Food Inc.

Week 1

Scripture
Leviticus 11

1-2God spoke to Moses and Aaron: "Speak to the People of Israel. Tell them, Of all
the animals on Earth, these are the animals that you may eat:
3-8 "You may eat any animal that has a split hoof, divided in two, and that chews
the cud, but not an animal that only chews the cud or only has a split hoof. For
instance, the camel chews the cud but doesn't have a split hoof, so it's unclean. The
rock badger chews the cud but doesn't have a split hoof and so it's unclean. The
rabbit chews the cud but doesn't have a split hoof so is unclean. The pig has a split
hoof, divided in two, but doesn't chew the cud and so is unclean. You may not eat
their meat nor touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.
9-12 "Among the creatures that live in the water of the seas and streams, you may
eat any that have fins and scales. But anything that doesn't have fins and scales,
whether in seas or streams, whether small creatures in the shallows or huge
creatures in the deeps, you are to detest. Yes, detest them. Don't eat their meat;
detest their carcasses. Anything living in the water that doesn't have fins and scales
is detestable to you.
13-19 "These are the birds you are to detest. Don't eat them. They are detestable:
eagle, vulture, osprey, kite, all falcons, all ravens, ostrich, nighthawk, sea gull, all
hawks, owl, cormorant, ibis, water hen, pelican, Egyptian vulture, stork, all herons,
hoopoe, bat.
20-23 "All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. But you can eat
some of these, namely, those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground: all
locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. But all the other flying insects that
have four legs you are to detest.
24-25 "You will make yourselves ritually unclean until evening if you touch their
carcasses. If you pick up one of their carcasses you must wash your clothes and you'll
be unclean until evening.
26 "Every animal that has a split hoof that's not completely divided, or that doesn't
chew the cud is unclean for you; if you touch the carcass of any of them you become
unclean.
27-28 "Every four-footed animal that goes on its paws is unclean for you; if you
touch its carcass you are unclean until evening. If you pick up its carcass you must
wash your clothes and are unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.
29-38 "Among the creatures that crawl on the ground, the following are unclean for
you: weasel, rat, all lizards, gecko, monitor lizard, wall lizard, skink, chameleon.
Among the crawling creatures, these are unclean for you. If you touch them when
they are dead, you are ritually unclean until evening. When one of them dies and falls
on something, that becomes unclean no matter what it's used for, whether it's made
of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth. Put it in the water—it's unclean until evening, and
then it's clean. If one of these dead creatures falls into a clay pot, everything in the
pot is unclean and you must break the pot. Any food that could be eaten but has
water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is
unclean. Anything that one of these carcasses falls on is unclean—an oven or cooking
pot must be broken up; they're unclean and must be treated as unclean. A spring,
though, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but if you touch one of these
carcasses you're ritually unclean. If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be
planted, they remain clean. But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls
on it, you must treat it as unclean.
 39-40 "If an animal that you are permitted to eat dies, anyone who touches the
carcass is ritually unclean until evening. If you eat some of the carcass you must
wash your clothes and you are unclean until evening. If you pick up the carcass you
must wash your clothes and are unclean until evening.
41-43 "Creatures that crawl on the ground are detestable and not to be eaten. Don't
eat creatures that crawl on the ground, whether on their belly or on all fours or on
many feet—they are detestable. Don't make yourselves unclean or be defiled by
them, because I am your God.
44-45 "Make yourselves holy for I am holy. Don't make yourselves ritually unclean
by any creature that crawls on the ground. I am God who brought you up out of the
land of Egypt. Be holy because I am holy.
46-47 "These are the instructions on animals, birds, fish, and creatures that crawl
on the ground. You have to distinguish between the ritually unclean and the clean,
between living creatures that can be eaten and those that cannot be eaten."

Mixer/Unpacking

1.) What was the most striking part of the film for you this
week? How did it make you feel? (Explore this first and take
your time. This is important to make sure the kids are making
the connections and understanding what is going on in the film.
Ask questions that help them explore the topic as deeply as is
helpful.)

Sacramental Connections

1.) Think back to the food laws we read from Leviticus? What
are some of your thoughts as to why God care so much
about food? First point is that if you follow the laws they have
to do with health and safety. Verse 11:11-13 regarding birds has
to do with not eating birds that are scavengers because they can
ingest disease eating a dead animal and we would get the
disease if we eat them. The same goes for eating shellfish in
11:10-12. Shellfish can have various heavy metals that will make
you sick, not to mention removing them from rivers and streams
can have catastrophic effects on the ecosystems them come out
of because they clean the bottoms of lakes and rivers. Cloven
hooved animals like pigs root in their own feces – eating them
with out proper cleaning (which is hard in the desert!) can kill
you. Bottom line on thought one, health and wellness matter to
God! Following God’s way of being human means caring for the
health and wellness of the body.

Second thought…
 How many times do you go to church a day? How many times do
you eat? There is something in the food laws that serves as a
constant reminder, every time you eat who you belong to and
where your life comes from. For us food has become
entertainment but in the bible it’s very sacramental.

2.) How does the information in Food Inc. this week connect
to our Christian practice? (What you eat matters because
your health matters (part of the shalom of God is your health)
and there is a daily opportunity to remember whose world you
live in when you eat.

Close by letting everyone say a one word prayer reflecting

on what they have learned and how they want to live.