The Boniface Option--Isaiah 56:3

Day 5

I grew up on processed food.

My parents did not.

My Dad’s family were sharecroppers from the Elm City/Rocky Mount, NC area.

My Mom’s family were wage workers in the factories of Lynchburg, VA.

My Dad had crops to get in.  Soybeans, tobacco, corn.

My Mom’s family and her aunts (who all lived within a block radius of each other) all had truck gardens that had to be worked constantly to yield the fruit and vegetables for their table.

When my parents met and married and my Dad went to college, they left their farm living behind.

They left working the fields for the suburbs.

My Mom was delighted to leave picking strawberries and snapping green beans on the front porch behind.

She considered fresh fruit and vegetables that had to be grown, tended to, and picked to be a poor person’s lot.

To them, opening up cans for food for dinner after walking the aisles of Kroger instead of behind a mule was the HEIGHT of luxury.

They were downright RICH.

So I had to smile when Karen and I visited the North Myrtle Beach Farmers Market yesterday to come away with a basket of fresh peppers and tomatoes that plainly do not look like what Kroger, Publix, Food Lion, or Aldis puts out.

Cutting into a tomato from Kroger is like trying to cut into a baseball.  The coloring is pale and wan, like the tomato has been inside, watching Tomato TV all day, instead of being out in the sun. 

But that’s not me singing hosannas and kumbayas about farm-to-table, locally sourced, or organic nonsense either.

Those people who do, drive me to distraction.

But like our trip to Portugal taught us–when food is hyper fresh and hyper local–it just tastes better and no doubt, is probably better for you.

I mean the shrimp that I ordered to grill tableside in Lagos, literally sat up, looked me in the eye, and dared me to throw him on the brazier.  Fresh, if not impertinent.  🙂  

Then I read Andrew Isker’s chapter in The Boniface Option about engineering modern androgynous man and while I was a little curious about the Scripture he references and how all of that that fits in, I had to admit, just by looking into the mirror, that there is some truth there.

Isker writes:

“We are nothing like even the ordinary men of antiquity.  We do not have the same spirit.  It has become something of a cliche to compare Millenials and Zoomers to the men who landed on Utah Beach, but the reason it is done so often is because it is so obviously true.”

Yeah, we don’t have the same spirit or the same waistlines.

 CDC data reveals an uptick in obesity in the United States:

“A noteworthy 22 states reported obesity prevalence rates exceeding 35 percent, a sharp rise from the 17 states recorded the previous year.”

That means that 1 out of every 3 people you’ll meet today, particularly if they are in my age range, is obese

“Obesity is a disease caused by many factors, including eating patterns, physical activity levels, sleep routines, genetics, and certain medications.  This means that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.”.

The CDC then outlines strategies to address the public health calamity:

“Key strategies are needed to address the underlying social determinants of health such as access to health care, healthy and affordable food, and safe places for physical activity.”

That’s just blather.

The key is to eat less, eat better, and move more, right?

Isker notes:

“You must consciously choose a path of difficulty to simply have what has been considered normal physique for most of human history.”

That’s true too.  I have to change my patterns of behavior to return to a healthy weight for my height.

I have to somehow emulate plowing six miles behind a mule and spending a morning picking pole beans and shucking peas.  🙂

But I was curious about the Scripture that Isker plucks out of Isaiah to support his thesis.  Isker quotes part of Isaiah 56:3:

 “Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

Here is all of Isaiah 56:3:

Isaiah 56:3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will certainly separate me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

I’m not sure how Isker means to use Isaiah’s prophecy here, but I think he may be relating our increased obesity and lower testosterone levels to the “eunuchification” (that’s a made-up word) of American men.

But, to me, Isaiah 56:3 says even if a man is a metaphorical eunuch, like foreigners (not Jewish) he is welcome in God’s kingdom as long as he keeps the Sabbath, labors to please God, and keeps His covenants.  (Isaiah 56:4).

In the days of Isaiah, eunuchs weren’t part of the congregation because they were childless and could not propagate and thus could not replenish Israel or have any part of the process of producing the prophesied Messiah child.

But Isaiah 56:3, I think, offers true comfort to those outside of whatever congregation there is–in this case, all of broader Christianity.

I love processed food.  Nothing makes me happier than processed American cheese and processed bologna on processed white bread with a bag of processed chips and a soda.

There’s still hope for me yet, right?  🙂

Lord, we thank You for Your desire to unite us one people regardless of our past and our differences.

Lord, help us extend love and acceptance to those we encounter in our lives that seem not to fit our congregation.  Help us see each person as a precious creation made in Your image.

Amen.