Occupied by Hunger

Breakfast: 2 pieces of toast. Clementine oranges
Lunch: 2 apples, lots of cornbread
Dinner: Pizza, nachos, hummos and crackers. (can you tell I'm in grad school?)

ORIGIN OF ITEM: El Milagro tortilla chips. A local tortilla business since 1950. In my humble opinion, they make the best chips in Chicago, in part because they grind their own flour. Which is awesome.

THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION:
Have you ever been so hungry, or something smelled so good, you couldn't focus on anything else? It's like what people are saying or what I should be doing is secondary. I get terse and distracted. I'm too preoccupied with the grumbling demands of my own stomach! (Apologizes if you have ever experienced this terseness firsthand)

On Palm Sunday, the people of Jerusalem occupied its streets to welcome Jesus as the Messiah.  I wonder if some people were too busy enjoying a hearty Sunday meal to go out and see what the commotion was about.  Did some ask, What's all that ruckus? Why are people yanking all the fronds off our trees?!   And did they just kept eating? Maybe some did.

But we do know there were others that just couldn't resist, even if they were about to sup, and went to check it out. We can't know the meal history of the crowd that day: the first Palm Sunday is about 2,000 years and 6,000mi from us. But we do know that they were starving for freedom from the occupation under Rome.  And we are able to share that state of mind and, at times, state of stomach: the occupation of ourselves by hunger. Hunger for food. Hunger for change. Hunger for peace with justice.

So this Palm Sunday, as we look to relate this ancient parade to our current lives, I think it helps to imagine that visceral  voice from our gut, urging us to bring wholeness/fulfillment to our bodies and our world.

Erika