“Soup Club” is a winter tradition started four years ago at Calvin Secondary.
At lunch time on Wednesdays, staff gather around a large table in the staff room to share in hearty soups and crusty breads lovingly prepared by their colleagues. Recipes are often shared and cooking stories told. It is one of the highlights of the week for me.
This week is National Science Week and food is the focus for schools. We are to consider how food acts as the ‘fuel for life’ for individuals and to explore the need for sustainable food futures for our local and global communities.
“ It makes us reflect on our personal and collective responsibility for wise use of resources.”
As someone who enjoys cooking and eating food, I love this year’s theme. I am grateful for the advances in agriculture and science that provides our supermarkets with fresh, tasty fruit and vegetables. I have benefited from the advances in technology and transportation that allows us to consume foods from other countries and to have seasonal vegetables or tropical fruit regardless of the season.
However, this year’s theme is also very relevant for Christian communities such as Calvin. It makes us reflect on our personal and collective responsibility for wise use of resources. It challenges us to share our often-abundant supplies of food with individuals, communities and nations in need. It makes us wonder about the environmental, social and physical costs of our current eating habits. It forces us to contemplate whether our current relationship with food is in line with the plan God intended when he created both people and food.
“The sharing of food was central to the life of the early church, with the believers meeting together for teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread. ”
In the early church, the sharing of food was an identifying characteristic of the believers. Jesus called his followers to share their food with friends and strangers alike as part of their faith response, saying in the parable of the sheep and goats that “whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). The sharing of food was central to the life of the early church, with the believers meeting together for teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread. In the Lord’s Supper, the sharing of food was used to symbolise the new covenant and as a remembrance of Jesus’ death.
Food is indeed an important and relevant topic to explore as a Christian learning community. During their Home Room sessions each morning in the Secondary School this week, students will be considering challenges posed by how we source, process and consume food in our modern society. We hope that this year’s theme will stimulate questions about our personal and collective responsibility for the sharing of food and stewarding the environment.
Bonny Moroni — Head of Secondary