DefaultVeg Recipe Roundup for the Holidays

By Megan Grigorian 

Advent is here and we have got you covered with some delicious plant-based, communal recipes and meal options for the eyes and taste buds of many. Planning communal meals can become stressful when trying to tend to everyone’s dietary preferences—but that’s why DefaultVeg can be so effective. When you default to plant-based foods, you can easily craft a dinner for one, two, or a whole crowd with multiple needs (there are some gluten-free suggestions below as well for our GF friends). 

If you’re up for cooking this year or trying a new recipe, here is a composed meal—side dishes, a main attraction, and a show-stopper dessert. These are tried, approved, and balanced North American classics that even new home cooks can execute. Make it all or choose one or two from the list to add to your table. 

Sides 

The green bean casserole is one of those American side dishes that sometimes gets a bad rap, but this plant-based, home-made adaptation is such a delicious, comforting dish that even mushroom skeptics fall in love with it. The creaminess from the plant butter (Earth Balance or Country Crock’s versions can be found at most US grocery stores now), the earthiness from the cremini mushrooms, and the crunchiness of the fried onions topping the dish make this a hearty, delicious accompaniment to any meal. This recipe has been tested and served many times by one  of our team members and her non-vegan family. She testifies that it never disappoints! 

Photo: Megan Grigorian

Photo: Megan Grigorian

Flaky garlic cheese biscuits from the uber-talented Mississippi Vegan complement any meal, but are extra special around this time of year. Fluffy and flavorful, use them to sop up gravy or spread with a plant-based butter. Detailed recipe available here. 

Orange-braised carrots and parsnips are a fresh, beautiful addition to a rich meal. These winter root veggies put the veg in DefaultVeg. This recipe by the Barefoot Contessa is free of any animal products, and offers delicious taste and warm comfort time and time again. It also comes together quickly and easily. And those parsley sprinkles at the end elevate your dish, making it shine all the more. 

Main Attraction

If you want a meaty protein to be the  center of your meal, a seitan roast is a great option for mimicking the option of non-plant-based meats. Seitan is found in most grocery stores and is surprisingly easy to prepare! This recipe from the Vegetarian Times eases you into using this protein, with a delicious result. 

Photo: Vegetarian Times

Photo: Vegetarian Times

Dessert 

If you’re looking for a dairy-free dessert that is creamy, delicious, and pleasing to anyone with a sweet-tooth, this pumpkin cheesecake is it. *clap*clap* A mix between a rich pie and a fluffy cake, the cozy flavors of this treat are a pleasurable delight and the perfect end to a meal. It’d be a welcome addition to any DefaultVeg table, and has been enjoyed by people all over the food-choice spectrum. This fantastic and easy to follow recipe was adapted by the New York Times from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s book Vegan Pie in the Sky. Remember to give yourself a day before you want to serve this, as it’s best if it sits overnight in the fridge. 

Photo: Megan Grigorian

Photo: Megan Grigorian

Other Options

  • Field Roast, Gardein, and Tofurkey all make delicious holiday stuffed roasts—from the $7 to 18 range—available at a wide selection of grocery stores. You may want to check online what is available near your town, as it varies from state to state. 

  • This write-up from Kind Earth gives some mouth-watering holiday meal options for gluten-free folks. The recipes are simple, plant-based, and delicious. 

  • If you’re looking for a beautiful and delicious party treat, @chefpriyanka has created a Green Chutney Candy Cane stuffed with plant-based goodness. The final result is impressive! Get a peek at the recipe on her social media pages (@chefpriyanka). 

We are here to help with any of your DefaultVeg questions. Please use us as a resource as you’re navigating plant-based eating, for the holidays or any other time of year.  If you’re going to be discussing Christianity and animals with family or friends for the first time, you might also want to check out our “Tough Conversations” webinar, available here, in which we provide some communication tools and personal experiences that will help you on your journey. 

Have a blessed season to all, and happy eating. 






Homily for a CreatureKind Advent Service

This homily was written and delivered by Ashley M. Lewis for the CreatureKind Advent Service in December 2020.

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Scriptures from the Fourth Week of Advent

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 (NRSV)

7:1 Now when the king (David) was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent." 3 Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you."

4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"

8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; 9 and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house… 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)

1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."

