Last Sunday at the United Church of Byron we talked about  developing a Wilderness Economy that might help us weather the present and upcoming economic storm.  We talked about how Wilderness Economies were ready made places for food insecurity and food deserts.  There actually may be healthy food in food deserts but people do not have the knowledge to make that food accessible and available.  For example, God must teach the people how to secure the manna so that it sustains them.  God must teach them how to make the quail available to them.  God must teach how they are able to get acidic water potable and how to access water from a rock.  The Children of Israel are used to getting their food from the pots and pans of Egypt.  

Where I live, the whole west side of Rockford is considered a food desert.  And it's getting larger.  How do we begin to teach people how to build sustainable Wilderness Economies?  Rev. Kenneth Copeland, pastor of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church is regularly teaching his people how to survive and thrive by having "Daniel fasts" two or three times a year.  This is a reference to the Biblical Daniel story where Daniel refused the rich food of the Babylonian Empire to eat the faithful diet of vegetables.  Rev. Copeland has his people only eating fruits and vegetables during this time.  This prepares his people and gets them ready for the coming storm.

This Sunday we will talk about what our food rules are at the United Church of Byron.  Michael Pollan wrote a book on just that subject.  He asked for and collected food rules from people all across the world that are posted at the New York Times.  You can see that great slide show here.

What were the food rules of your grandparents, parents, your family today?  Was it no sweets before dinner?  Did you have to clean your plate?  What food rules would we want to teach and pass on?  What food rules would be faithful for your community?