Materials Included
• 4 Sessions of Learner’s Materials
• 4 Sessions of Teaching Materials
• 5 Handouts

Scriptures
1. Matthew 26:17-30
2. Psalm 65
3. Amos 2:6-8; 5:18-27; 6:4-7
4. Luke 14:7-14

Brief Description
One benefit and challenge of the gospel is the invitation to see the world through different eyes. As followers of Christ, we try to suspend our personal judgments and perspectives, replacing them with Christ’s vision. We’ll never be able to rid ourselves completely of our own biases, and we’ll never fully understand how Christ might behave in our world. Still, we try. Christ challenged his hearers to view the world with imagination—a sense of God-inspired wonder. The seed in front of you may look like a mustard seed, but according to Jesus, we can see it as the kingdom of God. With a little imagination, the most commonplace, lifeless objects can signify something powerful and awesome.

These sessions challenge us to apply gospel lenses and holy imagination to what literally gives us energy to live: food. With a little imagination, we can develop a theology of food—an understanding of how something as basic as food shapes our relationships with God and each other. A Christian theology of food challenges us to care for and support those who are hungry.

Session one uses a familiar passage to express how table fellowship influences Christian community. We do not dine at Christ’s table alone. In session two, we study a psalm of thanksgiving and consider how thankfulness can affect our view of the world. God provides food for the earth and intends for all people to enjoy the earth’s bounty. True thankfulness for food challenges us to make sure everyone has the opportunity to give thanks. Session three offers a look at the prophet Amos’s message to those who trampled on the poor and hungry. It’s a negative message, but we should struggle to hear it. The fourth session ends the unit where it began, with Jesus at the table. Jesus challenged his hearers to open their tables to all who were hungry. For the original hearers and for us, the message is hard to swallow.

With God’s grace, we have the opportunity to imagine communities where tables are large and all are fed. You can almost smell the freshly prepared dishes as they pass from person to person and hear the sounds of thankfulness fill the room. At the crossroads of imagination and reality stands Christ, urging us to move forward in obedience.

by Mark Wilson

User License
The purchaser of this file has permission to print twenty copies of this Learners Study Guide. Neither the file nor the printed contents may be sold copied or transferred to another person or church. The purchaser may make a backup copy of the file.

The purchaser of this file has permission to print one copy of this Teaching Guide. Neither the file nor the printed contents may be sold, copied or transferred to another person or church. The purchaser may make a backup copy of the file.

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