29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.

36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God."

38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

This is the Word of God, for the community of God. Thanks be to God. 

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Homily for a CreatureKind Advent Service

By Ashley Lewis

An angel shows up at the house of a young woman and says she will be given a son, who will be called “Son of the Most High.” This son will be given the throne of David and will reign over the house of Jacob with an everlasting kingdom.

What a terrifying, puzzling, mysterious, wonderful, beautiful promise? 

A throne. A kingdom. An everlasting reign. For nothing will be impossible with God.

Hearing these words from God’s messenger, Mary must have considered the lineage into which she was now birthing her son. The very lineage that we read about in 2 Samuel. David, the favored son of God, who was brought up out of the pasture to a palace, to become king of Israel. Whose son built the temple, the house of God. The promise God made to David, and to Jacob before him, would be fulfilled in Jesus the son of Mary.

So, perhaps she thought her royal treatment would begin promptly! Maybe she envisioned the kingdoms of the world crumbling at her feet as her son grew from boy to man. Maybe she thought that upon Jesus’s birth, the house of God would begin to overshadow the palaces of Rome and that she would come to live as a queen in a new dynasty. She might have imagined that under the rule of her son, fairness and equity and justice would prevail, and that despair, poverty, and idolatry would no longer have a place in the world. The corrupt empires that exploit humans, animals, and the earth would be abolished. She probably thought Jesus would deliver them from homelessness and wandering into an everlasting home with God, where all Creation would be at peace.

Is that the vision that made Mary say yes? If she knew what Jesus’s life would really be like, would she have said, “Let it be with me, according to your word?”

Because Jesus never occupied an earthly throne. His kingdom did not appear to break the hold Rome had over the world. In fact, he didn’t ever even stay in one place, much less have a palace. He wandered. He was a traveler. As a man, he had no place to lay his head and was not welcomed even in his hometown. As a baby, he was born in someone else’s house and given a feedbox for a bed.

The house where Jesus was born was most likely a distant relative of Joseph. And contrary to popular thought, Jesus and his parents were not made to stay in a stable, outside. Stables didn’t exist in first century Palestine. Instead, the common room of the house, on the first level, was where humans and animals lived together. It would have been preferable and much more appropriate for guests like Mary and Joseph to be given the guest room, upstairs, where they could have privacy. But all the guest rooms in town were occupied, so this family-member who welcomed Mary and Joseph gave them what they had:

A corner of the common room.

Warmth.

Bread.

Prayers.

A place to sleep. 

And when Jesus made his appearance into the world as a human child, even the animals gave up what they had for him. The manger, where they were used to seeing hay and feed, was now occupied by a baby.

Perhaps the sheep and the goats were perplexed by Jesus’s presence in their trough. Surely, they’d be wondering where their food was, staring at him, smelling him and the space all around him, pondering why he’s occupying the place where their dinner should be. Like our pets when we move their food bowl.

I’d like to think Jesus’s presence pacified them in their confusion. This child would later offer his body up for the sin of the world, breaking bread, pouring wine, shedding his own blood, and indoctrinating creation into a new covenant with God.

But, long before Jesus sat at the table and broke bread with his disciples, he laid among the animals—in place of their food.

Watching over Jesus on the night of his birth, Mary must have wondered when all these grand promises were supposed to start coming true, as the angel said? How would such a house be established? When would Jesus take the throne? How would God get them from here to there? What would it be like to be given a place all their own, planted in the presence of the Lord, and disturbed no more by the corrupt forces of the world? When would they be delivered from pasture into paradise?

Let it be, Lord, according to your word!

When we envision God's kingdom coming to life in this world, we often imagine it taking place in the grandest way. We suppose the so-called powers and principalities will crack and crumble, as a new, just ruler takes the throne.

But our God is prone to wander, from place to place, in a tent and a tabernacle, not afraid to seek shelter in someone else’s house or among the animals, taking up residence in the unlikeliest of places… in a crowded room, sharing bread and warmth and prayers, reclining at the table, or in the manger, where human and non-human alike can bear witness to this new sort-of kin-dom.   

The thing about Emmanuel—God with us—is that if God’s going to be with us, God’s gotta be able to go where we go.

