Devotion to Justice
A series of devotions from the Justice table on the topics of
- Women and children
- Hunger and poverty
- Creation care
- Immigration
Forbidden Fruit
Genesis 2:15-17
Controversy has surrounded the Adam and Eve story through the years. The story leaves us with many questions. However, controversy aside, the eating of the forbidden fruit is the first sin in the Bible. That sin came to be known for Christians as “original sin,” the fragmentation of God’s perfect world. The eating of the forbidden fruit is where everything started to go wrong.
Speaking to Adam and Eve today, God might say, “You can enjoy fruits and vegetables, breads and beans, cheeses and nuts. Enjoy meat from grazing cows, scratching chickens, foraging hogs and swimming fish.”But what foods would God forbid us to eat?
Food with ingredients we cannot pronounce? Meat from confined animals that never feel rain, wind, or sun on their backs?
Adam and Eve and the generations that followed them suffered the consequences of their decision to eat the forbidden fruit. And we suffer the consequences when we eat forbidden foods through our health and well- being and so do our neighbors and creation.
We are blessed to live in places that can grow good food. Our local farmers grow foods that are healthy and tasty and raise animals with compassion and love. Food artisans put their hearts into their craft to give us breads, cheeses, pastas, and more. Good food is grown, harvested, and prepared in a way that connects us to each other, to the earth, and to God. When we eat good food in community, we partake of communion, we remember Christ, and we bring a bit of wholeness to our fragmented world.
Gracious God, May our dining tables be “Justice Tables” and may the food we eat bring wholeness to our community. In Christ we pray, Amen Rev. Carol Devine: Minister Green Chalice Providence Christian Church (DOC), Nicholasville, KY Creation Care
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