Full Reflections on Rice & Beans Month

Full reflections on Rice & Beans Month

Well today is April 1st, which in previous years meant some silly practical jokes enjoyed with friends. This year the day has taken on an entirely new meaning. It marks the end of Rice & Beans month. For those unfamiliar with this event, please check out EatRiceAndBeans.com and especially view this video done by my friend Casey.

This month has been rich and profound for my soul. It truly has been one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of my life. I'd like to share the experiences and results of the month with you below.

First of all, I realize that sharing personal experiences of a spiritual discipline may seem arrogant and counterintuitive. Jesus Christ called his followers to practice their giving and praying in secret in order to please our Heavenly Father who is unseen. I mostly would like to share my experiences in order to encourage you. I have received a lot of compliments this month, but I have been around enough truly noble and sacrificial people to realize that I haven't done anything extraordinarily hard or heroic. But for the true good that has come about from the month, I credit the process of turning over my natural desires in order to be formed more into a follower of the ways and person of Jesus Christ. I don't have naturally good tendencies in my soul, and it is in this process of giving up control of myself that I find life and beauty. Finally, in the same talk where Jesus told his followers to perform good deeds only for the audience of God, he also encouraged his listeners to "let your light shine before men so that people can see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Hopefully the words below do just that - honor God.

Also, the comments below are a very open discussion of generally personal matters.

About the Month
The currents behind this month have been building for a long time. As experiences and new insights came to our team, it became clear that this would be the right path forward.

First, my trips to East Africa over the past decade have prompted some turmoil in my soul. I've been making trips to war zones and slums where people are in desperate need. These human beings often are living in leaking grass or cardboard shacks, under constant threat of abduction and sexual violence, are brutally abused by corrupt governments, and are suffering from a variety of simple and complex diseases (everything from ringworm to AIDS). Many carve out a life with extremely basic meals that do not provide adequate nutrition. With all of the wasted food from U.S. farms, restaurants, and grocery stores, there are still human beings that are starving to death on our same planet. It's unbelievable.

On my trips to the Amazing Grace children's home I get to meet generous and intelligent kids who's parents have either died or are unable to care for them. We were stunned on the first trips to realize that the kids generally eat meat just once a month. Their regular diets consist of rice and beans, cooked corn or millet meal, and some seasonal vegetables, fruits, and peanuts grown in the area. As we've facilitated travelers to the different partnerships, many want to overhaul this diet to provide regular meat and other "luxuries". Our partner Susan Tabia is open to the idea, but then reminds visitors that they'll need to fund this new diet out of their own pockets. There are not enough resources locally to give the kids these meals. With gifts from outside partner organizations, along with food grown locally, the kids get just enough nutrition to live on. A couple of our long-term travelers tried living on this diet and experienced dramatic weight loss. They had to secretly supplement their diets with stashes of protein shakes that they had purchased.

It has been difficult living in two worlds with this constant awareness. My thoughts during the day continually come back to the desperate condition of these kids, and many times this provokes a sense of guilt for my day-to-day activities in the United States. The book of 1 John says "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" Wow. Is this scripture serious? John the Baptizer told his listeners that "the man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." Seriously? How far should this go? And in our world of internationally televised bombings, famines, and earthquakes, how much can our souls absorb of the global suffering we read about on our iPhones?

A couple summers ago my friends at Camp Eagle in South Texas thought of a cool idea. They run week-long camps for kids, and families and churches pay for the week up front. Camp Eagle exposed kids to a simulation of life in Uganda, and then gave the kids the option of "donating" one of their lunches during the week to the Amazing Grace Children's Home. In several weeks of camps, the kids donated over $3,500! This had a profound impact on the Texas kids, and supplemented the nutritional needs for the Children's Home for a year.

Spiritual Disciplines
In addition to the experiences mentioned above, our community went through a time of exploring Christian spiritual disciplines. We enjoyed a weekly study last summer on The Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, and more recently I've gone through The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. These books do a great deal to "demystify" the ancient disciplines practiced by followers of Christ that lead (with the help of God's Spirit) to a more disciplined internal and external life. Disciplines such as fasting, prayer, solitude, simplicity, meditation on scripture, study, confession and celebration are covered in depth.

For those friends from the Christian Orthodox, Catholic, or Anglican traditions, these practices are not new and have been part of spiritual life for many centuries. My friends traveling down other religious paths have also regularly used spiritual disciplines to bring their internal and external life into submission.

Protestantism (and more recently the evangelical current) was wary of "working our way to rightness" with God and has been on a track of de-emphasizing the practice and power of spiritual disciplines. Other than "read your Bible, pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow" the Christianity that I grew up with didn't have concrete paths toward a disciplined soul. It largely emphasized grace in the present life and salvation for the afterlife. Commonly stories of spiritual growth involved feelings and revivals and random acts of the Spirit (none of which are inherently negative). But the evidence of life lived exclusively in this manner is depressing. Christians in the United States generally share the same deficiencies as their neighbors. Levels of addictions, divorce, abuse, depression, anger, infidelity, stress, burnout, and other characteristics of Christians regularly match or exceed their neighbors (examine the many studies by George Barna for more details).