Emmanuel—God with us—is at home in our hearts and at our tables. In our mess, and in the messes we make. God can’t be locked away in a palace, or a white house, or on a throne. God of Creation is at home in creation, with creation.

In the skies and in the oceans. In the cities and in the countryside. In the stars above our heads and in the earth beneath our feet.

In a manger. In a crowded family room. In the company of humans and non-humans. In the wild places and in our domestic comforts, whether welcomed or estranged.

God takes up residence where hope is needed the most. With the homeless. With the oppressed. With the depressed.

In the slaughterhouses and on the killing room floor. In the prisons and at the borders. In the fields, and in the factories.

What a terrifying, puzzling, mysterious, wonderful, beautiful promise. 

A manger. A savior. An everlasting reign. For nothing will be impossible with God.

Let it be with me according to your word.

Vegan – and Christian, Too

by Nathan Porter

“You’re vegan? But I thought you were a Christian!” Comments like this one are familiar to followers of Jesus who have given up the use of animal products. I have been vegetarian for almost half a decade, and recently went vegan. Although I have received criticism from both religious and non-religious people, most of the censuring has come from my fellow Christians. This is at once expected and deeply unsettling: expected, because concern for animals has come to be associated with secular social and political projects; unsettling, because I believe that Christian theology provides a powerful impetus to care for the created order. Indeed, as a bit of historical digging reveals, modern animal welfare movements originated in early evangelicalism. Luminaries such as John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Hannah Moore, Augustus Toplady (author of “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”), and many others wrote and preached unabashedly against cruelty to animals, while William Wilberforce and several evangelical clerics helped to established the first animal protection organization.

This history has largely been forgotten by today’s Christians, but it raises important questions for the contemporary church. What was it about evangelical Christianity that gave rise to animal welfare, and does it still have value for the church today? As a CreatureKind Fellow, I am setting up conversations between scholars, pastors, and laity to make a start at answering this question. Our discussions will highlight the wealth of resources that can be drawn from many streams of the Christian tradition in the service of the Gospel, clarifying and enriching the church’s vocation to confront sin in an age of factory farming. These resources will be drawn from Scripture, patristic theology, ascetical theology, and other sources, placing them in conversation with contemporary voices in animal justice.

“If dominion is part of what it means to carry the image of God, then it must be defined by the servant king who is the true Image of the Invisible (Colossians 1). ”

I hope that discussions like these will help the church to recognize its freedom to care for animals, not despite, but precisely because of its faithfulness to Jesus and the Gospel. For there are distinctly Christian reasons to be concerned about the wellbeing of other animals. I will consider two of them here. First, and above all, this concern is grounded in Scripture. God created a world that was inhabited first of all by animals, to whom the earth was given for a home before humanity took its first breath. God commissioned Adam to name the animals – a covenant-establishing act between humanity and other creatures that recalls God’s naming of Adam, Abraham, Sarah, and Israel, marking them out as recipients of blessing rather than as objects to be dominated. In the Flood narrative, God does not simply save humans and wipe out the animal world, but saves humans and animals alike. The concern and providential care that God exercises over all creation is a constant theme of the Psalter. The prophets witness to the terrifying effects of human sin upon other the created order (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea), and similarly express God’s tender care for animals in their suffering (esp. Joel 1-2 and Jonah 4). Jesus’ victory over Satan in the wilderness results in a moment of peaceful co-existence with the animals of the desert (Mark 1.13), and Paul claims that the whole creation groans in its longing for the revelation of God’s children (Rom 8). The sacrifice of animals comes to an end with the death of Christ (Hebrews), who dies the death of a lamb – in place of human beings, to be sure, but also in place of the animals who were thought necessary for reconciliation with God. So it is far from clear that “dominion,” whatever it means, gives humans tyrannical autonomy in our treatment of other creatures. (The work of Ellen Davis, Walter Brueggemann, and Richard Bauckham provides detailed exegesis of these and other important passages.) If dominion is part of what it means to carry the image of God, then it must be defined by the servant king who is the true Image of the Invisible (Colossians 1). Our view of animals must be subject to the judgement of the cross of Christ, where the patterns of domination that determine creaturely relationships stand condemned once and for all. The crucified Word of God, the head over all creation, revealed his lordship in self-giving love, refusing to exploit the vulnerability of others for his own ends. God’s reign in the world means liberation, a gift of freedom that extends to the whole created order.

