March 2005
from the editor...
Sharing Our First Fruits
 Natalie Sleeth's "Hymn of Promise” -- No. 707 in The United Methodist Hymnal -- lists places where God’s promises are revealed in amazing ways. Her list includes the promise that a seed can grow into an apple tree. Singing this line, I think of October in the apple orchards of my home state of Illinois, branches bending to the ground heavy with ripening fruit.
For many in the United States, fall brings apples -- lots of apples. We pack them in lunches, make Waldorf salads, bake pies and cobblers, and put up applesauce for winter months. By early November, we really don’t want to see another apple.
It was early November some years ago when I traveled to the Philippines where street markets were filled with exotic fruits I’d never seen nor tasted. My hosts looked right past all these tempting fruits to a small basket with a few bruised, imported apples. They were the most expensive item in the market.
After a quick conversation among themselves and checking pockets for cash, they bought one apple, which they gave to me. They had given me their most exotic fruit. They smiled as they urged me to enjoy the somewhat mushy apple.
Then it occurred to me. It was the sweetest fruit I’d ever eaten -- a gift given in love much like the times Jesus shared physical and soul food with others.
Throughout Scripture, we are called to share our first fruits -- the best we have to offer. We are to invite all God’s children to our tables, and we are to break bread with them.
This issue of Response looks at food -- food that satisfies physical hunger and spiritual food that nourishes our souls. The specific focus is on women’s relationship to food. A number of writers help us understand that food distribution -- not a shortage of food -- is the challenge in our nation and world. There is enough food to feed the people of the earth but some have too much and others too little.
As you read, look for the terms food secure and food insecure then begin to look around your community to see who is food secure and who is food insecure. Throughout the issue, there are ides of ways to ensure all God’s people have enough to eat. Find some way you can work for this change.
Then let us hear from you.
Dana E. Jones, Editor – djones@gbgm-umc.org
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