Eat this Book 
I wonder what instructions and messages you got about food growing up. “You have to finish your veges before you get desert.” “You can have one biscuit in your lunch box” “An apple a day keeps the dentist away.” “Everything in moderation.” “A balanced diet is a chocolate bar in both hands.” Caring parents and childminders in every generation have tried, often fruitlessly (see what I did there) to curate the eating habits of their kids. Usually in the interests of keeping them healthy and well fed. The folk wisdom and science they based their advice on may have been flawed, faulty and even dangerous. Sometimes they got things right. Sometimes they got things wrong. Their reasoning and intention, however, was usually good and sound. Healthy food creates healthy bodies. Healthy bodies enable us to live well.
For hundreds of years Spiritual travelers in the Way of Jesus have seen the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as ‘food’ for the spiritual life. They have treated it as critical means of sustenance for the journey. They’ve found ways to select ingredients, create recipes, cook up feeds, lay out menus, invent new snacks, refine diets and order eating habits. Some approaches have proved helpful, others… well not so much. Some folks have managed to keep finding good food, others struggle on while ingesting what feels like nutrient deficient fare. A significant number get bored, fed up, or poisoned with the food on offer; and end up looking elsewhere for spiritual nourishment.
Over the next two months, in our Sunday services, we’ll be exploring a new message series called: “Eat this Book – finding our way with the Christan Scriptures.” We’ll take time to explore key themes and texts and share dietary discoveries! I trust as we do, we’ll help each other tune up and lay down some healthy, life-giving eating habits.
“Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.” Matthew 4:4