Second, concern for animals is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus. Christians who defend the eating of animals frequently argue that our world is fallen, governed by death and broken relationships between humans and other creatures, so that abuse of other creatures is simply part of the world we live in. Of course, it can hardly be denied that something is terribly wrong with the world as it stands. It does not follow, however, that the church is justified in accepting this brokenness as determinative for its own way of life. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead has inaugurated a new reality, one in which suffering and death do not have the last word in Christian ethics. The risen Lord holds the keys of death and Hades, and the New Testament insists that those who have been baptized into Christ have died and been resurrected with him. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, “If anyone is in Christ – new creation!” This means that followers of Jesus are not justified in giving the old order of violence, greed, and subjugation a say in Christian ethics. To do so is to deny the transformative power of the risen Lord.

“The resurrection of Jesus from the dead has inaugurated a new reality, one in which suffering and death do not have the last word in Christian ethics. ”

It must not be forgotten, of course, that the promised future of God has yet to arrive in its fullness. Nonetheless, the church exists as a kind of outpost of that future, inhabiting the frontier that divides the old order from the new reality that God will one day usher in. It should come as no surprise that giving up the use of animals is extraordinarily difficult. It demands a genuinely ascetical way of life that embraces voluntary self-denial for the sake of our fellow creatures. This is misunderstood by many Protestants as a kind of “works righteousness,” but it is best understood as part of the process of sanctification. The aim is not asceticism for its own sake. What looks like self-denial now will be ubiquitous as a way of life when Christ returns. Yet such a way of going about in the world, embodying as it does the radical otherness of God’s future in the face of present structures of political and social life, unavoidably entails an ascetical view of the possibilities that are available to those who have been confronted by the demands of the Gospel. Indeed, for many people, veganism is experienced as a rupture, a dramatic break with the sort of life they had previously lived. Many familiar and cherished foods are now off the table (literally); one’s favorite restaurants may become forbidden territory. Tensions may arise between friends, with whom one can no longer share a cheeseburger, and between relatives, with whom one can no longer share a Thanksgiving turkey. It takes a great deal of time and work to find new ways to experience flourishing as an individual and in community (though such ways are increasingly available). Those who give up the use of animals find themselves in the center of the collision of God’s future with the brokenness of reality as we know it, so we should not be surprised that it is difficult and requires self-sacrifice. Although not all struggle is a good thing (especially when it is forced upon one by others), however, struggle is not by nature un-Christian. Forms of life that are built upon the abuse and exploitation of other creatures, the social and political ways of being in the world that press upon us in modernity, stand under the judgement of God, and it is faith in the risen Lord that compels Christians to resist them.

This, at any rate, is why I am a Christian vegan. At the same time, I realize that all theology is done in space and time, and therefore from a specific location. Mine is a situation of economic, social, and racial privilege, which necessarily qualifies the ascetical theology just outlined. For many people throughout the world, eating meat is a privilege that can hardly be taken for granted. What I have just written is directed to those for whom this is not true, and I recognize that the right approach to animal welfare will look very different in different contexts. I also recognize that sins against other human beings are deeply entangled with sins against animals. Not only has industrialized agriculture been built upon and fueled by racism, but racism has even infected the struggle for animal justice. Mainstream environmentalism and animal protection have too often been defined and driven by what Christopher Carter has called the “white racial frame.” No adequate Christian approach to the crisis of modern agriculture can afford to ignore the voices of those who have suffered from it. It is imperative to include the perspectives of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people of color who have suffered from the racism that is endemic to factory farming and who are also among those at the front lines of the fight for animals. This is a matter about which I am learning more on a daily basis, and my own assumptions are increasingly called into question by those who approach the issue from very different starting points. Yet this dialogue is crucial to the development of a truly Christian conception of animal justice, and it is one to which I am committed.

