Despite its name, the farm bill affects more than farmers — it affects us all, said the Rev, Michael Livingston, national public policy director for Interfaith Worker Justice.
Livingston, a Presbyterian pastor, was speaking April 6 at Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD), an annual conference and lobbying effort. Its theme this year was “At God’s Table: Food Justice for a Healthy World.”
First asking people to stand if they were farmers, then if they came from a farming family, then if they supported community agriculture, helped run a church food pantry, tended a personal garden, or finally, ate food, Livingston ended up facing a room full of standing people.
“The farm bill affects every one of us and it affects God-created earth,” he said. “Congress should enact a farm bill that protects God’s creation.”
Continuing to highlight our perhaps unacknowledged connection to agriculture was the Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo, who preached April 7. Jaramillo is executive minister of the United Church of Christ’s Justice and Witness Ministries.
Harvest time is about more than turning the soil and planting seeds.
“It is about preparation for the community of people who come to share at the table,” Jaramillo said. “Let’s launch a harvest revival and tell our stories. Our children need to hear them.”
We are bound by our need for food and water. We are provoked by the injustices we see. And we are sustained by working to correct those injustices.
“Let’s go out there and have a harvest revival,” Jaramillo said.