By the Way: Nourishment for the soul
By Jim Hillson on February 8, 2020.
I used to be a vegetarian. And then I moved to Alberta! I tried to keep it up, and finally I gave it up. But I still retain the sense that what we take for nourishment matters. The food we eat matters and so does the nourishment which we take for our soul’s sake. Junk food isn’t good for our bodies. And I think most of us know that there many varieties of junk food that aren’t good for our souls. There are whole industries which specialize in the temptations of junk food. Fortunately there are whole libraries of soul food that have stood the test of time. The book I know best includes Genesis and Exodus, Psalms and Isaiah, along with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I also realize that there are many other volumes of soul food that have nourished generations of the people of China and India, Persia and the Middle East and the other continents of the world. As we peoples of the world get to know each other better, it has become important that we get to know the literature and the rituals that have nourished them for 1,000 years or longer. I am old enough to have known a time when a course in world religions was likely designed to prove how correct was our religion and how wrong was everybody else’s. And I have lived long enough to know that if a sacred text has been soul food for 1,000 years or more then it has something to teach me as well. As I get to appreciate the wisdom traditions of other great religions, I don’t lose my appreciation for my own faith tradition. Actually, I grow to appreciate it even more deeply. Eating Chinese food is not being disloyal to Alberta ranchers. And performing the dances of yoga is not abandoning the nourishment of the prayers and sacraments of the church. We might still be getting to know the faith traditions of our neighbours, but I think God has always been connected to both our traditions and theirs. Reverend Jim Hillson is Minister Emeritus at Fifth Avenue Memorial United Church. 11-10