It is tragically unsurprising that the church has ignored the plight of animals when its white constituency has just as willfully ignored or been the perpetrators of racial subjugation. Christians who cannot love their fellow humans will be equally incapable of loving other-than-human creatures. All forms of domination embody the reign of death that loyalty to Jesus compels the church to renounce, for just to the extent that the church remains complicit in the suffering of humans and other animals, it sets itself against the life-giving power that flows from the resurrected Christ. But the situation is not hopeless, as the unexpected blossoming of concern for animals in early evangelicalism reveals. It is my earnest hope that the church will come to recognize the wealth of theological resources that are at its disposal in the struggle on behalf of animals – not only traditional resources, but also those that can be found only in conversation with people whose voices have often been excluded. Then will the church’s pursuit of justice truly reflect “the wisdom of God in all its rich variety” (Ephesians 3.10).

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Nathan Porter is a student at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He is pursuing a career in academia (focusing on patristic creation theology) and seeking ordination as an Anglican priest. His passion for animal justice, creation theology, and preaching led him to CreatureKind, and he hopes that this fellowship will launch his life-long work on behalf of all God’s creatures.

Christian Community, COVID-19, and the Slaughterhouse

by Sarah Withrow King

Photo by @ninastrehl | Unsplash

Photo by @ninastrehl | Unsplash

In May of this year, COVID-19 outbreaks in meatpacking plants grabbed national headlines around the world. Despite their identification as hotspots for the spread of the virus, in the US, slaughterhouses were ordered to stay open as “essential” businesses, along with farms and other food packaging facilities. As a result, months later, more than 45,000 US slaughterhouse workers have been infected with COVID-19, 214 of whom have died. 

Slaughterhouse workers around the globe are often members of underserved or marginalized communities. U.S. data indicates that, early in the pandemic, 87% of COVID-19 cases in slaughterhouse workers occurred among racial and ethnic minorities. In Germany, the majority of workers infected in an early outbreak were from Romania and Bulgaria. And after a cluster of cases was traced to one meatpacking plant in Australia, a worker told the Guardian Australia that they felt unable to question management policies or practices because of a language barrier. “I don’t speak English well,” said the employee. “I just stay silent and work...We just come to the factory and go home. Everything they tell us to do, we don’t say no.”

Communication failure about critical health and safety information is just one of the many injustices faced by the people who have continued to work in food production as the global pandemic rages on. Even before 2020, workers on farms and in slaughterhouses endured low wages, abysmal working conditions, harassment, lack of access to adequate health care or benefits, unfair labor practices, and more. As COVID-19 began to take its toll on slaughterhouse workers, the United States Department of Agriculture moved to increase the already-too-fast-line speeds at chicken plants from 140 to 175 birds per minute (faster line speeds force faster movement). A Foster Farms chicken plant in Livingston, California was forced to close recently. The company had months to heed the local health department’s urgent warnings and to increase safety precautions at the plant. Nine workers have died. Hundreds more tested positive for the disease. 

Every slaughterhouse, farm, and food factory worker is a beloved child of God, created by God, formed in the image of God, and a member of our community, our family. Our animal kin also suffer in this food system that values profit over all. And they, too, are beloved by God, created by God, and members of the whole community of creation. 

How can Christians live in community—in mutual interdependence with all of creation—in a time of despair, pandemic, and injustice for so many? Paul’s letter to the early church in Rome may guide us: 

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:9-21

I think as we read this passage, it’s important to be conscious of the ways in which we situate ourselves within it. Members of the early church in Rome, for instance, were in a very different position than the one in which my identity as a white, North American Christian places me. In many ways, my social location aligns me more with the Roman Empire and its power than with the early believers. In this passage Paul, like Jesus before him, reminds believers that there are ways to subvert the empire and dismantle systems of oppression that do not rely on mimicking the acts of oppressors. Weeping and rejoicing together, and holding space for one another to flourish, is one way we might live that out today. In a time of pandemic, perhaps that means holding a video prayer meeting, writing and sharing a Psalm, or meeting as a small group to lament and give thanksgiving for those who are abused by the food system. 

I’ve been thinking about how I can be mutually interdependent with farmed animals and slaughterhouse workers, when, even without the limits of physical distancing, I lack proximity to both. Perhaps you share this dilemma. So, I offer a few suggestions:

  1. For readers who eat animal products and who are connected to slaughterhouse workers and animals in that way: research the farms and slaughterhouses. What can you learn about these members of our family? How can your eating and community building practices better reflect love, affection, honor, service, hospitality, harmony, peace, and good? 

