Food for the Soul

Note from the editors: During our Have a Heart for Hunger campaign we seek to look at and understand food in new ways. This therefore seemed like an appropriate addition to the blog! Enjoy.

Written by: Dr. William Johnson, Distinguished Professor of English, Northern Illinois University. Reprinted with permission.

One can look at food as a practical necessity of life. But one can also look at the taking of food as a mindful, spiritually deep act that nourishes both the body and the spirit. Sharing food is one of the most universal of cultural experiences. Expressing thanks for food was humankind's first act of worship, food being part of the gift of life. In every culture there are sacred beliefs or divine commandments that require honoring the giver of life through acknowledging the sacred gift of food.

By admitting us to His table, God became bound to us in a unique relationship. By admitting God to our table, we experience the love and beauty of that relationship.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the breaking of bread symbolized the immutable bond in relationships among all people. The Covenant was reaffirmed through deeply profound meals and feasts. Even the Hebrew word for covenant, b'rith has etymological origins in the Hebrew notion "to eat."

In the New Testament it is through communion that Christians participate in God's presence with us -- and among us -- as individuals and as a community. We share the deeply transformative mystery of pansubstantiation, when bread becomes body (in whatever way we think of it) and wine becomes blood, literally feeding both soul and flesh.

Eating, dining, consuming food, all have the power to bring us into communion with one another and with the divine.