Merry Lea and seminary class join for discussion on reclaiming the source of food

GOSHEN, Ind. – A group of adults of mixed ages knelt around a heap of dirt dug from a pit two foot deep in a former farm field. They examined the heavy clay soil, squeezing fistfuls to see if it would form clumps in their hands. Earlier, they had paced the length of several parcels of land: the square footage needed to feed one person a subsistence diet, a vegetarian diet and a typical American diet for one year.

This has not your typical seminary class. Nevertheless, a number of those in the circle learning about soil horizons were students from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, participating in the experience and Sept. 28-30 weekend conference at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College for credit. They had signed up for a course, “Sacred Soil: Reflections in Ecological Theology, Ethics and Spirituality,” offered through a new partnership between Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Merry Lea, a 1,150-acre nature preserve near Wolf Lake, Ind. They were attending the Autumn Hope Conference, with the theme “Sacred Soil: Reclaiming the Source of our Food” this year.

For several years, Merry Lea has offered an Autumn Hope Conference that blends ecosystem experiences outdoors with theological reflection, but this year is the first time future pastors could earn academic credit for attending, though over half of the conference participants weren’t seminary students. The sacred soil course was originally designed by 2007 AMBS graduate Karla Stoltzfus during an independent study. It includes readings, papers and discussion centered around the weekend experience at Merry Lea. Ted Koontz, professor of ethics and peace studies at AMBS, and Luke Gascho, Merry Lea’s executive director, teach the course.

“I think it is critical for pastoral leadership to learn how to look at the earth and to understand that there are connections for us theologically. Most of the formal training that happens for church leaders doesn’t include the spirituality and ethics of creation care,” Gascho says. “We need to understand that God has a relationship with all of creation and not just with human beings.”

Another person who shares Gascho’s convictions is Rev. Jeffrey Hawkins, a keynote speaker for the weekend conference. Hawkins operates a family farm in North Manchester, Ind., where he also mentors other pastors through HOPE CSA, which stands for Hands-On Pastoral Education using Clergy Sustaining Agriculture. Groups of pastors spend a day each month helping with farm work and reflecting on the relationship between care of a family farm and care for their congregations. Hawkins says that when he began farming while serving as a pastor, learning to tend his crops and livestock withthe seasonal rhythms and uncertainties that go with farming also taught him to better serve his congregation.

“Tending the flocks changed how I tended my flock,” Hawkins said, with a chuckle.

Both Gascho and Hawkins believe that certain types of learning cannot take place between four walls. As an example, Gascho points to the hike Sacred Soil participants took to an area on Merry Lea’s property where soils are particularly diverse. The group explored the ways in which each unique soil gave rise to a different community of plants.

“Most people have no concept of the soil beneath their feet,” one participant commented. “They treat soil like dirt!”

Another experience that just wouldn’t work in a classroom was the butchering workshop, offered as a breakout session during Merry Lea’s conference. In an experience that combined wielding an axe and meditative readings, participants helped butcher the chickens they would eat for Sunday dinner. Over half of the somber circle surrounding the chopping block had never killed a chicken before.

“In no way did I want to be present for the butchering,” participant Peg Zeis of Fremont, Ind., said. “Yet I do eat meat, and I felt that I had to be there.”

Larry Yoder, a retired former director and assistant director of Merry Lea, led the reflective portion of the butchering workshop. “What have you killed before?” he asked the group. Discussions ranged from Genesis to Psalms, from Native American approaches to the killing of animals to Old Testament requirements for processing meat. While the birds were being gutted, ornithologist David Miller pointed out the internal organs and their interrelated functions, highlighting the complexity of the creatures who had, according to Native American understandings, given their lives so that we might live another day.

Participants left the weekend with ecological terms like “soil horizon” and “oak-hickory forest” bumping up against theological words like “gratitude” and “grace” in their brains.Some — the AMBS students, at least — will sort these things out in papers and in their pastorates.

“We are called to action on behalf of the earth, and out best actions come when they are well informed, both ecologically and theologically,” Gascho said.

Autumn Hope Conferences are an annual event at Merry Lea and typically take place in late September or early October. To receive information on next year’s conference, e-mail jenniferhs@goshen.edu.

– By Jennifer Schrock

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.