  2. For readers who do not eat animal products: research the farms and packing facilities of the plant-based foods you eat. What can you learn about these members of our family? As CreatureKind co-director Aline Silva wisely says, “A local organic peach picked by slave labor isn’t CreatureKind.” How can your eating practices better reflect love, affection, honor, service, hospitality, harmony, peace, and good? 

  3. For readers in the US: let your government representatives know that you support the Farm System Reform Act, that you want to see changes to our food system by returning power and resources from mega-corporations to local communities. 

  4. For all readers: follow the social media accounts of organizations like the United Farmworkers of America and The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. As these organizations work for justice for their members, they shed light on the real stories of people working in food systems. Pray specifically for the people you meet through these accounts, and follow through on actions these organizations recommend. 

This is not a comprehensive plan for the community to flourish, but a few creaturely steps we might take to care for all our neighbors. In the words of Father Ken Untener, “It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.” May it be so.

A Many-Folded Cord

by Beth Quick

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other … A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 10a, 12b, NRSV) 

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was a teenager, and a vegan for the past several years, but building community with other folks who are passionate about caring for animals is fairly new to me. A couple of years ago I connected with some regional groups of vegans, and I really enjoyed sharing space, virtual and physical, with others who were committed to justice for animals. What I didn’t find in those groups, though, were many connections with others who approached their animal advocacy from a faith perspective. I’ve always thought about my veganism and animal advocacy as grounded in my Christian discipleship. I think God entrusts humanity with caring for creation, and I think we’re inextricably linked with all God’s creatures. I think God’s vision for the world, God’s reign on earth, is a world where all can live into their full potential, and none of us can do that when we harm and exploit each other and the earth. I felt like my framing of my veganism as a matter of faith isolated me from other vegans. 

Connecting with CreatureKind, then, has been a blessing to me: I am not alone! The opportunity to work as a CreatureKind fellow gives me even more opportunities to affirm that I am not alone in my faith-orientation to compassion for animals at all. My project focuses on working for legislative change for farmed animals within the polity of The United Methodist Church (UMC). I could try to achieve this polity change on my own. Strategically, though, I know that proposed changes to our advocacy statements in The UMC have a better chance of succeeding when they are supported by a group or coalition rather than just an individual. Part of my project, then, includes the work of coalition building. 

In my initial proposal, I included coalition building as a secondary, supportive theme of the project. In the few weeks since the Fellowship began, I have moved the coalition-building topic to a primary position. I’m in the midst of realizing that my sense of isolation as a Christian vegan does not in fact mean that there are not other Christian animal advocates out there. Christians are already doing excellent, meaningful, transformative work (including all the good folx who have dreamed up and lived out the principles at CreatureKind, for example!). 

I’ve been coming to terms with my privilege in assuming that I’m creating something that others aren’t already doing. This semester, my first semester of a PhD program at Drew Theological School, one of my courses focus on feminist theory. Our first readings in the class focused on raising awareness of how white women feminists have written a “history of feminism” that assumes that the feminism of white women in the United States is first, original, and setting the standard for the work of dismantling patriarchy and oppression of women. In reality, though, women of color and women around the world have long been engaged in articulating feminist aims and dismantling oppressive structures. Feminist theory involves critiquing and correcting the dominant (white) narrative’s oversight and suppression of the excellent work being done by black, Asian, and Latinx women, by indigenous women, and by women around the globe. As I start the work of coalition building for my project, I wonder what excellent work people are already doing that I’m not seeing because of my place of privilege as a white middle-class woman from the United States.

Already, I’m finding delight in new connections with co-laborers for farm animals that are popping up nearly faster than I can keep up with them. Perhaps I’ll be bringing some people together for new, specific conversations. Yet, this group will be made of workers with existing wisdom, experience, and connections from which I can learn, people who will help shape me, even as I seek to shape The UMC’s view of animals. I’m thankful that I am not alone in my work. Instead, I’m a strand in a many-folded cord that’s being woven to work for God’s creatures, human and nonhuman alike.

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Beth Quick (she/her/hers) is a PhD student of Drew Theological Seminary in Religion and Society with a focus on ecology and animal ethics. Beth currently resides in Madison, NJ and is pursuing work in various levels of the United Methodist Church to craft legislation and polity in defense of farmed animals in her role as a CreatureKind Fellow. Beth blogs and posts ministry resources including sermons and sung communion liturgies at www.bethquick.com. She published Singing at the Table, a collection of sung communion liturgies, in the summer of 2020.

