Feast or famine?
Rosalind Smith welcomes a new book on the gospel, food and austerity
‘Food for myself is a material issue: Food for my neighbour is a spiritual issue.’
- Leo Tolstoy
A small, easy to read book, Feast or Famine? How the Gospel challenges austerity, came to me at a time when most of us in Britain were celebrating the Christmas period, and when many of those celebrations consisted of the ‘food’ kind. In fact, we can safely say that there will have been a surfeit of food for many, as well as an unnecessary plethora of presents, a substantial amount of which were unwanted, unwelcomed and left to languish until, hopefully, given to charity shops. But that doesn’t include that significant proportion of the population who, for one reason or another, have slipped through the net of relative affluence and found themselves dependent on food banks and other charitable organisations, and who can’t afford heating, let alone Christmas goodies.
Traditionally, Lent has been a period during which the orthodox faithful have exercised what might be called a self-imposed austerity, perhaps a giving up of certain luxuries and privileges, but for a limited period of six weeks, culminating in a ‘binge’ when the time ends at Easter Sunday. It presupposes that one possesses, or has access to, those luxuries in order to be able to make this self-denial.
But what can those who do not have these things give up during Lent? How can they deny themselves what they don’t have? Even in our comparatively affluent society, there is still a very large body of people who suffer from the effects of austerity and have virtually nothing, who struggle daily to wrest a living, who have to choose between heating and eating, often going without food so that their children can eat. There is nothing left for them to give up – except hope!
Essentially Feast or Famine? constitutes a Lent course, and while Quakers do not usually take much notice of this traditional Christian discipline, nevertheless there is a lot to ponder between the pages. Set out in separate parts, for the six weeks of Lent, each section of the book starts with guidance from a ‘Leader’s note’ and then goes on with a reflection from contributors from different Christian backgrounds. One section, entitled ‘Spending or Saving? (Our part in the economy)’, has a reflection from a Quaker, Jill Segger, who refers us to our testimony to Simplicity and says: ‘Simplicity is essentially the discipline of standing back from what Quakers of my parents’ generation called “cumber”… whatever is permitted to accumulate to the detriment of our spiritual lives…It is not a joyless puritanism… rather a matter of discernment as to the pull which consumerism, status, acquisition and self-righteousness may exercise over us throughout our lives if we are not alert to the needs of others.’
There is a long ‘Introduction’ before the ‘Course Guidance and Structure’; almost a third of the book is taken up with these and may be a little heavy to digest before the reader gets to the sustenance of the offerings in the six sessions. But these are well worth taking seriously in this age of materialism and frequent selfishness.
Impossible tasks are not suggested; we are not asked to give absolutely everything away to the poor, unlike the parable of the young man who asked Jesus: ‘What should I do to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?’ and who was told to ‘Sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven…’ (Luke 18.22). Rather, we need to keep only what we really need and not accumulate unnecessary ‘stuff’. Less is more! This is difficult in a world where status is often determined by material possessions and so-called wealth. In another, quite separate, newspaper article on virtually the same subject, I came across a perceptive comment: ‘The greater the volume of stuff… the less able we are to discriminate between good and bad.’
Feast or Famine? How the Gospel challenges austerity is published by Darton, Longman & Todd at £6.99. ISBN: 9780232532616.