I often wondered as a young man, "is this the reality my heart should accept?" But I also read the words of Jesus who said that we "should make followers of all people... teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." And the apostle Paul writes that we should "renew our minds" and "forget what is behind and strain for what is ahead". There needs to be an element of willfully choosing challenging spiritual disciplines (by the grace of God and in his power and for his honor) so that our minds/bodies/souls are brought in line with the steps of Jesus Christ. We need spiritual disciplines, our families need spiritual disciplines, and our neighborhoods need spiritual disciplines. It's not mystical by any means, but is similar to the training a runner must do in order to compete in a race.

We've realized the shallowness of unordered spirituality and the regular tendency of our bodies and souls to fail when we live only by naive hopes of succeeding. The spiritual disciplines do not "earn rightness" with God, but they do assist in conforming our natural desires to God's desires.

Christian Spiritual Disciplines are practices where we can train our souls and bodies (again only through the power of God) to become more like Jesus Christ.

It's been great to dust off these practices and realize the benefits of exercising them.

Building up to a Month of Rice & Beans
Our team decided in the fall of 2009 to embark upon a month of eating Rice & Beans. This was to be a way to discipline our own bodies and allow group discipleship to take place while using some of the exciting new technologies of the internet and digital and physical social networks. It would be accessible to nearly everyone around the world and would be a simple way to share resources with brothers and sisters in need.

My wife and I had also been on a track of understanding more about the situation of the American food system and the rampant consumerism around us. In North America our obesity levels are skyrocketing. There are estimates that by 2015 that 75% of adults will be overweight while 41% will be obese (1). Our foods are doused in harmful chemical pesticides, injected with hormones, transported on average 1600 miles, and processed and altered beyond recognition before arriving at our mouths (watch Food Inc for more on the current situation). I've been overweight for a while, and recently my weight hit 235 pounds. I tried exercise and had cut out sodas and desserts on a regular basis, but still held steady at around 230.

Our North American minds are subjected to endless advertisements encouraging us to eat more, spend more, and live beyond our means. The average household is crushed under more than $8,000 of credit card debt (2).

We continually tell ourselves that when we have more time and more money we will be more generous. But this has been shown to be consistently false thinking. Two excellent books Rich Christians in an age of Hunger and Passing the Plate explore how the wealthier Christians become, the stingier their average giving becomes.

Something is seriously wrong with how we practice our daily lives and how Christians practice generosity.

We pondered how we could address these deficiencies with an experiential global movement that would change our hearts and in turn significantly alter the lives of our (global) neighbors.

So we set our sights on March 2010 (conveniently overlapping with the season of Lent) to invite people into a month of Solidarity, Simplicity, and Sharing by eating meals of Rice & Beans.

The Monthlong Experience
As we entered into March, we surprisingly found ourselves with an estimated 400 friends to join us in the experience! There were over 250 on Facebook and another 150 or so family members, neighbors, and others outside of the Facebook world that had pledged to participate. We had worked hard to use common technologies (Flickr, Facebook, blogs, and YouTube) to allow group excitement to build and travel along relational lines. Individuals and groups from the U.K, Tanzania, Canada, Puerto Rico, Uganda, and across the continental United States had decided to take part.

The beginning of the month was rough! Many young people in the United States had never cooked dry beans before, and were surprised that meals couldn't be prepared in fifteen minutes. Our addictions to cheese, caffeine, sugar, fats, and "variety" took down a good number of people.

We purposely left the month open to a wide variety of interpretations. Worldwide accessibility of rice and beans differed (high prices of rice in East Africa, and high costs of beans in Thailand were reported). And many had dietary issues or unique situations where adjustments were required for involvement. We let people know that their interpretations were appreciated and valid. The event was to be experienced for the ideas, not the specific practices.

Erin and I took this interpretation to allow for rice and beans with healthy inclusions of  a variety of vegetables. We tried to mirror our diet to match the meals at our East African partnerships. Rice dishes were paired with beans mixed with vegetables. We drank mostly water with some allowances for cups of African tea. I took one meal off to join in celebration of my sister-in-law's wedding.

Some went a bit more radical than Erin and I, while others found ways to join us for simpler meals, a daily meal of rice and beans, or self-imposed restrictions on "no purchased groceries for the month."

By far the favorite stories of the month were of the courageous moms and dads who led their families in eating rice and beans! There are precious stories of children praying enlightened prayers, struggling with the lack of variety and flavors, and learning to appreciate the resources they regularly have access to. I know as a kid I would have had a terribly difficult time with a month of rice and beans - so I have huge appreciation for these kids and parents who ventured into the month with a variety of outcomes.

Halfway through the month we heard and read stories of fatigue by some and exhilaration for others. Many found it incredibly hard to cook from scratch or to eat with little or no variety. Others found a divine calm in the midst of the practice and began to understand the beauty of simple meals and a retreat from consumerism.