Remembering John Lewis and His Chickens

by Jeania Ree V. Moore

When recounting his beginnings as a civil rights activist, Congressman John Lewis often started with Big Belle and Li’l Pullet, two valued members of his childhood congregation. For this flock, Lewis was not a follower, but a leader. Lewis was put in charge of the chickens on his Alabama family farm as a young boy. Being a child who loved church and loved his chickens, Lewis ministered to the sixty Rhode Island Reds, Dominiques, bantams, and other birds under his care while daily feeding them and tending their nests. He preached, taught, exhorted, prayed over, and even baptized them so regularly that his siblings began calling him “Preacher.”

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Lewis’s humorous and earnest origin story is captured in the children’s book Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis (2016), written by Jabari Ansim and illustrated by E.B. Lewis. Beautiful illustrations and cheerful text depict John Lewis and the chickens apprehending the gospel through their life together. Big Belle, a hen whom Lewis saves after she falls down a well, is proof of God’s presence and everyday miracles. Li’l Pullet, a chick who is revived after an apparent drowning during Lewis’ baptismal ministrations, testifies to God’s healing power. Lewis’s intervention in the pending sale of the birds teaches him justice and faith in standing up for others.

As we reflect on Congressman Lewis in the wake of his death and consider what he taught us through the life that he lived, it is worth sitting with this story. Preaching to the Chickens situates Lewis in the company of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, as well as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Drawn from recollections in Lewis's memoir Walking with the Wind, this book locates the roots of a central freedom fighter of our age in a peace ethic learned through early encounters with fellow creatures of God. It reveals deep currents connecting the traditions of love, justice, and care for human and nonhuman animals, focusing here on farmed animals. It shows how these traditions form a larger theological vision within the Christian faith. In this vision, human and nonhuman creatures alike are recipients of the Good News, God’s concern for each particular creature provides a model for human concern, and delight in the goodness of God and creation grounds daily living.

This portrayal of John Lewis, preaching to the chickens, is a contemporary image of the Peaceable Kingdom—an icon offering revelation for us today.

This portrayal of John Lewis, preaching to the chickens, is a contemporary image of the Peaceable Kingdom—an icon offering revelation for us today. Young John Lewis participated in the Peaceable Kingdom as a reality. His witness suggests that, rather than considering peace among humans, animals, and creation as a dream for some far-off time after our violent present, we should embrace it as a reality to come, with consequences for living in the here-and-now.

John Lewis took the Peaceable Kingdom as a starting point for his journey in moral courage. We should follow his example.

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Jeania Ree V. Moore is a United Methodist deacon who works in justice, theological education, and writes "Under the Sun," a column for Sojourners magazine. She serves on the Board of Directors for CreatureKind.

 

Updated Resource List: How Farmed Animal Welfare Connects to Race, Gender, and More

by Aline Silva

Are you interested in how the welfare of farmed animals relates to race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and culture? CreatureKind has compiled a resource list to help explore these intersections. Note: updated June 2020.

You might also be interested in the following resources (all available on our Talks & Publications page):

Would you like to add to our list or have an additional resource to suggest? Drop us a line!

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CreatureKind Supports Call to Stand with Meatpacking Plant Workers During COVID-19 Crisis

by Sarah Withrow King

You might have seen the news reports recently about COVID-19 and meatpacking plants: that the plants are emerging as hotspots for the spread of the virus, that they are being ordered to stay open as "essential" businesses, and that workers (the vast majority of whom are people of color or undocumented persons) are suffering as a result. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has issued a public call for "Meatless May Mondays," a partial boycott to bring awareness to the plight of workers. 

A group of Christian leaders has come together to support LULAC’s call, to let meatpacking plant workers know that we see them, we affirm their humanity and dignity, and that we are grieving alongside them. You can see the letter that we sent to LULAC here.

If you would like to stand in solidarity with these workers, please sign the letter by filling out the form below. Your contact information will remain confidential and you won’t be added to any email lists, we promise. This is just a chance to show our siblings that we love them.





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