Photo by Raymond Petrik on Unsplash
Karen Hollis | March 23, 2025 Lent 3
Isaiah 55:1-9 Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Now you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
All of us were born into God’s world of abundance. To belong to God’s world is to belong to abundance – everything is provided. As the prophet proclaims, God invites us first to the waters – cleansing, thirst quenching, deep and powerful, gently sprinkling, rainbow-making, play inducing water. Come, be refreshed and blessed.
How are you arriving at the waters today? With fear, overwhelm, a general feeling of disquiet around you? Some of that stuff waiting for us outside of the worship space? The waters are so inviting – they provide this deep draw toward the sacred, toward abundance, that which nourishes and sustains us.
The prophet reminds us that where we find refreshing waters, we also find sustenance for the way ahead. Isaiah says, “you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” That word “buy” actually means buy grain for bread in Hebrew. So, we buy bread that sustains, then wine and milk that offer richness. God provides all that we need for body and soul, and offers a call to everyone to come and enjoy, come and partake of the bounty of God. The prophet tells us that being in relationship with God is like food for our bellies and richness for our souls, offered without cost and without price. The details of the Hebrew indicate that the call is offered to the collective, while the response is individual. Access to God is free. We only need to look within, and each person makes their own response to God’s invitation.
In the Christian tradition, coming back to God is commonly known as repentance. In our United Church context, many of us are challenged by this word. Perhaps your mind goes first to a kind of judgement on our actions and a kind of criticism or mandatory penitence. First of all, repentance is only about our relationship with God – it doesn’t involve anyone else – so no other opinions are relevant. Secondly, to repent is simply to turn. We turn away from God on a regular basis – it’s human to do so, I do it, we all do it – to repent is simply to turn back, to bring ourselves back into God’s presence, to restore the relationship. Repentance can be as simple as “hello”, just acknowledging God’s presence.
Repentance is a common theme for Lent – to look at our lives, our behaviours, the patterns of our days, and ask: where am I turning toward God, toward what is nourishing and where am I turning away? We ask the question so many humans have asked: why do I do this thing that I don’t want to do? Why do I do things or eat things that leave me feeling empty inside? We wonder where that inclination or motivation comes from. It seems to be universal, something we can all relate to. Perhaps it is something unconscious, some unconscious need trying in some way to be met and perhaps in repentance, there is also a pathway of healing that need.
As we consider our own choice to turn toward God, the prophet reminds us of the covenants God has made with our ancestors. Whenever the Israelites turned again toward God, God greeted them with a new sacred agreement to renew the relationship. God is always faithful – whenever we return, God is already here, reaching out toward us. God’s commitment to us is relationship, nourishment, support, guidance, bringing a depth of love only God can bring, and the cycle of life, death, into life again.
The prophet Isaiah chooses a food metaphor to talk about the gifts of God’s presence in our lives, to talk about God as a presence we can’t live without and without whom we certainly can’t live well. A metaphor only works when it is grounded in truth . . . and indeed, we are in need of food . . . not just to fill up our bellies, because our bellies can be filled with many things, rather to be filled with food that nourishes. And there, the metaphor comes full circle, because nourishing food can invoke for us the presence of God.
So, let’s think a bit about food. As I said before, all of us were born into God’s world of abundance. To belong to God’s world is to belong to abundance – everything is provided – somewhere along the way, we forgot that we belong to the land, rather than the land belonging to us. When our ancestors claimed and divided up the land, we subjected God’s creation to human systems such that access to fresh, local, nutritious food, is not equitable. For me, there’s a difference in the dining experience when I am eating food fresh from the land and when I’m eating fast food. Something is lost when food is processed to become shelf stable. Processed food is certainly more accessible, but it is not more nourishing.
How do we heal these inequitable systems? What is the process of remembering that we belong to the land? And how can we heal our food systems so they come into alignment with that remembering?
I’m sure the possibilities begin with local conversation and organizing, like the initiatives of Lush Valley, a local nonprofit that imagines a Comox Valley with a thriving local food system . . . where food is celebrated and farmers, harvesters, and producers are supported.1 They have a fruit and vegetable gleaning program so that excess produce from farms and properties doesn’t go to waste, they have a hot meal program, and a food box program, where people can either purchase for themselves or gift a weekly food box. Lush Valley has made a way for those who would otherwise not have access, to come and receive the sustinence and richness of fresh food without price.
I heard another story of Chef Josh Davidson in San Francisco, who, along with his colleagues works with local farmers and producers to cook for 500 students in the San Francisco Unified School District. The chef and his team work to make appealing, fresh and nutritious meals for high schoolers. This initiative did not happen without effort. It took local organizing and community voices. By taking care to develop menus and recipes with all students in mind, Davidson and his team hope to make mealtimes a sacred and safe time for students. Educators and school administrators know that lunch can be a contentious time of the day, especially for those whose families struggle to provide and for those with special diets. Why not make the time delicious and beautiful?2
What is the path to remembering that we belong to the land? I think we’re on the path to remembering when the flow of food from land to grateful bellies is well supported. I think we’re on the path to remembering when sharing food is a joyful process and everyone receives abundance. The gifts of the land are given by God freely, abundantly, and joyfully, so when we share these gifts of the land in this way, it is an indication that we are beginning to remember. Thanks be to God.
1 Lush Valley https://lushvalley.org/cvfpc/mission/ March 23, 2025
2 enfleshed March 23, 2025