People began to ponder new things with deeper insight. They wondered if variety and accessibility could be a curse for our souls rather than the assumed blessing. Some wondered why they were so concerned for their immediate family's health during the month while generally being unconcerned about the health of their global family. Children wondered why some kids suffer and don't have enough to eat.

As the month drew to a close, many expressed gratitude at being able to participate in the month. People had enjoyed the simplicity, saved money, lost weight, ate healthier, prayed more, thought more, appreciated the solidarity and connection with others around the world, and were convinced that the experiences would shape the rest of their lives.

Erin and my experience
Erin and I have tried to eat simpler over the past year. We grew a garden, cut out many processed foods, ate less meat, purchased many organic products, and tried to investigate who made our products and if the goods were the result of a just or unjust process.

But we still snacked often, ate out weekly, and consumed things we knew were unhealthy. We host a student from Saudi Arabia, and the three of us have a grocery and household goods budget of $250 a month. We also budget in $100 for restaurant meals for the three of us. We pray that our budget will be used entirely for God and his purposes of loving others. On average we spent about $300 a month on food. This isn't to reveal judgement or pride in our decision making process - but just to be transparent with the world about our choices. Everyone around the world lives in a completely unique situation and has freedom to form their own convictions before God. But the average U.S. household of 2.5 persons spends $511 on food each month(3). Leisha Adams, our staff member living in Tanzania, estimates that the average Tanzanian family around her spends $50 on food each month. It's a pressing set of data to chew on. Should Americans just expect to spend more money on food than other humans? Should we feel guilt for our actions? What about the pros and cons of Capitalism and Socialism? What is the example of Jesus Christ?

We found shopping to be a simple process. We knew the ingredients we needed, and didn't spend long hours wandering the endless grocery aisles for newly packaged products.

We found ourselves praying more and intimately connected with those in need around the world. Each bite and each meal meant a decision to think about and pray for those with less resources.

At the end of the month we had savings of $202. This was a full 2/3 of our regular food budget. We realized that a family of three in the Pacific Northwest could eat nutritional foods at an average of $33 per person per month. This could have been dropped a few more dollars if we had spent less than we had on canned goods (tomato paste and beans from time to time). We were left with the awareness that the majority of our spending is for pleasure, not nutrition.

We found that it was extremely difficult to integrate with normal North American community life on a simple budget. From personal observations most people in the city of Portland enjoy community while consuming meals in restaurants, pubs, or coffee shops. It made it easy to carry on with the month because most of our friends and family knew that we were eating rice and beans. Many of them kindly cooked the meals when we visited. But now that the month is over, the expectations will be back to eat out regularly. It would have to take serious and sustained conviction to alter community expectations of the ways we consume food. On the other hand, we found the times of sharing rice and beans with a community of participants was very rewarding.

Our household waste dropped immensely. Regularly in our home we take out a full garbage bag of trash and a tub of items to recycle each week. With our new diet (especially with many raw foods) we disposed of anywhere from a 1/2 to 3/4 less waste each week. We've observed many times in East Africa that brothers and sisters there don't have waste baskets in their homes! The lifestyle there is much more sustainable.

We generally felt healthier during the month. At times right before meals (with a policy of no snacking) we found ourselves quite hungry. But the food was always filling and satisfying. From my high of 235 pounds, this morning I weighed in at 204 pounds. My belt tightened two notches and my watch band needing cinching. This significant amount of body weight lost was all excess weight that I've been uncomfortable with in the past.

Final Observations
This month has been one of the best of my life. It was better than any vacation I've experienced (to Vegas, Disneyland, or Paris). It was rich and rewarding and filled with great memories with a broad international community. All benefits were positive from the month.

I feel that my soul is more confident of living daily life in the power of Christ. My god is not my belly and I can be "content in any and every situation whether well fed or hungry." I know I do not have to be drifting in a current of harmful and indulgent consumerism.

I have seen the benefits of spiritual disciplines. I know that many of the curses of modern life can be reversed by putting into practice the teachings of Jesus Christ. Some are called to a life of extreme sacrifice. Some are not. Yet all of us are called to "love our neighbors as ourselves." My desires for personal satisfaction, security, and comfort should not exceed my desires for those same things for my neighbors (whether in Portland or Nairobi).

It is good to practice regular disciplines. From this point on, I intend to observe rice and beans month each year to put a check on gluttony and selfish consumption. I know that regular feasts and celebrations are good and right as humans, but I also know that our Western modern lifestyle has shifted occasional and regular feasting into normal, purposeless, and excessive feasting.

Finally it is a huge pleasure to do this as a community with old and new friends from many states and countries. Much gratitude goes to Erin Gleason and our Portland team for the hours spent coordinating the month, and to each of you in your various cities who took part in a variety of ways.







Footnotes
1. http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2007/wang_adult_obesity.html
2. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/savinganddebt/p70581.asp
3. http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/