I have been reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s _Braiding Sweetgrass_. In it, Kimmerer discusses an Indigenous understanding of property, in which it is understood that food and provisions are meant to be shared, sacred sweetgrass cannot be purchased - only given freely; and gifts are meant to be passed on.
So I’m interested to notice the themes of food and provision in this week’s Lectionary texts. The story of Ruth and Naomi finding provision at the feet of Boaz. The tale of Elijah miraculously aiding a widow and her child with a never-empty jar of grain. And Jesus’ observations of another widow woman offering pennies from her poverty.
The Psalms for the week remind us of God’s centrality as Source, as ground-of-being, as the divine force from which all life springs and within which all life is held.
We get a whiff here of the Divine economy. What is needed is freely given. There is no merit-based or capitalistic drive. God lets rain and sun shine on both the evil and the good. And nature exists in this divinely interconnected communality. No one must earn either bread or salvation (healing, wholeness).
It makes me wonder how much Western civilization has gotten wrong in letting capitalism run amok and divesting itself from nature (hint: a lot); and what practices we might take up to help us, collectively, return home, to God, to our Source. Here I’m starting with gratitude, as I find it to be generally helpful and centering as a practice.
God, we know we are inextricably connected to the Earth.
From the bounty of nature pour forth life and nourishment (1):
The waters and the soils,
The plants and creatures -
All part of your artistry,
Relying on divine economy.