On faith and food

There’s a direct link between faith and food, and friendships and spirituality, says a study recently conducted by the Gallup Organization. People who have close friendships in their congregation are less likely to leave it and report a stronger faith in God. The study found further that eating together correlated with higher congregational satisfaction; 77 percent of highly satisfied church members have eaten a meal with others in their congregation.

—Anglican Journal

Does God care what we eat? This question was the theme of the June 2005 Christian Leader, the periodical of U.S. Mennonite Brethren. Nutritionist Ingrid Friesen Moser answered with an emphatic Yes. “And we North American Christians desperately need to hear this message,” she said. Although we know more about health and body issues than ever before, we struggle to prevent diseases that are directly influenced by our eating choices. The message of the book of Leviticus, with its many details about living, writes Friesen Moser, is that, as God’s people, “we choose to accept restrictions (law) in our lives because the end result is that it brings us closer to God.” Hebrews 12:1–13 also highlights the importance of a disciplined life. For restriction to be “life-giving,” however, “God has to be the focus.” Unlike views of wellness and eating around us, in which our failings cause guilt or shame, God offers “a fresh start each day.”

—Christian Leader

It’s that simple: eat with your teens! In a study comparing the lives of teens from affluent New York suburbs with those of inner-city young people, Suniya Luthar, a psychologist at Columbia University, found that the richer kids were worse off than their poorer counterparts in matters like suffering from clinical depression and alcohol and drug abuse. Analysis suggested high parental expectations combined with parental neglect were important factors. “Eating dinner with at least one parent on most nights” made for teens who were much better adjusted, with fewer problems.

—Christian Courier

Can a cookbook also be a magnet? “The Kitchenhood of all Believers: A Journey into the Discourse of Mennonite Cookbooks,” a paper by Matthew Bailey-Dick in the April 2005 Mennonite Quarterly Review, explores the connection of food and faith by looking “between the lines” of cookbooks. Bailey-Dick examines eight “cookbook discourses” he finds there: simple living, globalization of Mennonites, remembering the past, Mennonite migration patterns, gender roles, Anabaptist history, acculturation and inter-Mennonite cooperation.

In the discourse of simple living, he tells of the wide reach of the More-with-Less Cookbook, and includes several testimonies of people who were brought into Mennonite churches because of it. One person wrote of the conviction the cookbook expressed, “that to be a Christian means following Jesus . . . and that taking Jesus seriously means a lifestyle of simplicity, service, and peacemaking.” Says Bailey-Dick, “the More-with-Less Cookbook acts as a kind of magnet, drawing people toward the Mennonite community . . . [it] functions as a lifestyle-challenging missiological discourse.”

—Mennonite Quarterly Review