Good healthy food for _all_ people is a moral and political right!

So…about the food issues–thanks for posting this interesting video, Carl. I just posted it to my site ina couple of places. One is on a post I made about the likelihood of food shortages in the near future and what we can do about it–get active locally, as you say, Carl.

http://virtualteahouse.com/blogs/beth/archive/2009/02/22/food-shortages-may-be-around-the-corner.aspx

Second place I posted it is in our intertional community dialogue section on the Virtual Tea House. Some of us are gardening together–buying seeds, soil, making raised beds, etc. There’s some great resources.

http://virtualteahouse.com/forums/56/ShowForum.aspx

Thanks to all youse guys for struggling with the hard issues–

@zoecarnate – thanks for the link to that book. I look forward to reading it. I think what you said about the different ways of viewing the term “the world” is right. I understand where Roland was coming from in his call for us to be separate – in the world but not of it – but this is a different thing, this call to tend the earth. We do ourselves a disservice when we think that because this earth is reeling to and fro and in its death grip that this means we can continue on ruining it. In fact, I wonder just how much that sort of Christianity has contributed to the ill-treatment of said earth in the first place, but I digress

I don’t know Greek, but my understanding is that there are several different senses of ‘the world’ in the NT – at least three. One is ‘the world’ in the negative sense Roland means, ie, “love not the world” and “my kingdom is not of this world” (which I think was immediately referring to the Roman Empire & their way of doing things, in context) – it’s what NT scholar Walter Wink says is synonymous with “the principalities and the powers” in the NT. The interior collective spirituality of institutions gone wrong – negative entities slated to be destroyed and/or healed. (as in ‘the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations.’) the second sense is covenantal worlds, as in “the form of this world is even now passing away,” a statement that would be nonsensical if one were talking about the literal planet. But if one were talking about the fading of an Old Covenant world and the rising of a New Covenant world, well that makes perfect sense with all the relevant texts. And finally, there is a sense of ‘the world’ as creation, as planet earth. As in “God so loved the world…” So – I’m no fan of the ‘the fallen powers,’ though I do hold out hope that ‘the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God, and he shall reign forever and ever.’ I think this reign has already been initiated – how one interprets apocalyptic texts makes a lot of difference in one’s outlook, as Roland demonstrates.

My friend Kevin Beck just penned an awesome little tome – only 140 pages – that outlines a biblically faithful, yet progressively energizing, take on ‘the end-times’ that I’ve seen foster meaningful conversation between conservative literalists and hippie religious alike. You can download it for free here: This Book Will Change Your World.

Unfortunately we are about 3 hours from Winona. It is beautiful there!

I will check out that book. As a therapist who works with severly emotionally disturbed children and their families, works closely with our child protection unit and cofacilitates a group for men convicted of domestic abuse, I am always looking for something to do with the pain (in its many disguises) that I come in contact with everyday. I think gardening would be a wonderful spring, summer, fall stress reliever but I’m overwhelmed into paralysis by my ineptitude.

We also have friends who I think are about to lose their gardening plot (mother-in-law is moving into a condo). Perhaps offering them some space would be a good idea as well?

All I know is my husband will jump for joy at the thought of less grass to mow.

We do a lot of container gardening. That might be a good way to start. Tomatoes, peppers and herbs all do quite well in containers (well, at least here in Georgia, not sure what to tell you about Minnesota!)

Here’s a book that looks tasty (pardon the pun): Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden And Your Neighborhood into a Community. I bet it would be chock-full of advice on how to get started.