Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth

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of being in community.
Like the Passover meal,
the agape-meal marks a
transformation from a
life-endangering,
Pharaoh- or powercentred
economy to a
life-sustaining and lifeaffirming
economy of
God. People were
brought out of slavery
because God heard
their cries for justice and life. The gospel stories of the banquets clearly
reflect this spirit of God’s preferential option for the poor.
Joint meals nurture a culture of love, accountability and hope. As an elderly
woman from South Africa observed: “When you eat together you know
that you belong to each other. And when you share pap, you give life and
dignity to each other, you know that you are responsible for each other.
The church calls this sharing agape, and they are right. It is thanda, love,
and if you spell it in full it says: There are no death alternatives.” (Sibongile
Xumalo, Johannesburg, October 2002)
A meal also links those participating with the wider community of all
those who laboured to produce the food, and even beyond, with all creation
and its life-giving and life-sustaining power. The agape-meal challenges us
to remain united in martyria, leitourgia, diakonia and koinonia (witness,
liturgy, service and communion). It holds together worship, reflection and
action as a bridge between the liturgy of worship and the liturgy of daily
life.
The agape-community is endangered in its very being and its very essence
when the agape is understood merely in either spiritual or profane terms of
togetherness in mutual sympathy. Love of God and love of the neighbour
belong together. Lives and relationships are at stake when the loving and
sharing character of agape is neglected or ignored.
For further reflection:
How can love of God and love of the neighbour permeate economic
activities - individually, in our community and in national and
international structures and institutions?
How does God’s loving grace empower us and our mission in
economic and political life for social and environmental justice?