Time for Repair

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December 17, 2015 
Reflection by Tuesday Rupp

My grandparents, both raised on the wheat farms of western Washington State, still can tomatoes at the end of the summer, though canned tomatoes are readily available in any grocery store. Maybe it’s because I know that they came from my grandparents’ hands, but I think those Mason jars full of tomatoes are the best ­tasting anywhere.

Autumn is the season of harvest, a time for bringing in all that has been sown, and preparing it for storage during the long months before the next harvest. Late fall is the time when we put by.

The long weeks of winter are a time to repair what needs mending, and put together what will be readily available come spring.

Most people in the United States live in towns and cities now. Industrial farming mask the effects of seasons on what foods are available when. It also exploits laborers, often made up of vulnerable populations of migrant workers. We as westerners are entangled in the systems that harm God’s creation, if we want to be or not. “We repent of the evil that enslaves us; the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf,” says the confession from EOW.

Repenting ­ turning around ­ is the first step in repairing what needs to be mended in broken systems. Part of untangling the knotted system of food justice is learning more about the people who plant, tend, and harvest most of what we eat. Organizations like Rural and Migrant Ministries in New York State or the UConn Migrant Farm Worker Clinics are good places to start. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that food grown with justice just tastes better.

Note: In honor of the practice of using particular Antiphons during the last seven days of Advent, the video below is a setting of today's Antiphon: Wisdom.