode, we explore how food connects to faith, stewardship, and justice. From thanking God for provision to considering the impact of our choices on workers, the environment, and our own bodies, we discover that even ordinary meals can become acts of worship.
Discover how the Bible calls us to honor God through the way we eat, shop, and consume. Learn the power of practicing gratitude, caring for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, and making choices that reflect integrity, compassion, and justice. Explore how mindful attention to food can transform routine habits into meaningful acts of faith and witness, pointing us to God as the ultimate source of life and hope.
Nuance’s Formed for Faithfulness is a weekly liturgy to encourage all of us to be faithful to Christ in the public square. Join Case Thorp as he follows the Church calendar through the reading of Scripture, prayer, and short reflections on faith in all facets of public life.
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Episode Transcript
Thank you for joining us at Formed for Faithfulness on this 20th week of normal time. May God illuminate our hearts and guide our steps as we pause to reflect on how we might live out His love and light in our everyday lives and pursue his truth in all things.
The word of the Lord in the 65th Psalm.
Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.
You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.
You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,
who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy.
You care for the land and water it;
you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing.
Here’s some food for thought. What might it look like for us to give more thought to our food? In this harvest season, some churches have held special services to celebrate God’s goodness and provision. And many of us individually pause to thank the Lord before we partake of a meal. But what if we viewed our regular routine going to the grocery store as a call to prayer and even action? Because while it’s easy to think of food only intermittently, it is something that is actually central in many ways to faith. After all, Jesus is described as the bread of heaven. The way we use creation and treat those who work in the food industry should reflect our biblical values of stewardship, justice, health, compassion, and integrity. Journalists say, follow the money. And when we do so in the food industry, it leads us to questions of environmental concerns, big business practices, labor exploitation, and the wider economy and culture. For instance, there is the challenge of food deserts, where in lower income communities, fast and highly processed and packaged foods are more readily available than healthier alternatives, exacerbating health issues. Sparing a thought about food is not only a matter of concern for others, important as that is. Recognizing that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, as 1 Corinthians 6 reminds us, we have a holy responsibility to eat healthily. Less immediately obvious is how food can become an idol or addiction of its own, leading us from appropriate enjoyment and appreciation to indulgence. Have you ever rewarded yourself for completing a difficult task with something tasty? As consumers, perhaps we need to educate ourselves about harmful additives and healthy diets and be wary of advertising that appeals to our fallen appetites. Next time you make a grocery list and head out to the store, consider that the way you shop for and consume food should somehow reflect something of God’s nature and goodness. And also remind us that He is our ultimate source of life and hope. As Matthias Claudius wrote in his beloved 18th century hymn, we plow the fields and scatter. We thank you, our Creator, for all things bright and good, the seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, our food. Accept the gifts we offer for all your love and parts. Accept what you most welcome, our humble, thankful hearts.
A reading from the book of Joel chapter two, beginning in verse 23.
Be glad, people of Zion,
rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains
because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers,
both autumn and spring rains, as before.
The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm—
my great army that I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the Lord your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
“And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the Lord has said,
even among the survivors
whom the Lord calls.
Let us pray with the Anglican Church of Australia.
God of justice, we pray for the feeding of the world. Give wisdom to those who make policies about food to ensure a fair share for all. Protect good farmland from urban sprawl and industrial degradation. Send plentiful harvest to those who grow crops and raise livestock. Show us how to work generously and effectively, reaching out and loving service with emergency food relief and community feasts. Bless our local markets, food stores, cafes and restaurants. Bless us at the tables we share with family and friends and make us good companions at meal times and beyond. Increase in us the spirit of hospitality to strangers. Teach us to live and eat more simply so that there may be more to share with the hungry and our neighbors. Bring clean water and good food to the poor in every country. Bring spiritual nourishment to all who are hungry for truth. Bountiful God, hear our prayer.
The Word of the Lord in the Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 14.
Although our sins testify against us,
do something, Lord, for the sake of your name.
For we have often rebelled;
we have sinned against you.
You who are the hope of Israel,
its Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in the land,
like a traveler who stays only a night?
Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
like a warrior powerless to save?
You are among us, Lord,
and we bear your name;
do not forsake us!
This is what the Lord says about this people:
“They greatly love to wander;
they do not restrain their feet.
So the Lord does not accept them;
he will now remember their wickedness
and punish them for their sins.”
Have you rejected Judah completely?
Do you despise Zion?
Why have you afflicted us
so that we cannot be healed?
We hoped for peace
but no good has come,
for a time of healing
but there is only terror.
We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord,
and the guilt of our ancestors;
we have indeed sinned against you.
For the sake of your name do not despise us;
do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
and do not break it.
Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, Lord our God.
Therefore our hope is in you,
for you are the one who does all this.
